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Char Kuey Teow (炒粿條/Penang Fried Flat Noodles)
November 3rd, 2009Malaysian Food, Recipes, Malaysian Recipes, Penang Food, Recipes141 Comments
Char Kuey Teow Recipe (炒粿條/Penang Fried Flat Noodles)
Ingredients:
Chili Paste:
1 oz. seeded dried red chiles (soak in water)
2 fresh red chilies (seeded)
3 small shallots (peeled and sliced)
1 teaspoon oil
A pinch of salt
Sauce (mix and blend well):
5 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
Scant 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 dashes white pepper powder
Other Ingredients:
12 shelled prawn (submerge in ice cold water plus 2 tablespoons sugar for 30 minutes)
1 lb. fresh flat rice noodles (completely loosened and no clumps)
1 lb. bloody cockles (extract the cockles by opening its shell)
2 Chinese sausages (sliced diagonally)
A bunch of fresh bean sprouts (rinsed with cold water and drained)
A bunch of Chinese chives (removed about 1-inch of the bottom section and cut into 2-inch lengths)
3 cloves garlic (chopped finely)
Step-by-Step Picture Guide of Making Char Kuey Teow (炒粿條/Penang Fried Flat Noodles):
Grind all the ingredients of the chili paste using a mini food processor until fine. Heat up a wok with 1 teaspoon oil and stir-fry the chili paste until aromatic. Dish out and set aside.
Clean the wok thoroughly and heat it over high flame until it starts to smoke. Add 2 tablespoons oil/lard into the wok and add half the portion of chopped garlic into the wok and do a quick stir.
Transfer six (6) prawn out of water and half the sausage slices into the wok. Make a few quick stirs with the spatula until the prawn starts to change color and you smell the aroma of the Chinese sausage.
Add half the bean sprouts into the wok.
Immediately follow by 8 oz. or half portion of the flat noodles.
Add 2 1/2 tablespoons of the sauce into the wok and stir vigorously to blend well. Using the spatula, push the noodles to one side, and add a little oil on the empty area and crack an egg on it. Use the spatula to break the egg yolk and stir to blend with the egg white. Flip the noodles and cover the egg, and wait for about 15 seconds.
Add about 1/2 tablespoon of chili paste (if you like it spicy, add more) and some cockle clams into the wok.
Continue to stir-fry and make sure the egg is cooked through. Add chives, do a couple of quick stirs, dish out and serve immediately.
Cook’s Note:
Repeat the same and make another serving of Char Kuey Teow using the remaining ingredients. Please take note of the proper sequence of the cooking process. This is how it’s done by Char Kuey Teow hawkers in Penang, an art that I love watching since I was a child. Also, a great plate of authentic Penang Char Kuey Teow should be medium brown in color. It shouldn’t be too dark with too much dark soy sauce.
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Firstly, I absolutely LOVE your website. It has all of the dishes that I loved in Asia. Secondly, Char Kuey Teow is my home comfort from Malaysia and can’t wait to try and make it!!
I’ll definitely be back very soon!
S
http://notjustmedical.wordpress.com
Thank you ! CKT from home -tried it and LOVED it.
Thanks for sharing your recipe. I have tried making CKT at home a few times. It comes out pretty OK but still missing something, like you say, the wok hei. Did you cook this at home? I think that it’s not possible to cook as delicious as the hawker stalls because of this missing wok hei. How do you compensate for this? What kind of wok do you use? I guess you use gas stove instead of electric? Just wondering. Thanks for sharing! Love your blog!
Well, I heat up my wok until it’s smoking hot and yes, I use gas stove.
you’ll probably need a cast iron wok to retain the heat, especially when using electric stoves.
Thumbs up for this recipe – one of my make at home favorites on our cast iron wok – thanks so much for this insight. It will always be difficult to get the hawker/ restaurant wok hei unless one is kitted out with the high pressure burner – though you can still get good results at home but it has to be gas on full blast. A conventional home gas burner does about 3000 BTU (heat units) some not even that. Looking at the hawker setups they probably do 20,000-40,000 BTU and I know Restaraunt burners do 60,000-90,000 BTU and higher – what a gas bill. We have a Rambo burner ($240) that does 20,000 BTU but we cook outside.
ive watched how the made it hawker style in penang..exactly like yours..
and i believe urs tasted the same :)
man now im hungry!!!!
char kuey teow penang style is the best!! and correct, i wonder y they’re not famous like pad thai..
now i want char kuey teow..hope i can somehow try it here in germany…first need to find the ingredients!!
Finally I got my Chow Kuey Teow right by following your receipe,thankyou. To John who wants to know how to soften the flat noodles. I put it in the microwave oven for two minutes to soften it. I usually buy a couple of flat noodles and leave them in my fridge for a week and they come out good after warming in the microwave oven.
By the way, I do not receive your receipes anymore. I look forward to your new receipes because they are so good! I am ready to cook something for Chinese New Year from your receipes. A very Happy and Healthy Chinese New Year to you and your crew.
Dorothy
Wah RM!… HOU KHENG ah…!!…. Been craving for CKT, now this post makes me crave for it even more…… :p Have to go find flat noodles and try some wok hei.. just hoping that I will the trigger the smoke alarm.. mISS Penang food so bad.. Thank you so much !!!!!!
*Correction* I will NOT trigger the alarm… sorry..
this title caught my attention. Cha Kuey Teow which means fried noodles in Teochew hehe
Thanks for posting this recipe! I’m a big fan of RasaMalaysia website. I’m an Indonesian but I grew up in Singapore and CharKueyTeow is definitely one of my fave dishes. Now I can try and cook this at home.
Thank you very much for this char kwey teow recipe. I have tried many versions, but for me, this one beats them all. The method is so uncomplicated. Prepared it for lunch yesterday….it was a success.
Grace – thank you. I love my recipe, too. It’s almost like eating at my favorite CKT hawker stall. I will need to fry it with lard the next time. :)
It’s one of the best Malaysian favorites to introduce to our foreign friends
wow,uniknya malaysia!!!
looks so good! was just wondering…for the soy sauce, is it kicap pekat or can i use the usual kicap manis/masin…eg. kicap cap habhal type? can’t wait to try it out!
Kicap manis is fine. Habhal is fine.
Hi, I love to eat Char Kuey Teow and I really want to have a go at your recipe. I have a few questions regarding some of the ingredients: is it Malaysian soy sauce/dark soy sauce? I don’t think I’ve come across it in london…can I use indonesian kecap manis instead or is that the same thing? Thanks!
Yes, you can use kecap manis but it will be sweeter.
Hi, me again! I went looking for malaysian dark soy sauce but was unable to find it so will use kecap manis instead – would you suggest to adjust any of the other flavourings to make it less sweeter and more smokier? This recipe also requires soy sauce – is that regular (chinese?) soy sauce? Thanks!
Yes on the soy sauce. For the dark soy sauce, just cook it to your taste.
Cooked it according to your steps, what can I say? It’s delicious! Technique is indeed the key, thank you, Bee for sharing. To those of you who haven’t try it, this is very worth trying and you won’t be disappointed for sure!
i saw somewhere on a cooking show before that restaurants pan fry the kuey teow with some oil to brown it slightly before frying it. This supposedly adds more flavor to it. But i think it was a recipe for “wat tan hor”. Can that be applied to char kuey teow as well? I tried pan frying the kuey teow and the kuey teow stuck together into clumps.
Street food is the yummiest, not to mention a great way to experience a country’s culture. I wish I had a wok to try out this recipe!
hiya, i wonder if you could please tell me how to make the chili paste pls? thank you in advanced!!!
Hi Bee
Love your recipes. A big Thank you from Australia.
Our whole family LOVES Char Kwey Teow so it is terrific to finally see your recipe. Thanks.
Do you or any readers have tips for a good Malaysian restaurant in the northern LA area? My husband visits there a few times a year and has yet to locate one. He’s missing his Laksa and CKT. :-)
Thanks again
Beth
That is one marvelous dish! So flavorful and beautiful. A combination of ingredients that is impossible to resist.
Cheers,
Rosa
Good point about why isn’t char koay teow as popular as pad thai. I’m surprised people know more about Thai food than Malaysian food since Malaya was a British colony, so the West was more exposed to Malaysian culture than Thai. I guess since Thailand tourism exploded in the last 20 years is probably the reason Thai food is more well known now.
But it’s hard to replicate the char koay teow in Penang. Just ask Singapore…
This is a funny comment, cracks me up!
I have been following your recipes they work wonderfully. It would be great if the number of serving is provided.
This serves 2 people.
I have searched everywhere for “the perfect” way to make Char Kway Teow, and this turned out perfectly. I’ve tried to make Char Kway Teow, like 15 times before and they turned out horribly. Following this recipe made a most amazing home cooked Char Kway Teow.
After cooking it several times I began experimenting with non traditional additions. Being portugeuse I introduced some finely chopped linguica and that added a very interesting kick. Thank so much for sharing this recipe!
u tear me … i want to cry looking at all this delicious food .. im in far far away land … sob sob
hello there
I am just wondering what sort of wok do you use?
Thanks
Yvonne
I dont know how to thank you for that amazing recipes , love you all my heart, i beg you for one more thing if you know of corse ,some penang fried rice recipes, thank you again
European addicted to asian food, good food and that here is definitely good
Hi Bee and first thanksfor your super-duper website I just found.
Having studied at Penang (USM) for semester, me and my morrocan flatmate fell totally in love with Char Keow Teow ! I think we ate that every 2 days minimum! Of course I generally love the food in Malaysia, the Char Keow Teow remains my all time favorite.
Saddly, there’s 1 malay restaurant in PAris, that doesn’t do my favorite stuff, and the Char Keow Teow in particular.
I tried to cook it a couple of times but it never tastes right. Just ok, but never close to the real thing.
I’ll practice with your recipe, and will go on dreaming about Malaysian Food ! (I miss Malaysia sooo much…)
Myriam
I love this receipe. Its so easy and most important its so yummy. My kids love it. I am so glad that this receipe has been shared with us. Thanks. A few query indeed. Why sweet dark sauce is not used in this receipe instead its using sugar? Aside, Do I have to maintain high heat on wok throughout the cooking or I can reduce heat once Kuay Teow is in the wok. I would also like to know how many portion is this quantity of 1lb kuay Teow cater for.
Penang hawker doesnt use sweet soy sauce and probably use MSG, which I use a little sugar to balance off the taste. Sorry not sure about the portion.
I have only tried to make Char Kuey Teow once and it was disasterous! lol I had it in a restaurant in San Francisco but it seemed different than your recipe. But my question is: is dark soy the same as kecap manis or do I need something different? Thanks. I am determined to learn as much as I can about Malaysian cooking as I can and want to make this again. Thanks
There are two types of dark soy sauce, don’t use keycap manis for this recipe it’s not supposed to be sweet.
The best CKT I had in Penang street stall was inside some warehouse in Betu Ferringhi in some back street. Do you know it Bee? Another secret the stall shared with us is to make only one portion at a time. It was a mighty long wait cause there were 7 of us but so worth it. Now, we can cook it with your recipe, yay, thx. Glad you mentioned hot wok, my mom would have hers screaming hot with quite a lot of oil. I’ve not made this, kinda intimidating but I’m going to try this.
Hi Bee,
I wash the kuey theow, and it sticks. Shoud I not wash it? Otherwise the char kuey theow tastes good. Thanks for posting the recipe.
No washing. Use as is as I indicated in the recipe.
AFter reading Grace Yong’s books about Breath of the Wok and Stir-frying to the Sky’s edge, I tried her special wok seasoning makeover technique five times and finally got ‘wok hei’ in jsut about everything cooked in my wok. I think what’s great is everyone can achieve ‘wok-hei’ cooking at home.
Hi, Nice recipe. I first tasted Char Kueh Teow in Singapore hawker stalls. Couldn’t get enough of it but have also had a number of variations. Some with beef and green capsicum, some with chicken and prawn. All different but still very tasty.
I have also been cooking CKT at home since I was taught it by a hawker stall owner in Penang following the Commonwealth games in KL in ’98, and I find it curious that the order they cooked it, and which I follow is not the same as yours, although you say it is important.
The spices and garlic were first in the wok, then the prawns and other fishy things (like cockles or squid tubes) and chinese sausage then the noodles, and then the egg and kecap manis. Yes, KM was used in the recipe and yes, it made it sweet, but I quite like that).The sprouts were always added last, and I use the tops of spring onions as the green instead of chives. Just a different flavour but they all taste wonderful in my opinion.
I am not sure about your order but cockles are never added at the beginning of the cooking as they will be way overcooked. There are no spices used other than the chili paste which is towards the end. Penang version of CKT doesn’t use kecap manis as it’s not supposed to taste sweet. Some hawkers add the bean sprouts towards the end but if you have great wok skills, the bean sprouts would not be overcooked even though it’s added at the beginning.
Thanks for this recipe! Being an oversea student, I’ve never thought I’ll be able to eat this out of Malaysia let alone cooking it by myself! Though I didn’t manage to get Chinese sausages or cockles, it still tastes nice with bean sprout, eggs and prawns! Love it!
Looks good, I’ve tried other recipes with success but I’m going to give yours a go tonight.I lived in Penang (Butterworth to be precise) for 2 years and fell in love with the tucker. Unfortunately even in Aus to get anything authentic Malaysian you more often than not need to make it yourself. Have you tried it with fried belachan in the paste?
No, CKT doesn’t has belacan. It’s not supposed to have it.
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OMG.. I love your website a lot, the instructions are very clear, thank you so much for sharing this recipe and other mouth watering recipes
The best Char Kway Teow comes from goggle man on Lorong Selamat.
Hi Gwai Lo,
I’m going to penang soon, can pinpoint actual location of the google man u mentioned?
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Excellent recipe. Thank You for sharing. The dish came out really good. This is one of my favorite dishes.
I used some local squid instead of the cockles.
Made this for dinner! My boyfriend and I both think it tastes really close to what we have back home! It’s even better than Chinese restaurant ones! Thanks for this :) it tastes like home, just that it’s in London!
I reside in Sydney and a restaurant chain here serves PAD THAI on their menu. The only problem is, their so-called PAD THAI is obviously CHAR KUEY TEOW and NOT PAD THAT! (I guess they did this switch because it’a a lot easier for Aussies to pronounce pad thai over char kwey teow. Lol) They are clearly miseducating the Aussies, but admittedly, they do make a very yummy and close to authentic char kwey teow. It even has that distinct wok hei flavor. :D
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