Braised Chinese Sausage with Glass Noodles

Braised Chinese Sausage with Rice Glass Noodles

Gong xi fa cai (Mandarin)…Kung hei fat choi (Cantonese)….a happy and prosperous lunar new year from my kitchen to yours!

The recipe that follows is probably more a figment of my imagination or a recreation of a dish I vaguely recall from the distant past. I am of course not Chinese  and make no claims for the authenticity of this recipe other than than to say it is one of my favorite Chinese inspired cold weather quick meals using lap cheong (Cantonese)/ la chang (Mandarin)/ Gun chiang (Thai), a dry Chinese sausage with a sweet and spiced flavor as the main ingredient. The aroma and warming flavors of this dish are sure to sooth away any of winter’s biting chill.

La Chang; Chinese sausage

Braised Chinese Sausage with Glass Noodles serves 4

Have on hand a lidded ceramic baking casserole.

Preheat to oven to 350f/180c

• 3-4 dry Chinese sausages
• 2 tablespoons cold pressed peanut oil
• 6 green onions, thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons thinly sliced batons of young ginger
• 2 tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine (or dry sherry)
• 2 cups thinly sliced bok choy (or green cabbage)
• 2 ½ cups chicken broth (heated)
• 6 oz/180g dry glass rice noodles (rice vermicelli)
• 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• 1/3  teaspoon Chinese five spice powder (wu xiang fen) (see note)
• fresh ground toasted Sichuan pepper  (hua jiao) to taste

Prick the sausages all over with a wooden skewer and place them in a large skillet along with about a cup of water. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer 10 minutes. Remove the sausages and set aside to cool. Discard the cooking water.

When the sausage is cool enough to handle thinly slice it on the diagonal and set aside.

Return the skillet to the stove set over medium heat. When hot add the oil. When the oil is nearly smoking add the onions, garlic, and ginger and saute while continuously stirring, until soft, about 2 minutes. Add the Shaoxing rice wine and saute until it is nearly evaporated.  Add the bok choy (or cabbage) and the sliced sausage and cook until the bok choy is wilted. Promptly add the hot broth and stir in the rice noodles. Then stir in the oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar, 5 spice powder, and Sichuan pepper to taste. Cook until the noodles are wilted, about 1 minute.

Transfer the mixture to the baking casserole and cover with the lid. Place in the oven and bake 25 to 30 minutes or until most of the broth has been absorbed and the noodles are lightly browned around the edges.

Remove from the oven and serve in individual bowls!

Note: Five Spice Powder (wu xiang fen) is a seasoning mix of ground star anise, ground cassia bark (cinnamon), ground Sichuan pepper corns, ground fennel seeds, and ground ginger. There is no set recipe but equal parts of each ingredient works well. You can adjust the mix to suit your own tastes as well.