Crispy Noodles with Chicken and Seafood
Crispy Noodles with Chicken and Seafood is among my favorite Vietnamese dishes my mom used to make for us. This recipe is an adaptation of hers.
Crispy Noodles with Chicken and Seafood
Crispy Noodles with Chicken and Seafood is among my favorite Vietnamese dishes my mom used to make for us. This recipe is an adaptation of hers.
The Chicken
As in a typical chicken Mì Xào Giòn recipe, my mom uses chicken breasts. However, I’ve always preferred chicken thighs or drumsticks to chicken breasts. I find them more tender and juicy. They are also usually cheaper and you can often find them on sale at the grocery: I usually buy them for about $1/pound! When making Mì Xào Giòn, I cook the drumsticks with the bone. Afterwards, I shred the meat off the bones and top the noodles with it.
The Cooking Method for the Chicken
My mom also cooks the chicken in a pan (like most people would, I guess). The thing is, since I have discovered sous-vide cooking, I am always cooking my chicken this way. I use the Anova Culinary Sous Vide Precision Cooker and get tender and juicy chicken every time. Sous-vide cooking is also very convenient: I don’t need to watch the chicken cook while preparing the rest of the recipe. In fact, sous-vide cooking brings the food to an exact temperature and maintains that temperature once reached, allowing for very precise and consistent results!
Of course, you could also cook the chicken using any other method. Just keep the skin on when cooking if your chicken has any as it will trap the moisture inside the meat during the process.
The Sauce
The sauce is mainly made of Chicken Bone Broth and of chicken stock powder, soy sauce and oyster sauce. Alternatively, if you don’t have Chicken Bone Broth at hand and don’t have time to make one, you can use store-bought canned chicken broth and omit the chicken stock powder.
While the typical recipe’s sauce doesn’t call for squid rings, I find that adding them to the sauce makes it tastier.
The Crispy Egg Noodles
To obtain crispy egg noodles, you have to buy them fresh! They can be found at Asian groceries in the refrigerated section.
The Toppings for the Crispy Noodles
These crispy noodles are topped with chicken, squid rings (as part of the sauce), shrimps and bok choy. However, you could go with any combination of meat, seafood and vegetables! 🙂 Carrots, broccoli, snow peas and baby corns are other common vegetable toppings that can be used.
Crispy Noodles with Chicken and Seafood (Mì Xào Giòn)
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Equipment
- Sous-Vide Cooker (optional)
Ingredients
For the toppings:
- 4 chicken drumsticks or chicken thighs can be boneless or with bone
- 12 shrimps of your choice
- bok choy
- 1-2 cloves garlic depending on the amount of bok choy, shrimps and other vegetables you are stir-frying with the garlic during Step 3
- 1 tbsp canola oil or sesame oil
For the sauce:
- 1 cup chicken bone broth click here for the recipe (alternatively, you can use store-bought canned chicken broth like Swanson Chicken Broth)
- 1/2 tsp chicken stock powder omit if using store-bought canned chicken broth
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp oyster sauce
- 10 squid rings I used frozen ones, which I thaw before
- 2-3 tbsp tapioca starch mixed with an equal quantity of cold water
For the crispy fried noodles:
- 250 g fresh Chow Mein noodles egg noodles
- canola oil
- sesame oil optional
Instructions
Step 1: Cook the Chicken (Precision Cooker)
- Preheat your Precision Cooker to 73.9 C.
- Put the drumsticks (with the bone) or the chicken thighs in a bag, making sure to remove as much air as possible. I use zipper-lock bags and remove the air by slowly lowering the bag of meat into the pot of water. When the air is almost all out and the waterline is near the bag’s sealing, seal the bag.
- Set the cooking time to 1h30 and start cooking. While cooking, skip to step 2.
- Once cooked, remove the skin.
- If you are using chicken drumsticks, tear the meat out of the bone in pieces. If you are using chicken thighs, simply cut the meat into small pieces.
- Set aside.
Step 2: Prepare the Sauce
- Heat together the chicken broth, chicken stock powder, soy sauce and oyster sauce in a pan over medium-high heat.
- When boiling, add the squids.
- When the squids are cooked, slowly whisk in the mix of tapioca starch and cold water.
- Lower the heat to low to keep the sauce warm until you finish preparing the remaining ingredients.
Step 3: Stir-fry the Shrimps and Bok Choy (and other vegetables)
- Heat 1 tbsp of canola oil in a large skillet over high heat.
- Add the garlic and cook until it starts turning brown.
- Add the shrimps. Cook on one side and turn when almost cooked.
- Add the bok choy and other vegetables, and saute until crisp tender.
Step 4: Fry the Noodles
- Heat a wok or a large skillet over high heat with canola oil.
- Slightly separate the fresh Chow Mein noodles.
- Put the noodles in a strainer and cook them by letting hot water run over them for a bit.
- Shake dry and remove the excess water with a paper towel.
- Add a bit of sesame oil on the noodles so that they don’t stick together.
- Fry the noodles by batches, adding canola oil each time.
- Note: I try to use the least amount of oil as possible when frying my noodles. However, less oil can also lead to less crispy noodles. In this case, you can always finish them in the oven at high temperature.
Step 5: Assemble and Serve
- Put the noodles in serving plates, top them with the pieces of chicken and vegetables, then pour the sauce just before eating so that the noodles don’t get too soggy.
Love this recipe. Can’t wait to make it.