Singapore noodles. They didn’t originate in Singapore (theory is they’re Cantonese) and they were popularized by Chinese restaurants in Europe. How is that for a hodgepodge history?
Well, I’m going to blame this one on Anthony Bourdain too. I’ve been streaming No Reservations on Netflix lately and the other night I watched the Singapore episode. My mouth started to water when I saw him slurping a soup bowl full of rice vermicelli and a searingly hot pepper sauce. YUM. I’m in love with both rice vermicelli and hot sauce. So, I started Googling recipes.
Most of the recipes I found featured curry powder, which honestly, I could take or leave. I used it today because I had some but also price checked it at the store and saw that it was selling for about $5 a bottle. That’s wayyyyy too much. If you have a decently stocked spice cabinet, you can probably just make your own. Here is a good basic recipe although there are many variations (google it). My curry powder is a mild version so I just added some cayenne to make it hot. If you don’t want to use curry, this dish would be equally as delicious seasoned with just the soy sauce blend that is added at the end.
To make this recipe economical, use whatever vegetables you can purchase at a good price. The best buys at the store today were bok choy, bean sprouts, carrots and green onions. Other possibilities include: nappa or regular cabbage, bell peppers, yellow onion, mushrooms or jalapenos. You can also add fish, pork or chicken for added protein.
Special Note: This recipe makes a TON. The photos below are of a half batch that I made because I am going out of town and didn’t want a lot sitting in my fridge. The recipe is written for a full batch. I plan on making a fresh half batch in a few days to use up the rest of the ingredients.
Singapore Noodles
Servings 6Ingredients
- 8 oz rice vermicelli noodles ($2.39)
- 1 Tbsp hot curry powder ($0.25)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.11)
- 1 inch fresh ginger ($0.09)
- 3 Tbsp vegetable oil ($0.11)
- 1 bunch bok choy ($2.55)
- 4 medium carrots ($0.25)
- 12 oz bag bean sprouts ($1.49)
- 1 bunch green onions ($0.25)
- 1/4 cup soy sauce ($0.24)
- 1 tsp sesame oil ($0.12)
- 1 tsp chili garlic sauce, optional ($0.05)
Instructions
- Place the dry rice noodles in a bowl and cover with room temperature water. Let soak for 15 minutes. Drain in a colander after they have soaked and are softened. Return the noodles to the bowl, cut the noodles into pieces (approximately 6 inches in length) to facilitate stir frying later. Sprinkle the noodles with curry powder and toss to coat. Set noodles aside.
- While the noodles are soaking/draining/marinating in curry powder, prepare all of your vegetables. Peel and mince the garlic and ginger, julienne the carrots, wash and thinly slice the bok choy, rinse the bean sprouts and slice the green onion.
- Heat vegetable oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat. When the pan is very hot, add the garlic and ginger. Stir fry very briefly (1 minute or less) then add all of the vegetables, reserving some green onion for garnish. Stir fry the vegetables until they just begin to soften.
- Add the noodles to the hot pan and stir fry briefly (1-2 minutes). Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the soy sauce, sesame oil and chili garlic sauce. You can either add them to the pan individually or mix them all together in a bowl then stir into the dish. Taste the noodles and adjust the seasoning to your liking.
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Nutrition
Step By Step Photos
These are the rice noodles I used. I bought them at a regular grocery store in the Asian section. They could probably be bought for half the price at an Asian grocer.
Soak the rice noodles in water for about 15 minutes or until they have softened.
Drain the rice noodles well.
Put the noodles back in the bowl and cut into pieces about 6 inches long (or on a cutting board). If you don’t cut the noodles, you’ll never be able to stir fry them or mix them in with the veggies later. Sprinkle with the curry powder and toss to coat. Set the noodles aside.
While the noodles are soaking, draining and marinating with curry powder, prepare the vegetables. I have green onion, garlic, ginger, bok choy, carrot and bean sprouts. Cut everything thinly so they cook quickly.
Heat a large skillet or wok over high heat with vegetable oil. When it is very hot, add the ginger and garlic and stir fry for one minute or 30 seconds (this was so quick I couldn’t take a picture). Then add the rest of your vegetables.
Stir fry the veggies just until they begin to soften. Do not over cook them at this point, they will continue to cook as you go.
Add your softened, seasoned and cut noodles.
Stir fry the noodles for another 1-2 minutes then remove from the heat.
Mix together some soy sauce, chili garlic sauce and sesame oil.
Add the soy sauce mixture and stir in. Taste the noodles to see if you want to add more heat (chili garlic sauce), salt (soy sauce) or sesame oil.
Despite the curry powder and chili garlic sauce, I still like to top my noodles with Sriracha!!
Look for an Indian grocery store for curry powder. The one I frequent has 12oz of garam masala, or chana powder for $3.
Made this with bok choi, carrots, and leeks. It was wonderful! (It was actually my first time eating leeks, as a side note, as we received them in the CSA box, and I am convinced of their worth.) Next time, we’re going to put shrimp in, too, I think, but it was definitely a keeper of a recipe. I just wish I would have done a better job cutting up the rice noodles–I made a big mess trying to mix them in with the veggies!
I love Singapore noodles and your recipes looks amazingly simple too..I think I’ll try this on Saturday since I’ll be home alone
Oh my god Beth, I just made this recipe and it is FANTASTIC! I halved the batch size but used the same amount of chili/sesame oil/soy/tamari and it is just to die for. And it was ridiculously easy to make. I absolutely will make this again!
Yummy! Even my 6 and 7 year old boys loved this recipe! Which is rare, usually they eat nothing but potatoes and chicken, maybe a cheeseburger if you are lucky.
Thanks for the great recipe! I whipped this up last night and it was awesome. I had some pho-style rice noodles in my pantry left over from another dish, so I used those instead of vermicelli; it worked out pretty well. Also, we had some blanched collard greens and half an onion in the fridge that we threw in – this dish eats up leftovers very nicely! Oh, and I added a couple of eggs too for some extra proteiny goodness (mixed with soy sauce and quickly fried at the beginning, then sliced up and added back in at the end). I think I may have been a little heavy-handed with the curry powder, but otherwise it was very yummy.
Oh, wow, you’re the best! It looks really delicious in your pictures! I can’t wait to try it :D
Hi Beth
I just learnt how to make char siew myself the other day. If you wish, you can refer to my post, I have got 2 recipes which I selected out of many char siew recipes. Both are singaporean/malaysian chinese bloggers whom I often referred to for baking and cooking ideas. Its very easy, but you must choose the right cut of meat, preferably pork shoulder. I didn’t use the right cut of meat, so my homemade char siew didn’t look authentic though it did taste quite well…
http://everybodyeatswell.blogspot.com/2010/09/honey-char-siew-experimenting-with-2.html
Have fun :)
Yeah, I think the whole “Singapore Noodle” thing is similar to “football” issue. Football in America is far different than what football is in the rest of the world… Singapore Noodles from restaurants in Europe and America often have curry but, as you pointed out, in Singapore it doesn’t! Oh well, like I said, I would have been just as satisfied with the dish had I left out the curry ;)
Oh, and I would have LOVED to have had some char siew to go in it! That is on my “learn how to make” list!
Thanks for this! I think I will never eat this at the restaurant ever again! So easy to make!
Sophie
Hi
Forgot to mention that your Singapore Noodles does look like the real thing, the ingredients are mostly correct except for the curry powder ;p You could throw in some char siew (roast pork) though, I remember eating Singapore Noodles with them.
Great work :)
Hi
I was born and bred in Singapore and now living in Europe. There is indeed a dish called “Singapore Noodles” in Singapore, we call it “XinZhou MiFen” which in chinese means rice vermicelli from Singapore (XinZhou was the old chinese name for Singapore). Singapore Noodles, for your info, does not contain CURRY POWDER. Fullstop. Never ever.
I dunno why the chinese restaurants in Europe cook it with curry powder. It is utterly wrong. I would like to correct this widespread perception that noodles with curry powder is “Singapore Noodles”, it is not. You can call it curry noodles though. :)
Thank you.
Ooh can’t wait to try this one. I get Singapore Noodles for take-out and they are so good.
I really love your blog! So much variety, so many great ideas and I love the fact that it is all broken down economically! I have made a few of the recipes and they are fantastic…simple yet nourishing. Good Work!
This looks easy and amazing, thank you! Just what I needed to get me out of my cooking rut.