There is nothing better than a quick meal like these Singapore noodles on a busy night. Asian flavours are always a hit in our house, and Char Sui (Chinese BBQ pork) is an absolute home run. Putting the two together gives you a stir fry bursting with flavour in just 30 minutes!
If you’ve never tried Singapore noodles before, you’re in for a treat! They’re a rice vermicelli noodle, flavoured with curry powder, and whatever veggies and meat you like. Shrimp, chicken, and chinese BBQ pork are all classics, or you can make it vegan or vegetarian by using tofu or scrambling up some eggs instead.
What are Singapore Noodles?
Well, like a lot of the “Chinese Food” we eat here in North America, you aren’t going to find them in Singapore. You will probably see them on just about every take-out menu you have squished in your kitchen junk drawer though.
Singapore noodles are a stir-fried dish of very thin rice vermicelli noodles. It’s flavoured simply with a little mild curry powder, soy sauce, and chinese cooking wine. It’s also a great dish to use up those vegetable odds and ends in your fridge. Onion, carrots, bell peppers, cabbage, mushrooms, and bean sprouts are all welcome additions.
This dish is just as versatile with protein as it is with vegetables. It works just as well with tofu as it does char sui, scrambled eggs, shrimp, or thinly sliced chicken breast. The options are endless, which make it so easy to pull together any night of the week. I mean seriously, who doesn’t love a stir-fry that uses up all the stuff you have lying around in your fridge already!
Chinese BBQ Pork aka Char Sui
Char sui is one of my absolute favourite things to eat. I could honestly eat this once a week. When ever I would order take-out chinese food I would always grab all the BBQ pork out of the Cantonese Chow Mein. Then I found out that you could order just a container of BBQ from the appetizers. O.M.G. But take out Chinese food is already expensive in this house. We need fried rice, noodles, chicken balls, sweet and sour pork, fried shrimp, won ton soup, black pepper beef, egg rolls, and a couple orders of friend won-tons to make everyone in the house happy. Adding another ten dollars to the order gets hard to stomach (especially because half of the other items are for me too, hahaha!).
I had to figure out how to make it myself. Especially once I realized how many other things you can add it to. You can make just enough for the Singapore noodles, but I would recommend doing a giant batch ahead of time. You’ll see in the notes section of my recipe, that once it’s cooked and cooled, you can slice it up and keep it in the freezer for up to three months.
Making it ahead like that, means dinners like this can be start to finish in just 30 minutes! It’s also great diced up and added into some fried rice, into some wonton soup inspired broth, a stir fry, or just eaten on it’s own. Grab my recipe for Chinese BBQ Pork here.
Singapore Noodles with Char Sui Recipe
Alright, reading the post shouldn’t take longer to do than making the recipe right! Remember, keep it simple. Use what you have on hand, and the ingredients you know you like. If you haven’t tried a curry flavoured dish before, don’t be scared off by it. You’re going to love the sweet, subtle flavour it brings to the noodles!
Yield:
5 servings
Prep Time:
10 minutes
Cook Time:
20 minutes
Total Time:
30 minutes
Singapore is the perfect quick and delicious meal to clear your fridge out of all those veggies and proteins you don’t know what to do with! See the notes for lots of different vegetable and protein suggestions.
Ingredients
- 1 package dried rice vermicelli noodles (roughly 300g)
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp chinese cooking wine (or sub with dry cooking sherry)
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 tsp white sugar
- 2 tbsp mild curry powder
- 1/4 cup canola oil (or vegetable oil), divided
- 1 small red onion, sliced thinly (optional)
- 1 sweet bell pepper, sliced thinly (optional)
- 2 – 3 cups bean sprouts (optional)
- Char Sui (Chinese BBQ Pork – optional)
- Chopped cilantro leaves (to garnish, optional)
- Bean sprouts (to garnish, optional)
- Cashew nuts (to garnish, optional
Instructions
- Put the noodles in a large, heatproof bowl and cover with boiling water. Let sit for 5 – 6 minutes, stirring once or twice to seperate, until tender. Drain under cold water.
- While the noodles are softening, take a small bowl and whisk together the soy sauce, cooking wine, water, sugar, and curry powder until the sugar dissolves.
- Set a wok or a large frying pan over medium-high heat and add 1 tablespoon of the oil. Add your vegetables to the pan, except for the bean sprouts if using them, and sauté for 2 – 3 minutes until slightly softened. Remove the vegetables from the pan and set aside.
- Reduce the heat to medium and add the remaining 3 tablespoons oil to the pan. Add the curry mixture and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes, until fragrant. Add the noodles, and toss to coat well. Return the vegetables to the pan, along with the bean sprouts if using, and the char sui (or other protein of your choice). Stir-fry until everything is heated through, about 3 minutes.
- Divide into bowls and top with cilantro, raw bean sprouts, and cashew nuts if using.
Notes
Vegetable Suggestions
This is a great recipe to use up those vegetables you have hanging around in your fridge at the end of the week. Here are some suggestions that work well, but use anything you like and have!
- Onions (red or sweet onions are especially great)
- Sweet bell peppers (red, yellow, orange)
- Green bell peppers
- Bean sprouts
- Shredded cabbage (green or red)
- Mushrooms
- Carrots
Protein Suggestions
I do love my Char Sui, but don’t feel like you have to be tied to that. This recipe works great will all kinds of different proteins! Here are a few of my favourites.
- Chinese BBQ pork (Char Sui)
- Chicken (sliced thinly, then sautéd on it’s own after vegetables) (pre-cooked sliced chicken is a great quick option too!)
- Shrimp (just sauté after the veggies are removed, then remove and add back in with the cooked vegetables)
- Eggs (top with an over-easy fried egg at the end, or make some scrambled eggs and add them back in along with the vegetables and noodles at the end).
- Tofu makes this an awesome quick and easy vegetarian or vegan dish!
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