Glass Noodles Stir Fry

The age-old debate on who invented the noodles was finally settled when they found a 4,000-year-old bowl of noodles in China a couple of years back. Today, owls of noodles can be found all over the world in a variety of shapes and sizes. The more popular ones are the Chinese yellow noodles and rice vermicelli, the Italian spaghetti and macaroni, and the Japanese udon and soba to name a few. Speaking of noodles, can anyone enlighten me on how the phrase "using your noodle" came about to mean "using your brain"? :P

One particular noodle I haven't had in a while is the "glass noodle", named for it's translucent appearance when cooked. It is also called "bean thread" because it is made from mung bean, not to be mistaken with the rice vermicelli, which is quite similar uncooked. I haven't tried this noodle in a while because there were rumors of lead-poisoning surrounding it a few years ago. I'm glad the whole mess is finally cleared up so I can finally get to enjoy it once again.

Two of the more popular dishes associated with glass noodles recipes are the Szechuan style "Ants Climbing A Tree" and the Thai style "Pad Woon Sen". Both are stir fried but glass noodles also go great in soups or salads. The dish I'm preparing today is a simple quick stir fry recipe similar to the "Pad Woon Sen" but I'm going to kick it up a notch by adding a little unsalted fermented soy beans, which I prefer to the salted black beans because of its rich bean-ier flavor.

Ingredients :
2 bundles glass noodles
1 lbs sole fish fillet sliced
minced garlic
shredded ginger
5 asparagus thinly sliced
red bell pepper strips
1 tbsp fermented soy beans ( unsalted )
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp shaoxing cooking wine
sesame oil
sugar to taste

Method :

1) Boil a pot of water, turn off the heat and soak the glass noodles for 3 minutes.
2) Rinse in cold, running tap water, and then set aside.
3) Marinade the fish fillets with some oyster sauce, fish sauce, and then set aside.
4) Saute 1/2 portion of both shredded ginger and minced garlic until fragrant, add in the pre-marinated the fish fillets and pan fry on both sides until browned, toss in the sliced asparagus, red bell pepper strips, continue stir fry for 1 minute, and then set aside.
5) Heat the wok or skillet to a smoky point, saute the fermented soy beans and the remaining shredded ginger and minced garlic until fragrant.
6) Quickly add the chilled glass noodles in and stir fry on high heat until the fermented soy beans flavors completely infused into the glass noodles.
7) Splash the soy sauce, cooking wine, sesame oil and sugar to taste and mix well.
8) Dish up and serve with the pan fried sole fish fillets.