Shanghai Spring Onion Noodles- "Cong You Ban Mian" Recipe

This time of the year I would normally be traveling to China for my fashion job but since I'm not traveling, I've really been craving one of my favorite Chinese noodles, Shanghai Spring Onion Noodles.

You might have guessed it from it's name but these delicious noodles originated in Shanghai. This was one of my favorites because for over 13 years I traveled to China for work as a vegetarian. Surprisingly, this popular noodle dish uses only a few household ingredients but it sure does packs in a lot of flavor. Slow-frying and browning the spring onions in oil until crispy infuses the noodles with a very rich savory sauce packed with lots of umami & onion yumminess!

INGREDIENTS

1/4 lb Chinese white noodles or your wheat noodle of choice (or ramen, egg noodles or I used 2 bundles of 100g udon noodles)

5 spring onion stalks shredded (no bulbs, julienned long 3" strips)
1/4 cup neutral oil (YouYou)

NOODLE SAUCE
2 tbs light soy sauce
2 tbs dark soy sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp Shaoxing wine (rice wine or cooking wine is fine)
1/3 tsp white pepper

GARNISH
1 tsp hot chili oil and flakes (optional for color and heat, or use hot chili oil -here-)
Toasted white sesame seeds
Fresh green onions

PREPARATION
1. Add oil to deep pan and wait until thin, hot and glossy. Then add your spring onions and fry over over medium-low until slightly browned and slightly crispy then remove. Use chopsticks to remove onions, then transfer to bowl and set aside.
2. In a large pot, cook noodles according to package (a little al dente) with 1.5 tbs of your scallion oil, stir occasionally, rinse well under cool water and drain in colander.
3. Add marinade sauce ingredients into your pan with the remaining scallion oil. Once sugar has dissolved, mix in your cooked noodles with sauce, mix half of green onion mixture in pan. Turn heat up to high and toss for a couple minutes. Add more dark soy sauce for darker color (about 1 tbs of dark soy sauce), add some hot chili oil for extra heat.

Garnish with other half of reserved fried green onions on top and drizzle some extra hot chili oil (optional) & sesame seeds and/or fresh scallions.