Dish of Pork with Shanghai Noodles & Greens
(click to enlarge)

Pork, Shanghai Noodles, & Greens


China - Zhejiang   -   Shang Hai Cu Chao Main
Serves:
Effort:
Sched:
DoAhead:  		 4 main
***
30 min
Prep		 An interesting and satisfying noodle dish from Shanghai. It can be made vegetarian by omitting the pork, with little change in taste. This recipe will serve as a substantial "one dish meal" for 3 or 4 depending on size and hunger.

4
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1/2
1/2
2
1
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15
1
9
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1
1-1/2
2/3
1/3
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1
1
oz
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t
T
t
T
---
oz
t
oz
---
T
T
t
t
---
T
T
Pork, lean
-- Marinade
Soy Sauce
Rice Wine (1)
Potato Starch
Water
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Shanghai Noodles (2)  
Oil
Greens, tiny (3)
-- Sauce
Soy Sauce, light
Soy Sauce, dark
Salt
Pepper
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Oil
Oil (more)
Prep   -   (20 min)
  1. Slice PORK thin and cut slices into strips less than 1/4 inch wide and up to 2 inches long.
  2. Add all Marinade items to the Pork and massage it in well. Set aside until needed.
  3. Boil plenty of salted Water and stir in NOODLES. Bring back to a boil over high heat, then boil until the Noodles no longer taste raw, but are still firm. This will depend on brand, 2 to 4 minutes. Drain, refresh with cold water and drain well. Tumble with 1 t Oil to prevent sticking.
  4. Mix all Sauce items.
Run   -   (15 min)
  1. In a well seasoned frying pan, heat 1 T Oil over high flame. Stir in Pork and fry stirring, separating the strips, until they have completely lost their raw color. Remove from the pan and set aside.
  2. Set the pan aside to soak for cleaning (see Note-4).
  3. In a wok, heat 1 T Oil over high flame. Stir in Noodles. Fry tumbling for a minute or so, then stir in Sauce mix. Continue to tumble until hot.
  4. Stir in Greens. Tumble until wilted.
  5. Stir in Pork Strips. Tumble until hot.
  6. Serve hot. Arrange on plates using tongs, as the three main ingredients insist on gathering together separately from the other ingredients. Leftovers can be reheated in the oven.
NOTES:

  1. Rice Wine:

      Use a good, drinkable Chinese rice wine, not that horrid salted "cooking" version. If you don't have this, use a Dry Sherry. Sake is made from rice but is not considered a good substitute. For details see our Chinese Rice Wine page.

  2. Shanghai Noodles:

      These are thick springy noodles similar to Japanese Udon (an acceptable substitute). They are about about 0.30 inch diameter, sold in the refrigerated section of Asian markets. For details see our Asian Noodles page.

  3. Greens:

      These must be tiny greens that cook extremely fast. The "official" greens are tiny leaves of Shanghai Bok Choy called "Chicken Feather Greens" (see Note-5). The pattern recipe suggests, if these are not available, to use a couple handsful of Baby Spinach. For Details see our Shanghai Bok Choy page.

  4. Cleaning the Pan:

      The pattern recipe uses the wok for the pork with a cleaning step. She mentions to re-season the wok if needed, so she obviously expects some heavy scrubbing. This step takes too much time and attention. We want to finish and serve quickly and smoothly. Alternately, you can use the wok for the pork and do the clean-up as a prep step done in advance. This would leave time for soaking to greatly reduce scrubbing.

  5. Comments:

      I'm sure the little Shanghai Bok Choy Mui I used was larger than the "chicken feather" size mentioned in the pattern recipe, but there was enough time for them to wilt and lose their raw taste. I did cut off a few of the larger stem bottoms. It's a race between cooking the greens and the noodles starting to stick to the pan, but the noodles I used (Golden World, Baldwin Park CA) were quite sturdy and could have taken a bit more. The photo with the pattern recipe shows the noodles much darker, so I wouldn't fear using a bit more of the sauce, but it was fine as given here.
  6. U.S. measure: t=teaspoon, T=Tablespoon, c=cup, qt=quart, oz=ounce, #=pound, cl=clove in=inch, ar=as required tt=to taste
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