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San Francisco garlic noodles
Buttery Vietnamese-American garlic egg noodles
Garlic noodles were made famous by a Vietnamese family restaurant in San Francisco's Sunset District in the 1970s, served next to roast Dungeness crab, and now every Bay Area Vietnamese place has its own version. Springy noodles are tossed in a glossy sauce of lots of butter and garlic with a savoury, sweet seasoning and grated hard cheese. Restaurants use oyster and fish sauce; this vegetarian version uses vegetarian mushroom 'oyster' sauce and soy. Parmesan is made with animal rennet, so use a vegetarian hard cheese. Chef's tip: cook the garlic gently until pale gold, never brown, or the whole dish turns bitter.
- Total time
- 25 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
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Fresh ingredients (4)
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Method
0/5 doneStep 1: Cook the 12 ½ oz fresh egg noodles or spaghetti in boiling salted water until just tender, keeping 100 ml of the cooking water, then drain.
6 minStep 2: While they cook, melt the 2 ⅞ oz butter in a wide pan over a low-medium heat and cook the 12 cloves garlic for 3–4 minutes, stirring, until soft, fragrant and pale gold. A common mistake is a high heat, which browns the garlic and makes it bitter.
4 minStep 3: Stir in the 2 tbsp vegetarian mushroom oyster sauce, 1 tbsp light soy sauce and 1 tsp sugar and let it bubble for 30 seconds.
1 minStep 4: Add the noodles and a splash of the cooking water and toss for 1 minute until glossy and coated.
2 minStep 5: Toss in the 1 ⅜ oz grated hard cheese (vegetarian), 3 spring onions and ½ tsp black pepper and serve at once.
1 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 480 kcal
- Protein
- 14 g
- Carbs
- 58 g
- Fat
- 22 g
- Fibre
- 2 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does san Francisco garlic noodles take?
- About 25 minutes in total: 10 minutes to prepare and 15 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- What can I use instead of fresh egg noodles or spaghetti?
- Linguine or any long pasta, same amount.
- What can I use instead of butter?
- The same weight of ghee or coconut oil (for frying and most baking).
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