Slippery noodle suppers quickly whipped up in a wok are just the ticket when you’re in a hurry. You won’t need any little sachets of sauce to bring this one alive: the flavours come from a couple of bottles you are likely to have in the cupboard and rather a lot of fresh ginger. The dark sauce coats the silky strands of briefly soaked egg noodles, giving them a hit of sweet chilli and salty yet deeply savoury soy with a tang of Chinese cooking wine. The latter is easy to find in most supermarkets but a slug of dry sherry is a close approximation. Duck livers are larger and richer than chicken, but either is suitable. They behave slightly better in the pan, and the texture is creamier and less crumbly. I’ve taken to preparing bok choi like chard, separating leaves from stalks. In a dish like this they need to be sliced anyway, and you end up with juicy stalks and just-wilted leaves. Use chopsticks if you dare.
Serves 2
Prep: 20 min
Cook: 20 min
Ingredients
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1 large onion
2 tbsp vegetable oil
25g piece fresh ginger
1 garlic clove
2 nests egg noodles
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2 bok choi
1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
100g duck or chicken livers
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Method
Quarter and peel the onion. Thinly slice across the pieces. Heat the oil in a spacious sauté pan and stir in the onion. Cook over a medium heat, stirring often, for about 15 minutes until wilted and taking on colour. As the onions cook, peel, slice and chop the ginger into shirt button size pieces. Peel the garlic, split lengthways, remove the green shoot and slice finely. Boil the kettle. Place the noodles in a bowl or pan and cover with boiling water from the kettle. Leave for a few minutes, swirling with a fork as they soften to separate the strands. Drain. Separate the bok choi leaves. Cut off the stalks and keep two piles: leaves and stalks. Mix wine, soy and chilli in a cup. Slice the livers in chunky strips. Pat dry with kitchen paper. Stir ginger and garlic into the onions, stir-frying constantly for a couple of minutes. Now add the livers, tossing quickly to seal. After a couple of minutes add the liquid and the bok choi stalks. Keep stirring, then add the leaves. As soon as they have wilted, stir in the drained noodles. Toss to heat through and serve while juicy and luscious.