Celebrate Lunar New Year with the recipe for Fat Noodle’s seafood longevity noodles courtesy of Executive Chef Luke Nguyen
As billions of people around the globe celebrate the arrival of the Year of the Tiger in February, our chefs are busy whipping up their interpretations of the dishes that define Lunar New Year. All sorts of symbolic foods find their way onto the table during Spring Festival – from the mandarins and dumplings that symbolise wealth to whole steamed fish with its associations of bounty and prosperity.
For Executive Chef Luke Nguyen, Longevity Noodles are a treasured culinary tradition during the celebration of Vietnamese Lunar New Year, better known at Tết. Longevity Noodles are one of the most symbolic dishes of the festival across Asia – with long, unbroken noodles promising a long, unbroken life for the diner.
In honour of Lunar New Year, Luke has created a limited-edition menu for Fat Noodle at The Star Sydney and Treasury Brisbane, with such auspicious dishes as a fresh prosperity salad featuring kingfish and salmon; a claypot of black moss with braised abalone and, of course, longevity noodles, served with seafood in a silky, egg-white sauce.
To give you a taste of what’s being dished up at Fat Noodle, Luke has shared his recipe for seafood longevity noodles. It’s a tradition to swallow the noodles without biting through them, so don’t be afraid to slurp!
Ingredients (1 serving)
- 200g somen noodles, blanched
- 50g (approx. 3pcs) Hokkaido scallops
- 100g (approx. 3pcs) king prawns, shelled
- 30g blue swimmer crab meat
- 50g (approx. 3 florets) broccoli
- 20g shiitake mushrooms
- 20g carrot
- 1 egg white
- 250ml chicken stock
- 1 tsp scallion oil
- 1 small handful of salt
- ½ tsp sugar
- 2 tsp of potato starch
- 1 tsp of oyster sauce
Method
- Bring water to the boil in a wok and lightly blanch the seafood, mushrooms and vegetables until just cooked, then drain.
- Reheat the wok to medium heat with 5 teaspoons of oil, return the seafood, mushrooms and vegetables and fry until medium-well cooked, then drain and set aside.
- Wipe out the wok and bring back to medium heat, add 1 teaspoon oil followed with the blanched somen noodles. Sauté for about 30 seconds, season with salt and transfer to a serving plate.
- Heat the scallion oil to medium heat in the wok, pour in the chicken stock, season with salt and sugar, reduce to a low heat and add the potato starch to thicken the liquid.
- Return the pre-cooked ingredients to the wok with oyster sauce and sauté for 30 seconds, adding the egg white for the last few seconds. Stir gently until the gravy reaches a silky consistency.
- Pour the contents of the wok over the somen noodles and enjoy!
Luke Nguyen
One of Australia’s top celebrity chefs, Luke Nguyen, is the culinary mind behind Fat Noodle at The Star Sydney and Treasury Brisbane and head chef and owner of the award-winning Red Lantern Vietnamese. Luke is also a best-selling author and renowned TV host of shows including Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam. Luke’s inspiration for Fat Noodle comes from his Vietnamese heritage and family history in China, with both countries reflected in the taste combinations and fusion of flavours.
We thought you might like…
