The vegetable vendors at the traditional market in Taiwan are often very friendly. If you buy a lot of stuff from one stand, often times they'll stuff some other items in your bag for free, like scallions, red chilies, ginger, and cilantro.
So I was kind of "forced" to accept the extra scallion this time, in a nice way of course. I wasn't plan to use scallion in this recipe, but since I got some free scallion on hand, might as well use it right? In fact, I think the extra scallion was actually very helpful, providing much more depth and flavor to the final braised noodles.
Braised noodles with luffa gourd and chicken meatballs 絲瓜貢丸雞湯煨麵 -
Ingredients (about 3 portions)?
- 1 luffa gourd (try to use the sweeter kind)
- 400 grams chicken meatballs (or regular pork meatballs 貢丸)
- 3 portions dried packaging thin noodles (no extra flour kind)
- 3 eggs
- 1 stalk scallion
- 500 grams chicken stock
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 tablespoons shrimp skin 蝦皮
- Some olive oil
- Some salt
- Some white pepper powder
- Some chili sauce or fresh red chilies (optional)
How?
Drizzle 2 to 3 tablespoons of olive oil to a wok and switch to medium high heat. Once warmed up, break in 3 eggs and sear. We are aiming for sunny side up with semi-runny yolk in the center, also slightly browned and crunchy edge for the egg white.
Once ready, scoop out the cooked eggs and set aside for later use.
Destem, peel, and slice the luffa gourd to chunks. Peel and chop the garlic cloves. Destem and section the scallion.
Still using the same wok, add more oil if needed. Add in the scallion sections and use medium heat to sear the scallion till slightly charred. Add in garlic and shrimp skin. Continue to sear a bit longer but not burning the garlic bits.
Pick out the scallion here if desired. This is just for a smoother bite for the final noodles. If you don't mind having some charred scallion texture then just keep it there.
Add the luffa and give it a quick stir-fry. Add in chicken meatballs and cook for another 30 seconds or so. I was lucky and found an online vendor that sells all-natural no-additives meatballs, and frankly speaking it was surprisingly delicious too. Didn't expect that from such "clean" product.
Pour in 500 grams of chicken stock. Bring the entire thing to a boil then lower the heat to keep it at a light bubbling stage. Taste and adjust the flavor with salt if needed. I added 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt here. Continue to cook for 3 more minutes.
Add the dry packaging thin noodles directly to the stock. The reason why we use packaged noodles instead of fresh noodles is due to its lowered flour content clinging onto the noodles. If using fresh noodles, it'll be too much flour and the soup will be too gooey in the end.
So the pre-packaged dry noodles is just about right. The way we cook the noodles with the stock instead of using another pot of water can slightly thicken the soup without turning it into a dense mess.
Continue to cook till the noodles are ready and reaches your desired texture. Taste and season with more salt if needed. But do sprinkle some white pepper powder and mix till evenly blended for that extra hidden aroma.
Scoop to serving bowls. Top each serving with one sunny side up egg. Also add some chili sauce or fresh red chili rings if preferred.
The soup was super flavorful, it was like umami-packed but yet refreshing in a way. I also love the slightly thickened stock clinging onto every noodles in the end, so delicious.
By the way, the luffa gourd variety I used was more of a ball-shaped instead of the longer cylindrical-shaped. It's called fruit luffa gourd in Taiwan 水果絲瓜, which is sweeter than the longer kind. Use this variety if you can find it.
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