Vegetarian Stir Fry Noodles

Hubby observes being a vegetarian on the 1st and 15th day on the lunar calendar. The place we're staying do not have much choices of vegetarian food except those mixed rice sold at the market but I don't really like them cos they're full of MSG. The other choice was the vegetarian shop at the neigbouring housing estate which I don't really fancy either but hubby kinda liked it there. I had bad encounter eating noodles there which are almost always way too salty albeit its MSG-free. Hence the recent Chap Goh Mei I cooked for hubby instead of going to that shop.

Can you see the tiny brown strips bits? Can you guess what are they??? It's not the black strips cos those are mook yue (black/wood ear fungus cut into thin strips). Those brown bits are actually dried shitake mushroom stalk. Usually I will save the dry stalks up and keep in the fridge for usage in soups but this round I was inspired by the delicious fried rice I ate during Chinese New Year at Yue Yee Chai, a vegetarian restaurant located in Pudu, opposite Shaw Parade. I checked with my vegetarian colleague what were the delicious brown bits in the fried rice that kinda resembled dried anchovies (ikan bilis) and that was when she told me it was the stalk. Wooo... wonderful! So what I did was soak some stalks in water till they're soft. Then I painstakenly shred them into thin shreds using my fingers. Then drain and let it dry a bit.

I have some instant vegetarian noodles which I cooked as per instructions on the packet minus the powder for the soup. Drained and set aside. I've also some shredded cabbage, carrot and wood ear fungus.

First off, heated some oil in the wok then fry the shredded mushroom stalks till golden brown. Next I added in the carrot, cabbage and wood ear fungus and stirred. Dumped in some salt and pepper for seasoning. Fried till cabbage and carrot were soften then stirred in the prepared noodles. Add in some soya sauce for a nicer colour. Mixed well then dished up and served.

It's so easy and fast to prepare and cook. Since I did not plan this in advance, the ingredients are simpler as to what I had in my fridge that day. I think next time I will add in some kind of beancurd, maybe tau pok (deep fried beancurd) or meen karn (a type of vegetarian gluten) to balance up. It's one more week to go before the 1st day of the second lunar month... mmmmmmmm.... lots of options!