Overcooked noodles how to#
Overcooked noodles full#

I’ve never been good at measuring out and counting just how much of each ingredient I use when cooking, so you’ll have to rely on your own intuition for measurements.

(Overcooked is more true to this recipe’s form, though). I like mine on the softer side, so I cook them for longer, but I can’t tell you what to do.

Cook until noodles are the preferred consistency.

Whether or not the yolk is runny is up to you.

When the noodles are close to done, I like to start frying an egg to place on top of the noodles.

You can choose to add more hot water, but you might have to add more seasoning as well.

At one point, the broth may start to get thicker.

After you put them in the pot, you can turn the heat to medium.

Overcooked noodles full#

Once the water is at a full boil again, it’s time for the noodles.If you have dried shrimp and bamboo shoots, you won’t need to add as much bouillon/salt. Add seasoning: at least a teaspoon of chicken bouillon powder (or salt).This may bring the water to below boiling but that’s alright. Add shiitake mushrooms, including the water you soaked them in.Bring water to a boil in a pot, with heat on high.You can choose whether or not to cook the center, but my grandparents would often save it just for me. The longer the soak, the stronger the flavor of the broth. Start by soaking dried shiitake mushrooms in a jar or bowl of water.Optional egg (hard boiled, poached, fried, or however you like your eggs.).Optional seasoning: Dried shrimp, dried and salted bamboo shoots.You can technically substitute this with salt, but it won’t be the same. The Lee Kum Kee brand is best, but any will do. If you can’t find baby bok choy, you can use regular bok choy, but the older leaves may have a more bitter taste. The drying and aging process brings out the signature shiitake flavor even more. Noodles (if you’re picky, the kind we’ve used for the past 15 years is the thin Taiwanese DragonMall Wu-Mu dry noodles.(I’m not a longevity noodle purist, I believe all noodles consumed on one’s birthday count, even if it’s instant ramen.) Ingredients: Because I can’t physically share food with everyone, I’m choosing to share in another way.Ī childhood favorite of mine, this is my family’s take on 烂糊面, which translates literally to overcooked noodles. Hunger, once welcomed, feels almost burdensome. I’ve always known food as something to be shared, so the loss of food in its communal form has made eating feel monotonous. The savory hot broth is comforting and while the warmth reminds me of family, it also reminds me that the inability to share food with others is often isolating. It’s a bittersweet return to tradition, two years in the making. If we did nothing else to celebrate a birthday, there would always be cake.Īfter I moved to Santa Cruz in fall 2020, I made myself a bowl of longevity noodles for my 20th birthday. For my younger sister, cake became the symbolic birthday tradition. Over time, the tradition of having a bowl of longevity noodles on my birthday began to fade.

For all I was concerned, longevity noodles were the secret to a long life (to me, they still are.) According to tradition, serving someone longevity noodles bids them a long life of wealth and prosperity.

She would make the entire family bowls of noodles on each person’s birthday. The translation rests somewhere in the overlap between a hard earned chance to eat, and a justification for an occasional craving.

Overcooked noodles how to#

It’s still one of the only things I know how to say in Shanghainese. As a child, each time I was called to dinner by my grandparents and greeted with a bowl of hot noodles, I would eat until my stomach felt like it had doubled in size.