Seafood Rice Noodles with Choy Sum

​This is one of my all-time favorite dishes – “sup chow” (wet-fried) wide rice noodles with seafood.  To be honest, I often greedily load my plate with just the soft white noodles – especially if they’re speckled with brown spots like you see in the photo.  This is one indication that the dish will have good “wok hay”. Most closely translated as “breath of the wok”, it means the kitchen’s super-hot flames probably infused this dish with an almost smoky aroma. It’s not something easily accomplished at home with less powerful electric or even gas stoves. 
 
On top of the noodles, you’ll see shrimp, scallops, crab, squid, and thinly sliced fish cake (maybe I’ll get my mom’s recipe for homemade fish cake one day!). The leafy green vegetable is choy sum, a Chinese green that is eaten, stem, leaf, flower buds and all, similar to how broccoli raab is eaten.  Gai lan, or Chinese broccoli is a good substitution for choy sum and looks very similar.  Choy sum though, is a brighter and lighter green while gai lan is typically darker in color.  Both are delicious, especially when cooked till just tender and on this rice noodle dish! My sister’s recipe for a vegetarian variation of this dish can be found in The Chinese Kitchen Garden book.

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