This is the dish you pull out on Friday night when you want it to look complicated. Chicken lap cheong mei fun takes five minutes of active cooking. The rest is waiting — and you can do the waiting the day before.
Ingredients :
- Dried rice vermicelli — The transparent packages found in Asian grocery stores, often labeled ‘rice vermicelli’ or ‘bihon’. Deceptive dry weight — 170 g swells a lot. Soak them in cold water overnight, or in hot water for at least an hour. They should be pliable but still slightly firm to the touch, not mushy like glue. Cut them in half with scissors before adding to the wok.
- Dried shiitake mushrooms — The dried version is not a substitute for fresh — it’s a different ingredient, more concentrated, smokier. Choose small ones or cut large ones into thin strips. And most importantly: keep the soaking water, it’s half your sauce.
- Chicken or duck lap cheong — The Chinese dried sausage in poultry version, naturally sweet and slightly perfumed. Found in the deli section or frozen in Asian grocery stores. Slice it on the bias, thin, to maximize the caramelized surface in the wok.
- Light soy sauce + dark soy sauce — Two distinct sauces. The light one seasons and salinates. The dark one colors and adds a slightly caramelized sweetness that gives the noodles their golden brown hue. If you only have regular soy sauce, use it only in place of the light and reduce the quantities a bit.
