One of the most epic noodle dishes in the world from the streets of Malaysia: Char Kway Teow! Big flavours, contrasting textures and the signature hint of charred smokiness, this is bold South East Asian food at its best!
Char Kway Teow
I’ve shared many a recipes that I say are deceptively easy. From dumplings to quiches, with process photos and videos, even first-timers are able to follow along and are delighted to crown themselves Dumpling Queens, Wonton Kings, or Quiche Masters. (Self-proclaimed titles are fully encouraged around here!)
Char Kway Teow is probably the first recipe ever that I’m going to describe as deceptively difficult.
What may seem to be quite a straightforward stir fried noodle dish is actually a bit of an art that’s been perfected by Malaysian street hawkers, and it’s taken me this long to share the recipe because I wanted to ensure I could make it doable for anyone.
So today, I’m sharing the recipe two ways:
Base Recipe (experienced cooks): where everything is cooked at the same time in a wok or skillet, Hawker style; and
Easier Method: where ingredients are cooked individually then brought together at the end.
Use the Easier Method if you don’t have a strong stove, heavy based cast iron wok or very large heavy based skillet, if you are a newbie to the wok-cooking-world or if you simply prefer a more leisurely experience making this. Because this recipe moves fast once you hit the stove!
CKT thorns in my side!
When it comes to Char Kway Teow, I have two thorns in my side:
Noodle breakage – those wide, soft, slippery rice noodles are essential to a true Char Kway Teow experience. But they are notoriously delicate and prone to breaking when preparing and even worse, when cooking. I’ve covered this in the section below; and
The hint of charring – that aroma of smokiness from the wok – wok hei in Chinese, meaning “breath of the wok” – is part of the real Char Kway Teow experience. Unfortunately for us home cooks, our burners are simply no comparison to the fierce heat of Asian restaurant kitchens. So the charring is limited to a bit of caramelisation on the edges of the noodles, and on the Chinese sausage and fish cakes. This is something we must just accept. We can get close to the real deal – but not all the way. 😔 (And regular readers know it takes a lot for me to concede defeat)
HOW TO PREPARE FRESH RICE NOODLES
Fresh, wide rice noodles are notoriously difficult to work with, prone to breaking when handled – even before they make it into the wok.
So it’s not a question of if the noodles will break – it’s how much they will break. Even Char Kway Teow at restaurants have broken noodles. So don’t expect to see a long noodle pull shot with Char Kway Teow – that photo above is the best I’ve ever been able to capture!
Here are my tips to minimise noodle breakage:
Fresh is best – Fresh noodles break less than dried. Really fresh noodles that have just been made and not even refrigerated break the least. I use refrigerated, packaged fresh rice noodles (I get mine from Harris Farm Markets and Asian stores);
Warm the noodles before portioning out the amount you need and separating the noodles which are stuck together. My chosen method: microwave. Alternative: run under warm tap water.
DO NOT boil or soak in boiling water or attempt to break apart fridge cold noodles. This = noodles breaking into a gazillion tiny pieces.
Minimise handling in wok. I know this goes against the very ethos of wok cooking, but the more they are handled, the more they break.
Toss or gently turn noodles in wok. You’ve always wanted to be a Wok Master and now’s your time to show off! Tossing is best to minimise noodle breakage, otherwise, use a spatula and a wooden spoon to gently turn the noodles in the wok (see video for technique).
Quick food nerd trivia moment:
* Gluten holds noodles/pasta together, and rice noodles have no gluten. Hence the breakage.
* Thinner noodles, like those used in Singapore Noodles and this Stir Fried Rice Noodles hold up much better to wild tossing in the wok.
CHAR KWAY TEOW INGREDIENTS
There are a handful of signature ingredients in Char Kway Teow that will require a trip to the Asian store, and possibly showing the shop assistant the photos above to locate the items. It’s worth it, I promise! But actually, if you use my substitution suggestions, you can make this without a trip to an Asian store. 🙂
Chinese Sausage (Lup Chong) – Australia! This is sold at Coles and Woolies, can you believe that?? This is China’s answer to chorizo and bacon. It is salty and sweet, a very distinct flavour that is unlike anything else and it’s addictive. It’s sold in the Asian aisle (not fridge). You’ll only need 1 for this recipe so use the remainder in place of the Chinese BBQ Pork in Singapore Noodles, or for Fried Rice – it totally takes it to another level and puts the humble bacon to shame!!
Fried Fish Cakes / Pieces – It’s bouncy and it kind of tastes like seafood sticks, and it’s part of the Char Kway Teow experience. It’s sold in the fridge section of Asian stores. It can be substituted with other Asian Fish Balls that are sliceable (like this one from Coles or this one from Harris Farms). Toss leftovers into Chinese Noodle Soup or even Chinese Corn Soup!
Garlic Chives – they look like grass blades and taste like garlicky chives. If you can’t find them, it’s not the end of the world – just use normal chives or finely slice green onions on the diagonal. Or even leave it out.
The normal stuff – prawns/shrimp, egg, bean sprouts and garlic. Nice and easy to find!
CHAR KWAY TEOW SAUCE
The sauce is pretty straight forward – dark and light soy sauce, Oyster Sauce and Kecap Manis, also known as sweet soy sauce. It has a consistency like maple syrup – see photo below.
You need both dark and light soy sauce because they play different roles in this recipe – the dark stains the noodles and adds flavour as well as saltiness to the sauce, whereas the light soy doesn’t stain the noodles, has less flavour but provides more saltiness.
RECIPE SOURCES
This recipe is another RecipeTin Family effort. To craft our ideal home-style Char Kway Teow recipe, we firstly hit up some favourite Sydney Malaysian restaurants for “research”. Ho Jiak’s signature Char Kway Teow is one of our favourites, and was especially an inspiration.
As usual we also scoured YouTube to see the pros in action, watching video after video of food vendors on the streets of Malaysia tossing huge woks of Char Kway Teow to see how it’s done. (It was a double thumbs up if the dude was also shirtless and smoking a cigarette as he cooked.)
We even enlisted translation services for some of the videos so we could hear the chefs explain what makes a good Char Kway Teow!!
Classic Char Kway Teow usually includes blood cockles which we can’t easily find and personally find them less essential than the other ingredients so have left them out for our version.
We’ve eaten an inordinate amount of Char Kway Teow in recent weeks, creating this recipe. We know homestyle can’t be a perfect replica of street food, but we are darn happy with the results – and hope you love it too! – Nagi x
PS Ticking another off the Request a Recipe list!! And added to the DONE list (bottom of that post).
GREAT NOODLES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
- Chow Mein
- Pad Thai
- Pad See Ew (Thai Stir Fried noodles)
- Singapore Noodles
- Browse the Noodle recipes collection!
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
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Char Kway Teow
Ingredients
- 500 g / 1 lb fresh wide rice noodle (Note 1)
- 2 tbsp lard , or vegetable oil (Note 2)
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil , separated
- 10 small prawns/shrimp , shelled and deveined
- 2 garlic cloves , finely chopped
- 1 Chinese sausage / Lup Chong Sausage , sliced thinly on the diagonal (Note 3)
- 5 cm / 2″ piece of fried fish cake , sliced thinly (Note 4)
- 20 stems garlic chives , cut into 4 pieces (Note 5)
- 2 1/2 cups bean sprouts
- 2 eggs , whisked
Sauce:
- 5 tsp dark soy sauce (Note 6)
- 4 tsp light soy (Note 6)
- 2 tsp oyster sauce (Note 6)
- 4 tsp kecap manis / sweet soy sauce (Note 6)
Instructions
- Mix Sauce together.
Noodles:
- Do not attempt to pull noodles apart while cold and hard – they break.
- Place whole packet in microwave, heat on high for 1 1/2 minutes – 2 minutes until warm and pliable, not hot, turning packet over as needed.
- Handle carefully and measure out 500g/1 lb noodles into a heatproof bowl. Separate noodles stuck together.
- If noodles become cold and brittle before cooking, cover with cling wrap and microwave for 30 seconds to make warm (not hot, just warm) to reduce breakage.
- Cook using Base Recipe (capable cooks) or Easier Method.
Cooking – BASE Recipe:
- Heat lard and 1 tbsp oil in a wok or very large heavy based skillet over high heat. Swirl around the wok.
- When it starts smoking, add prawns. Cook for 30 seconds.
- Add garlic, stir for 10 seconds.
- Add noodles, then using both hands on the handle, toss 4 times until coated with oil (or gently fold using a spatula + wooden spoon, see video).
- Add Chinese sausage and fish cake, toss or gently fold 4 times.
- Add bean sprouts and garlic chives, toss or gently fold 6 times.
- Push everything to one side, add remaining 1 tbsp oil. Add egg and cook, moving it around until mostly set – about 1 minute. Use wooden spoon to chop it up roughly.
- Pour Sauce over noodles, then toss to disperse Sauce through the noodles. Pause between tosses to give the noodles a chance to caramelise on the edges.
- Serve immediately!
Cooking – EASIER Method:
- Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large non stick skillet over high heat.
- When heated, add shrimp and cook for 1 1/2 minutes until just cooked through, then remove into bowl
- Add Chinese sausage and fish cake, and cook for 1 minute until sausage is caramelised, then add to bowl.
- Add 1 tbsp oil then add egg and cook, pushing in the edges to make a thick omelette. Once set, chop it up roughly using a wooden spoon (see video), then add to bowl.
- Add bean sprouts and cook for about 1 minute until just starting to wilt, then add to bowl.
- Add lard. Once melted and starting to smoke, add garlic then immediately add noodles. Fold gently 4 times using a spatula + wooden spoon (see video) just to disperse oil through noodles.
- Tip all the other ingredients back in plus the chives. Fold gently twice, then pour all the Sauce over.
- Gently toss 4 to 6 times to disperse the sauce, pausing in between to allow the noodles to have a chance to caramelise on the edges a bit.
- Remove from stove and serve immediately.
Recipe Notes:
** See Note 7 for suggestions for alternative add ins. 1. Noodles: Char Kway Teow (“CKT”) is made with wide, flat fresh noodles, available in the refrigerated section of Asian grocery stores and some supermarkets in the fridge section (Harris Farms in Australia). They are about 1.5 – 2 cm / 3/5 – 4/5″ wide, sold in plastic packets. They require precise handling to prepare and cook, otherwise you’ll end up with a bowl full of noodles broken into a gazillion pieces, so please follow the recipe directions. Other methods to warm and loosen noodles: leave noodles out of fridge overnight then place in colander under running warm tap water and gently loosen with fingers. Or submerge leak proof packet in warm water until warm and pliable. DO NOT soak in boiling water or cook in boiling water (they fall apart). Do not attempt to separate or cook cold noodles If you try this recipe with dried wide rice noodles, expect high noodle breakage. If you only have access to dried rice noodles, I recommend using ones maximum 0.5cm / 1/5″ thick (dried) as these hold up to wok tossing better. See further info in post about rice noodle breakage. Use 200g / 7 oz dried noodles. 2. Lard is pork fat and it adds flavour to this dish because fat = flavour! It’s sold alongside butter at supermarkets in Australia (Coles, Woolies. IGA), otherwise, just use more oil. 3. Chinese Sausage – Found in the Asian aisle at large supermarkets (Coles, Woolies) or Asian stores. It’s not refrigerated, it’s vac packed, about 13cm / 5″ long, 1.5cm / 1/2″ wide. Tastes like chorizo but it’s sweet, not spicy, and has an Asian-y flavour. It’s an essential part of the CKT experience. Use leftover in fried rice, it’s amazing, or in place of Char Siu in Singapore Noodles. It caramelises quickly because of the sugar so be mindful of that. If packet says to boil 15 minutes – ignore this. When sliced and pan fried, it takes 60 seconds to be caramelised, snackable perfection. 4. Fried Fish Cake – Found in the fridge at Asian stores. Use leftovers in Chinese Soup or Chinese Corn Soup. Can be substituted with sliced Asian fish balls sold at supermarkets. 5. Garlic Chives – Looks like blade of grass, tastes like garlicky chives. Not essential – sub with normal chives or finely sliced green onions on the diagonal, or even leave out. 6. The Sauces (see photo in post, can get all at supermarkets in Australia):
* Soy Sauces – you need the dark soy sauce here for flavour, can’t be substituted. The light soy sauce can be substituted with all purpose soy sauce but do not use more dark soy sauce (it will overwhelm the dish).
* Kecap Manis is also known as sweet soy sauce. The consistency is more like maple syrup rather than water. 7. Add in alternatives: Chopped chicken thighs instead of shrimp/prawns, sliced firm tofu instead of fish cakes (use leftover for Pad Thai!), and Char Siu (Chinese BBQ Pork) or bacon for Chinese Sausage (maple cured would be closest). It won’t be traditional CKT – but it will still be super tasty! 8. Recipe Sources: See in post for how this recipe was developed! 9. Serves 2 very generously, or 3 sensible servings. Nutrition assumes 3 servings. I’ve had to use some estimations here because nutrition information on some ingredients are not readily available in the software I use to calculate nutrition. Reduce sodium by using low sodium soy sauce, and less Chinese sausage (slice it super thinly, or chop into small batons to make go further).
Nutrition Information:
LIFE OF DOZER
If dogs could talk: “Well come on. Give me a leg up, will ya?”
Great back story to recipe, and the best recipe I have found on line. No flavour devaluing omissions to make it simple, but some nice alternative cooking options to help with the difficulties of underpowered home stoves and cooking for two wok/noodle dishes. I only added one thing, some shrimp paste for added flavour and depth. Yum. This is being printed and added to my favourites recipe folder.
Would love to try this but can’t seem to get really high heat from my induction cooktop. Could you tell me the brand of the portable gas stove you use. There are so many to choose from. Also I have purchased and tried 3 woks and every one sticks. Can you tell me the brand you use ?
Hi Tracey
if you have an outdoor space I would suggest the companion single wok burner available in lots of camping shops. It gets pretty close to the desirable temp and is stable and lasting. I can product this recipe for 2 people with it.
I made this twice in a week – my excuse was that I’d bought a 1kg bag of rice noodles and needed to use them up! This is one of my favourite dishes and I have never before tried a recipe that was so bang on for flavour…and I’ve tried a lot. I bought dripping/lard just for this, and I now see it as an excellent investment purchase as this will be a regular on our table. I used chicken thigh and lop cheong as we don’t love seafood, and finished it with lashings of my homemade chilli oil sediment to bump up the heat. Just delicious! And thank you so much for teaching me how to stop those lovely but delicate rice noodles from falling apart. Soaking has never worked, but the microwave worked a treat. Yum!
I always put a couple of teaspoons of minced chilli in to give things a bit of a kick along when making CKT. The Malaysian place at the food court over the road makes a great version but if I’m having a good day I can get close. Yours looks great too!
Amen! 🙂
I would like to call myself a dumpling king. In fact, that is gonna be my pet name for myself for a while. haha. This dish looks awesome and I am always up for a challenge! I am gonna give this one a whirl.
So seriously this is one of my favorite dishes EVER. I got so excited when I saw the recipe pop up in my email. I haven’t been able to find this dish in the states (perhaps if I venture up to LA I can find it), so I’m super excited. I’ve never tried to make it myself before. Unfortunately my wok is MIA for a few months cause my temp apartment does not have a gas stove…but I’m totally making this once I’m up and running again.
Glad to hear you’re so excited about this one Danielle! 🙂 Do hope you get wokking again soon 🙂 PS I don’t have a gas stove either, I use a portable gas stove, the one I use for videos, just to to stir fries! N xx
Where can you buy the rice noodles
Any Asian grocery stores. Where are you?
My name is Blaine… and I Char my noodles on a deep fryer.
The only way I can find to get the Wok up to “Warp Temp.”
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/61572719882889626/
Love me some smokey Rice Noodles. Chow Fun was my hit or miss till I found TRUE HEAT!!
Hey to your Furry Child.
Woah! I LOVE THAT IDEA!!
It’s also my Camping Cook Station… What Can’t you cook in a Wok with a lid???
A tip for those that are after the heat needed for these sort of recipes – jump on eBay and search for Rambo Wok Burner. Hooks up to your lpg bbq bottle and throws out an immense amount of heat. For around $200 delivered, it will be the best new toy you will buy for proper wok cooking at home.
GENIUS!!!!
I really like how you explain everything in detail.
Where to buy ingredients, pics of the ingredients, how to prepare and cook and heaps of other little hints!!
Thanks
I’m glad you find it useful Kristene! N xx
DOZER legs ARE strong, healing nicely. Food looks yum But WOULD leave THIS one to a profesionals. For one person do ALL THIS at home NOT for me.how ever finding very interesting instruktivne SUCH rice NOODLES. HAVE used sauseg in past, love IT. HAVE good week!
He’s doing great Vera, thanks for asking!!! N xx
Hi Nagi,
I don’t have a microwave, so how would I lightly heat the noodles in the packet in hot water?
Hi Deb! I’ve put a couple of alternative methods in the recipe notes 🙂 My brother prefers to loosen the noodles under warm tap water 🙂
Thanks so much. Can’t wait to try it on the weekend.
Hi Nagi
Are there alternative ingredients that I can use instead of the fish cakes and prawns?
I know it will make it much less authentic but I’m just not a fan of seafood and really want to make this recipe!
I do however LOVE Chinese sausage and will definitely be keeping that in 🙂
HI Jess! There’s actually plenty of variations of CKT so don’t worry about that!! I’ve added suggestions in the notes – chicken thighs and firm tofu slices would be my suggestion (then use leftover firm tofu slices to make pad thai!!)
Hi Jess – I hope you don’t mind me replying, but I’m in the same anti-seafood boat as you! Personally I often make my kway teow with some char sui or some chicken thigh. This recipe looks the business and I can’t wait to try it! Cheers, Beck
Hi Beck! Thanks so much for helping Jess! My suggestions are: Slice of firm tofu in place of the fish cakes and chicken in place of the shrimp. Char siu is also a brilliant idea! I will add these in the recipe notes 🙂 N x
This was my favourite dish of mums when I was a kid . . . my ten year old is going to start cooking dinner one night a week and this was his first choice for his first cook! I usually use a different recipe but we are going to try this one. We also use char siu in ours – so good!
Woah! CKT was his first cook?? He should be on MasterChef!!!
Another great recipe for me to try on this cold and windy Melbourne day. Love the fact that I can just pop into Coles/Woolies for the ingredients. Thanks Nagi xx
Hope you love it Belle!! N xx
Love CKT! Some helpful pointers; limit breakage of the noodles by first mixing it with some of the sauce before throwing them into the wok. I find it easier to mix up the noodles by hand, with gloves on. We Also cook this on the burner of the BBQ outside to avoid the smokiness inside . One more ingredient to add is a splash of fish sauce, you won’t taste it but it gives a little oomph. And if you can get it, use duck eggs.
That’s a great idea too! Thanks so much Chris! N xx
Is Chinese sausage pork? Is there another option for your pork-free followers?
Hi Valerie! Turkey bacon would be a a nice sub – or any cured beef sausage! N x
Hi Valerie, yes the sausage is pork based. I use Turkish sukulu sausage for my non pork eating friends, it is beef based. Hope that helps 🙂
That’s such a terrific tip Margot, thanks! N xx
This is my favourite Malaysian dish, love the smokiness flavour. Hope I can get it to taste the same as my noodle bar.
But, I too am questioning the cooking time for the Chinese sausage, thought it would need more.
Also, I always thought the fish cake was tofu. 🤪
Hi Sharon! The pack says 15 minutes boiling but I swear, once you slice it and pan fry it, it takes 60 seconds max to cook! I guess the packet cook time is to boil it whole?? 🤔 Never done it 🙂
Thanks Nagi, I have only used the sausage once, must say I wasn’t a real fan of the flavour. But will try again, as I don’t think the chorizo is the right flavour either. But I do love Chorizo 😁
Hey Nagi!
I can’t wait to try this recipe!
Sharon,
I have always thought the same about the fish cake! Now I finally know what it is, thanks to Nagi. 😊😊
Hope you do try it Alex! It’s EPIC!!
Is sounds amazing but I’m not sure I’m confident enough to give it a go.
Can you pls tell me which software you use to calculate nutrition?
Thanks so much Nagi!
PS Use the easy method!! It really is much easier 🙂 N x
Hi Wendy! I use a program called Nutrionix which is free, but I’m about to move to a paid service 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi!
Very very interesting recipe. Will look around the few Asian groceries we have here to find ingredients. It’s a must try.
Love it with Dozer! 😂😂
Enjoy the day! Hugs…
Hope you get a chance to give this a go!! N xx
Could I use some sugar and more soy sauce instead of using the kecap manis?
http://www.fussfreecooking.com/recipe-categories/meatless-recipes/make-your-own-kecap-manis-indonesian-sweet-soy-sauce/. 🙂 N x