Simple ingredients, great flavour. Egg fried rice noodles are quick to prepare using the easy Chinese dressing formula.
The kitchen used to be a place that made my friend Jo a little nervous. A few months ago she decided to learn how to cook and after having made many tasty dishes, she shared her joy with me:“ I don’t need to plan meals ahead any more. I just open the fridge to see what’s available.” I can totally relate to that. Today I’d like to share my recipe of egg fried rice noodles which I randomly created in a “what’s-left-in-the-fridge” situation.
Using everyday ingredients to improvise
One day last week, when I was longing for a tasty lunch, I found that my fridge was almost empty. One egg, a handful of baby spinach and several sauces, that’s all. “Not too bad!” I said to myself, “I’ve got protein and vegetable.”
Then I found a packet of dry rice noodles in a cupboard, and some garlic, onion and fresh chilli (they are the three things I always have in the kitchen). 10 minutes later, I was enjoying a plate of “healthy pleasure” cooked with only the ingredients I mentioned.
An all-in-one dish with tasty seasoning
Like Jo, I seldom do any meal planning prior to cooking (except for special occasions). I draw on my experience to spontaneously combine ingredients available, and use my imagination to experiment with new ideas.
Usually, the only rule I apply is that my meals consist of three elements: protein, vegetable and starch. I cook eggs as protein very often. They are super easy and fast to prepare. They go with most vegetables and have an appealing colour when cooked.
My egg fried rice noodles is a down-to-earth dish. No fancy ingredients needed, no special techniques required, it’s simple, fresh and flavoursome. Apart from the main ingredients, here are what you need to season the noodles:
- Light soy sauce
- Black rice vinegar
- Sesame oil
- Salt &sugar
- Chinese chilli oil. I highly recommend you use homemade version. It tastes so much better than shop-bought ones!
Best practices for stir-frying noodles
Before moving on to the recipe, here are three useful tips:
- Have the sauce mixed before heating up the oil. Since every ingredient in this recipe can be cooked fairly quickly, you need to move fast and keep stirring.
- It’s better to leave the cooked rice noodles in cold water until the moment when you need to add them to the wok. They are less sticky this way and they will carry a little water into the wok giving moisture to the other ingredients. Otherwise, you might end up with a bunch of noodles difficult to separate.
- This recipe is for 2 servings. I don’t recommend that you cook for more than two servings at once unless your wok or frying pan is very big and your heat source is powerful enough for a large volume of ingredients. Cook in batches if you need more servings.
Other tasty noodle dishes on the blog
If you are a big fan of noodles like me, don’t forget to check out other delicious recipes:
Egg fried rice noodles (鸡蛋炒米粉)
Ingredients
For stir-frying
- 160 g dry rice noodles - 5.6oz
- 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 2 egg, beaten
- 1 onion, sliced
- 2 clove garlic, crushed
- 2 handful baby spinach
- 2 teaspoon fresh chilli, finely chopped
For seasoning
- 2 teaspoon light soy sauce
- 4 teaspoon black rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- 2 teaspoon Chinese chilli oil - or to taste
Instructions
Prepare the noodles
- Soak dry rice noodles in boiling water for the amount of time recommended for stir-fries (read instructions on the package. It varies depends on the brand).
- Rinse under cold water then leave the noodles in a bowl of cold water. Cut them into shorter strips with scissors.
Mix the sauce
- Mix all the ingredients for seasoning. Set aside.
Stir fry
- Heat up oil in a wok (or a deep frying pan) over high heat until it smokes. Pour in the beaten egg. Break it into small pieces with a spatula.
- As soon as the egg is cooked, add onion & garlic. fry for 30 seconds or so.
- Take rice noodles out of the water and put directly into the wok.
- Add the seasoning prepared earlier. Stir fry constantly until the noodles are evenly heated.
- Stir in baby spinach and fresh chilli. Turn off the heat immediately once the spinach wilts.
NOTES
NUTRITION
NUTRITION DISCLOSURE: Nutritional information on this website is provided as a courtesy to readers. It should be considered estimates. Please use your own brand nutritional values or your preferred nutrition calculator to double check against our estimates.
Thank out for the recipes. Much appreciated.
Hi Wei! Thanks so much for this recipe! I love the kick from the vinegar, its heartiness and nostalgia evoking bites. I’m chomping down on my noodles now as I type 😀 I used sweet chilli sauce and apple cider vinegar as substitutes. I also used questionable Lidl-bought basil tofu which turns out to be fairly tasty 豆腐泡 fried. 😁
Would have used all-Chinese ingredients if I was still in England, but I’ve moved to Eastern Europe, where I currently have no access to Chinese supermarkets and other common ingredients. Though I am a Southeast Asian on my 10th year away from home, your recipe reminds me of my mainland Chinese friends.
Hi Evan! So happy to know you’ve enjoyed the dish! Hope you’ll be able to find a solution for sourcing Asian ingredients.
I added sauteed sliced brussel spouts and radishes to the dish. It was DELICIOUS!
I was looking for some recipe to use rice noodles for breakfast. I found this one. I added sauteed sliced brussel spouts and radishes to the dish. It was DELICIOUS!
Rice noodles for breakfast! That’s a great idea. Glad you’ve enjoyed!
How long can you keep the chilli oil?
Hi Cassandra! You may keep it in the fridge for up to 6 months.
Thanks for sharing this recipe Wei. I was flying solo for dinner tonight and didn’t want to cook. However, I knew I had to eat something and something nutritious. I used what needed using up in the fridge (broccoli and red capsicum) in place of the fresh chilli and spinach. I even used up my last serve of dried rice noodle. I added some dried chilli and a generous drizzle of chilli oil to add the kick. Delicious, very easy to prepare and, best of all, minimal clean-up. I will try with the spinach next time, and maybe some other vegetables after that. I also appreciate the Chinese beside the English name for your recipes.
That’s wonderful to hear! Your version sounds delicious too.
Delicious, thank you. My main experience of Chinese food was in Malaysia 50 plus years ago and I am always trying to get back to the taste of Chinese home cooking as distinct from restaurant food. I made this for supper – did not have the black vinegar just some Chinese rice vinegar but it was fine, just the right taste of the food I remember.
Hi Jenny! Very happy to know that. Food does have the power to take us back to the past.
Just made this for an easy quick meal for me and my 2 kids (age 8 and 11), and all agreed it was totally delicious! I followed your chili oil recipe too, the end result was great, thanks for sharing.
So happy to hear that Kate! Happy cooking!
Thanks for the awesome recipe! I picked up a bottle of black vinegar on the clearance shelf at my local supermarket recently and I’ve been dying to try it. This was the perfect intro! I didn’t have any chili oil, but I used a little chili paste instead and it gave the dish a good “kick.”
Fast, delicious, and easy to throw together after a long day. Thanks, Wei!
You are welcome Jessica! Enjoy your adventure with Chinese black vinegar!