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Allium Oil Noodles With Prawns
Punch up your traditional scallion oil noodles with alliums.
Jonathan Ng
January 07, 2025
Chinese New Year (or Lunar New Year for some readers) is three short weeks away and we’re kicking off our New Year series with a homely noodle dish—traditional scallion oil noodles— kicked up a few notches.
This works as a noodle course in a Chinese banquet menu; the subtle sweetness of the sugar and the addition of sharp black vinegar is a refreshing way to say goodbye to the savory courses and welcome the desserts. If you’re cooking for a large group, this dish works just as well, because the ingredients are easily cooked in bulk and tossed together at the end. Although you might want to forego julienne-ing cucumber if you’re cooking for a crowd.
We start by making an infused allium oil. You may remember a recent Edible Gifts post where we made an Aglio Olio Infused Olive Oil. It’s the same principle. Heat an oil with aromatics—in this case leek, onion, spring onion (or scallion) and ginger—in order to infuse the oil with extra flavor. Strain it when ready and reserve. You can use this oil to add flavor to any dish, so I encourage you to make extras.
Take the aromatics almost to the point of burning, but not quite, to extract the most flavor.
We then use the infused allium oil to fry both dried prawns and fresh prawns. The dried prawns are first rehydrated in Chinese cooking wine, and the combination adds plenty of umami. The dried prawns also add texture to the dish. Fresh prawns are a source of protein and also provide a subtle sweetness.
Dietary Note
You can omit the dried and fresh prawns to make this recipe vegan.
Finally, we add in light soy sauce for saltiness, dark soy sauce for color, sugar for sweetness, and black vinegar for brightness, especially with such an oil-forward dish, and toss everything together. We finish with julienned cucumber to add freshness to the dish.
That’s it for this week. Look forward to more New Year yumminess this month!
The Recipe
Allium Oil Noodles With Prawns
Intermediate · Active 25 mins · Total 1 hour · Serves 4
Scallion oil noodles are quick and easy to make if you have the oil ready. Boil the noodles, toss in oil and soy sauce and you're basically done. I wanted to dress this up a little so I started with punching up the oil by adding leek, onion, spring onion and ginger. Shallots would have been a perfect addition, but I had accidentally used them up earlier that day. I added dried prawns soaked in Chinese cooking wine to add umami and depth of flavour, prawns for some protein, and black vinegar to brighten up a relatively heavy dish. Finally, the cucumber is there to add some freshness and visual contrast with the soy-tossed noodles. If you can, make a larger batch of allium oil because it's an easy way to add flavor to your dishes.
Allium Oil
60 ml vegetable oil
1/4 leek
2 spring onions
1/2 onion
1 small piece ginger
1. Slice leek, spring onion, onion and ginger. Don't slice too thinly, because the alliums will burn and make the oil bitter.
2. In a large saucepan, heat oil over low heat. Add the sliced leek, spring onion, onion, and ginger.
3. Cook gently until the alliums turn almost black, but before they start to burn. This should take around 20-30 minutes.
4. Strain the oil and discard the vegetables. Store the oil in an airtight container. It should last two weeks in the refrigerator. You can make the oil ahead of time.
Rehydrated Dried Prawns
4 tbs dried prawns
2 tbs Chinese cooking wine
1. Add dried shrimp to a small bowl and pour over Chinese cooking wine. Leave to rehydrate while you continue with the other steps.
Noodles
400 grams dried noodles (wheat noodles are traditional, but any firm noodles will do)
1. While the oil is infusing, cook the noodles. In a large pot, boil water and cook the noodles according to package instructions. Drain and set aside.
To Finish
2 cucumber
4 tbs allium oil
24 prawns
Rehydrated Dried Prawns
4 tbs light soy sauce
6 tbs dark soy sauce
2 tsp sugar
4 tsp black vinegar
1. Julienne the cucumber.
2. In a frying pan, heat the allium oil over medium heat until shimmering.
3. Add the prawns and fry on both sides until they are cooked through. Minimise stirring to give the prawns time to sear. Remove and set aside.
4. In the same pan, add the rehydrated dried prawns and cook until fragrant, about 5 minutes.
5. Stir in light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar, and black vinegar and bring to the boil. Simmer for 1 minute for the flavors to combine.
6. Toss the cooked noodles with the sauce.
7. Plate the noodles and top with fried prawns and julienned cucumber.
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Jonathan
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