0:00 Intro
0:49 Making Scallion Oil
3:06 Making Sauce
4:04 Making Shanghai Style Curry Beef Soup
4:22 Frying Eggs
4:34 Making Fresh Noodles
5:05 Assembling Scallion Noodles
5:54 Ingredients
This scene of noodles in the movie “Everything Everywhere All at Once” reminds me of the taste of Shanghai scallion noodles. In this rainy autumn day in the southern hemisphere I really want to make a bowl of scallion noodles. Uncover the dusty taste memory for a long time. It has been 15 years since I left Shanghai. The aroma of scallion oil in my mind is just getting stronger.
250g Scallions / Spring Onions
500g Canola Oil
10g Ginger
15g Garlic
5g Sichuan Pepper
5g Star Anise
2g Coriander / Cilantro Seeds
15g Fennel Seeds
6 Bay Leaves
1 Coriander / Cilantro root
1 French Shallot
25g Carrot
60g Dark Soy Sauce
180g Light Soy Sauce
180g Water
10g Dried Shrimps
50g Sugar
Noodles (Please refer to • 面条｜在家做出面馆里也吃不到的爽滑和筋道！ )
This is 250 grams of scallions (spring onions). The scallions in Australia are slightly larger, but the taste is the same as that in Shanghai. Wash the roots of the scallion throughly. The roots are especially good for making scallion oil, so don’t waste them! Cut the root and white part of the scallions into small pieces. Cut the green part into about 8cm long pieces. The texture of white part and root is not really suitable for eating after frying. However deep-fried green part is crispy and delicious, it is the best topping of scallion noodles. Let chopped scallions dry in the air.
Pour 500g of canola oil into an 18cm sauce pan. Like most vegetable oils, canola oil has a bland flavour. Before making scallion oil, let's add some aroma to canola oil first. Prepare 10 grams of sliced ginger and 15 grams of sliced garlic in advance. Add 5 grams of Sichuan pepper, 5 grams of star anises and 2 grams of coriander seeds to the pan. Add 15 grams of fennel seeds and 6 bay leaves. Give it a stir to submerge the spices in the canola oil. Heat over low to medium heat, closely monitoring the oil temperature. Keep the oil temperature as close as possible to 150C (300F) and fry the spices for 10 minutes. If the oil is too hot, the spices will burn. If the oil temperature is too low, it is difficult to extract the aromatic substances. Then add chopped scallion roots, ginger, garlic and chopped white part of scallions. Continue frying over low heat, stir it from time to time until the surface of the garlic slices turns golden brown and the edges of the white part and the roots of the scallions also turn golden yellow. Then take out the spices, scallions, ginger slices, and garlic slices. Get rid of spices and fried veggies, at this time the canola oil has been reborn. The aroma is tangy, no longer mediocre as before. Just waiting for the scallion green to make the finishing touch.
Heat the filtered oil to 130C (270F) over low heat. Gently place the dried scallions into the pot. The flavour of the previous spices and the green onion in the hot oil combine together and enhanced by each other making the scallion fragrance become more intense and prominent. If you omit the spice step the taste of the scallion oil made won't be that good. Slowly fry on low heat to evaporate the water in the green parts until they darken in colour and have a crisp texture. Take out the green onion and set aside. You see, fried scallions should sound like this. Filter the scallion oil through a fine sieve. The smell of scallion oil is not so strong now. You have to wait until it cools down to feel the overwhelming scallion fragrance.
There are some small brown particles left at the bottom of the pot, which are very fragrant. Don’t wash the pan and then use it to make the sauce. Take a cilantro and cut off the top, reserve the root to making sauce. Cut 1 French shallot and 25g carrots to slices. Add 60 grams of dark soy sauce, 180 grams of light soy sauce and 180 grams of water to the sauce pan. You need to dilute the soy sauce to make a proper sauce for noodle, otherwise it will be too salty. Add coriander root, chopped shallots and carrots. Add 10 grams of Kaiyang (dried shrimps). Add 50 grams of sugar to make the sauce taster better. Heat over low heat while stirring gently to dissolve the sugar. When the sauce is about to boil, let the pan cool off. Strain out the veggies inside, and the sauce for scallion noodles is ready. Put the sauce and scallion oil in a sealed box and store it in the refrigerator. Eat and use at any time, guarantee that you will not get tired of eating for a week.
Such beautiful scallion oil must be served with fresh homemade springy and silky noodles. For how to make noodles, please refer to previous video “Noodles” ( • 面条｜在家做出面馆里也吃不到的爽滑和筋道！ ). Cook noodles in boiling water to your favourite texture and take noodles out. Shake off excess water. Drizzle two tablespoons of scallion oil and two tablespoons of sauce. Mix gently. Finally, put a few pieces of deep-fried and crispy scallions.