Cabbage and Tofu Mei Fun
It’s weeknight dinner insurance to know you have cabbage in the fridge. I particularly love cabbage with vermicelli. It’s an unfussy combination that always comes together fautlessly. For this recipe, I wanted a dish that felt easy enough for lunch - my mother often made mei fun for lunch and I wanted to create a dish that honored this memory. And let’s be honest, if we can make it during the day, it’s DEFINITELY do-able for dinner.
This noodle stir-fry is a recipe that will imbed itself to your culinary psyche. You will make it once, twice, and soon it will become a repertoire dish. In time, you won’t need my recipe at all, and you will start to riff, adding other vegetables along the way. You might replace the soy sauce with vegetarian oyster sauce or dark soy sauce for a sweeter, richer dish. You might replace the rice vermicelli with thicker rice noodles, glass noodles or udon. You may add a few blobs of chili crisp for heat and savoriness. You’ll make it your own. To be honest, when you make my recipes yours, it is the greatest compliment you could give me.
Mei fun translates to rice noodle in Cantonese, but it specifically refers to thin rice vermicelli. The name also refers to the stir-fried noodle dish.
Mei fun (rice vermicelli) is a distinct noodle experience – the strands are delicate and slightly bouncy. For stir-frying, I only need a soak in hot water; but be mindful, over soaking will leave you with noodles that are too soft and will break during stir-frying. They are also very good in noodle soup – check out the baby bok choy and rice vermicelli soup in the Asian Greens chapter of Tenderheart.
Cabbage and tofu mei fun
Ingredients
- 225 g rice vermicelli
- neutral oil
- 1 brown/yellow onion, finely sliced
- 385 g cabbage (about 1/2 small), finely sliced
- 1/2 teaspoon white sugar
- 150 g smoked or baked tofu, cut into thin slices
- Sea salt and white pepper
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari
- 3 tablespoons white sesame seeds (white or black or combo of both), plus more for
- 2 thinly sliced scallions, for serving
- big handful cilantro/coriander leaves, for serving
Instructions
- Place the rice noodles in a bowl and cover with hot tap water. Soak until the noodles have softened, about 5 minutes and then drain.
- Heat a large skillet (frying pan) on medium high heat. When hot, drizzle with oil and add the onions. Cook until softened, 2-3 minutes and then add the cabbage. Drizzle with a bit more oil, season with 1 teaspoon of sea salt and a big pinch of white pepper. Cook until the cabbage is soft and a little caramelized, 3-4 minutes.
- Add the noodles and tofu, along with the sesame oil and soy sauce or tamari. Season well with more sea salt and pepper. Toss until the noodles are have softened, with some charred bits, about 4-5 minutes.
- To serve, top with scallions, coriander/cilantro and more sesame seeds.
