In Vietnamese, there’s a term called thanh toan, which means to take care of loose ends, settle the accounts per se. Every week, I have to thanh toan my refrigerator by using up all the bits of leftovers from prior meals and recipe testing. I don’t like to waste food and need to make space for new food too!
One of my favorite strategies for clearing out the fridge is to make panfried noodles with a stir-fried topping. Practically anything can go into the topping and the noodles are the carbs for the meal. Panfried noodles are an easy one-dish meal that my husband and I often make together. It’s a team cooking effort and we chat and sip wine as we prepare dinner.
Based on the leftovers panfried noodles tonight, this post outlines the master game plan that we've developed over the years. Follow it and tweak accordingly.
First, Rory and I mined the refrigerator and dug up a number of cooked and uncooked ingredients that needed to be redeployed as our panfried noodle dinner. We prepped and organized what you see in the above photo. From left to right, top to bottom:
¼ cup canned bamboo shoots
1 package enoki mushroom
½ yellow onion, sliced
1 large clove garlic, sliced
⅔ cup stirfried chicken with Chinese celery
2 Fresno chiles, thickly sliced
1 cup stir-fried beef
4 large shrimp, halved symmetrically so that they’d curl during cooking and go a longer
1 small grilled chicken thigh, sliced
To bulk up the veggies, I cut up 2 ribs of celery and 2 carrots.
A pot of water was brought to a boil and I parboiled the carrots and celery for about 1 minute, until they turned bright in color and were tender crisp. A vertical strainer like the one used for noodle soup is fabulous for that task because you put the vegetables in there and then lift them out, saving the water in the pot for – guess what? Boiling the noodles! (Remember to get multiple uses out of one pot of water so you save time and resources.)
I used thick dried Chinese noodles. A part of my Asian pantry, they’re a type of Shandong style of wheat noodles that cook up to the size of large spaghetti. Look for them in white boxes at a Chinese market. Once the water returned to a boil, Rory put 2 quarter-size bundles of the dried noodles into the pot.
Before the noodles were done, I scooped out a generous 1 cup of liquid from the pot of boiling noodles. That will be the broth for the stir-fry sauce. That ‘cheater’ stock was better than water because it was lightly seasoned by the vegetables and slightly thickened by the starches in the noodles.
When the noodles cooked through, Rory drained them (no rinsing) and I tossed them with a little salt and sesame oil. Then he panfried them in a 10-inch nonstick skillet with a little oil over medium-high heat.
“Get your stir-fry going,” he told me. Right – I seasoned my ‘cheater’ broth with these standard ingredients:
Light (regular) soy sauce
Oyster sauce
A little sugar
Salt
White pepper
Then I mixed 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with 1 tablespoon of water for the slurry that would thicken the stir-fry. I heated up the wok and swirled in about 2 tablespoons of oil. First went the aromatics: onion, garlic, chiles. When those were fragrant, about 1 minute, I added the celery, carrot, bamboo shoot, and enoki.
When the vegetables heated through, I dumped in the proteins: shrimp, stir-fried chicken, grilled chicken, and beef. Lots of fast stirring action happened and the wok was rather full. When all the ingredients were hot, I poured in my cheater stock. I stirred the wok frequently until the mixture began to bubble, at which point, I tasted it – adding extra seasonings in the form of soy sauce and salt.
Finally, I added the cornstarch slurry and waited for things to thicken. By then, Rory had flipped the noodles pancake and fried the second side to a crisp. He slid the noodle pancake onto a platter and went to town cutting it into 8 wedges.
Then I came along with the wok of toppings and poured it all on top. Here’s what we could safely call our Sunday Night House Special Panfried Noodles:
At the table, I realized that I had under seasoned it a tad so I simply brought out the bottle of Maggi Seasoning Sauce. It was a tasty on-the-fly mountain noodles that nourished us at the end of a long day of work. Was it perfect? Maybe not but it perfectly fit the bill.
Following the basic framework for making panfried noodles enabled me to revive a bunch of odds and ends in the fridge. A delectable way to thanh toan and launch the new week.
Have a strategy for reusing leftover? Share your approach!
Other quickie noodle recipes previously posted:
Brian says
Looks great! I enjoyed reading this article- you always post such great pictures, thanks.
Mytah says
I'm hungry now.
Madeline says
You have delicious looking left overs 🙂 Similarly - my family use left over in fry rice, or sometimes as topping in noodle soup the next morning.
tram nguyen says
Hi Andrea. Love, love, love your work. Hope to catch you at a Bay Area class or workshop soon!
Vanessa Martindale says
Lefridge Soup.
I throw everything into a pot at the end of the week. Add a couple ladles of my homemade chickenstock. Simmer until soft and then stick a handblender in to puree. It's always interesting and unexpectedly gourmet! The trick is to add some kind of fresh herb and a squeeze of lime. The lime and random herb brightens the earthy deep flavour and it smells like an exotic tortilla soup!
TripleScoop says
Maggi...love that stuff!
Andrea Nguyen says
Madeline: Thank you. My leftovers are due to lots of recipe development and testing and overbuying at the market!
Tram: I have to take a hiatus from teaching to finish a new book. Hopefully, I'll be teaching in the Bay Area later this year.
Vanessa: Right on about the magic of the puree. I need to get a handheld blender. It's on my gadget list but I've yet to succumb.
TripleScoop: The Maggi club is big. Glad you're part of it too.
Dick says
I've got a fridge full leftovers and I ain't afraid to use 'em! I'm doing this tonight. Hey Andrea,how about including phonetics with the Vietnamese terms so we non-speakers can start learning how to pronounce them properly.
Office 2007 says
leftovers and I ain't afraid to use 'em! I'm doing this tonight. Hey Andrea,how about including phonetics with the
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groundhog.judy says
WOW!! I just finished a cooking class in Thailand and the use of oster sauce, sugar, and Nam Pla (fish sauce) was the main seasoning along with the garlic, onion, chili peppers etc. I will have a try of putting toether my leftovers in a stir fry with the fried noodles. I think my daughter will like this dish as she does not like leftovers and this will seem like a new dish for her.
plumbing says
Refrigerator are really useful especially at home since it slows down the bacteria process. It can keep foods for a longer period of time.
Tracy Thomas says
wow, this is a really cool website. I'm going to take a bash at your grilled pork chops and these noodles this weekend. These pictures are great. I never get fried noodles right. I see by your pics you really scorch em. I got to try it. Also your commentary is great and provides awesome cultural and culinary info about Vietnamese cuisine. Thanks a Bunch
Justin Bieber Shoes says
YES.i love it very much. thank you for sharing it with us.
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Canada Goose says
If you want peace，prepare for war.
Christian Louboutin says
Obedience is the first duty of a soldier.
buy udon noodles says
I have been tempted to start making noodles at home but have been so intimidated. I am not good with baking and my attempts at other homemade dough type things like green onion pancake, roti, etc have been utter flops. I love you video and I think you have inspired me to try these udon noodles at home! Wish me luck!
giay thoi trang says
Love this sort of sauce and make it myself all the time. There are lots of variations too. You can add basil, coconut milk, or sriracha. Or substitute lime for the vinegar (more my style) or try tahini instead of peanut butter (unsweetened pb is also an option). Tahini's actually a really great source of iron, and not too different from pb in taste.
marlon says
The lime and random herb brightens the earthy deep flavour and it smells like an exotic tortilla soup!