• Home
• Recipes
• Chef recipes
• Chāmen (stir fried noodles with a very thick sauce)

Chāmen (stir fried noodles with a very thick sauce)

Save recipe

Serves 2

Easy

Prep: 15 mins

Cook: 10 mins

0 reviews

loading...

Get 5 months for £5 when you subscribe today

Chāmen is a Wakkanai speciality. The incredibly thick sauce (ankake) insulates the veg, noodles and shellfish beneath, like a heavy duvet

Print

Ad

Skip to ingredients

Alternatives

Complete the dish

Loading...

Showing items 1 to 3 of 3

Broccoli, spring greens and chilli stir-fry

A star rating of 0 out of 5.0 ratings

Aubergine stir-fry

A star rating of 0 out of 5.0 ratings

Bang bang chilli prawn stir-fry

A star rating of 0 out of 5.0 ratings

Try Tim Anderson's chāmen (stir fried noodles with a very thick sauce), then discover crispy rice squares with sushi-style topping, zaru soba, or endomame korroke (Japanese croquettes).

While the name chāmen – which just means ‘stir-fried noodles’ – does appear on restaurant menus in other parts of the country, such as the Chinatowns of Yokohama and Nagasaki, this particular version is unique to Wakkanai. Its appeal is irresistible in such a windswept, snowy climate. The generous portion size is a big selling point as well.

Recipes extracted from Hokkaido by Tim Anderson (£28, Hardie Grant). Photographs: © Laura Edwards. Recipes are sent by the publisher and not retested by us.

Chāmen (stir fried noodles with a very thick sauce) recipe

Ingredients

Nutrition

• 3 tbsp vegetable oil

• 80g pork

  very thinly sliced (optional)

• ½ green pepper

  cut into large chunks

• ½ chinese leaf

  roughly chopped

• ½ carrot

  peeled and cut into thin planks

• few pieces of kikurage

  rehydrated, cut into large chunks

• 100g bean sprouts

• 150g shellfish (such as prawns, scallops or squid)

• 400ml light broth or water

• 2 tbsp shōyu or soy sauce

• 2 tbsp sake

• 1 tbsp caster sugar

• 1 tbsp oyster sauce

• 1 tbsp chicken powder

• 4 tbsp cornflour or potato starch mixed with 6 tbsp of cold water

• white pepper

  to taste

• 2 portions of ramen noodles

  cooked and drained

• chilli oil, beni shōga (red, julienned pickled ginger) and/ or vinegar

  to garnish

Nutrition: per serving

• kcal609
• fat19g
• saturates1.6g
• carbs80g
• sugars16.8g
• fibre7.8g
• protein21.3g
• salt4.3g

Ad

Method

• step 1

  Pour half of the oil into a wok and set over a high heat. Stir-fry the pork (if using) until cooked through, then add the pepper, cabbage and carrot, and stir-fry for 1-2 mins or until the cabbage is slightly wilted. Add the kikurage, bean sprouts and shellfish, and stir-fry for 1 min, then add the broth, soy, sake, sugar, oyster sauce and chicken powder. Drizzle in the cornflour slurry, stir well, and bring to the boil. Add some white pepper, taste, and adjust the seasoning as you like.

• step 2

  Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a separate wok or non-stick pan over a high heat, and add the noodles, spreading them out in a layer that fills the pan – start this around the time you add the vegetables to the other wok, as the noodles should fry for about 5 mins to develop a crust. When the noodles are crisp, tip them out onto wide dishes and then ladle over the ankake. Serve very hot, with vinegar, chilli oil, and/or pickled ginger, to taste.

More Japanese-inspired recipes.

Ad

Comments, questions and tips

Rate this recipe

What is your star rating out of 5?1 star out of 52 stars out of 53 stars out of 54 stars out of 55 stars out of 5

Choose the type of message you'd like to post

Choose the type of message you'd like to post

CommentQuestionTip

Overall rating

0 reviews

Ad

Ad

Loading...

Ad

Loading...

Want to see this content?

This page contains olivemagazine content provided by Google reCAPTCHA. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as Google reCAPTCHA may use cookies and other technologies. To view this content, choose 'Accept and continue' to allow Google reCAPTCHA and its required purposes.

Accept and continue