Everything about Char Kway Teow totally explained
Char kway teow, literally "fried flat noodles", is a popular noodle dish in
Malaysia and
Singapore. It is made from
flat rice noodles (
Chǎo hé fěn in
Mandarin Chinese), approximately 1 cm or slightly narrower in width, fried over very high heat with light and dark
soy sauce,
chilli,
prawns,
cockles,
egg,
bean sprouts and
Chinese chives. Sometimes slices of
Chinese sausage and
fish cake are added. It is fried in
pork fat, with crisp croutons of pork
lard, which give it its characteristic taste.
Char kway teow has a reputation of being unhealthy due to its
fat content. However, when the dish was first invented, it was mainly served to
labourers. The high fat content and low cost of the dish made it attractive to these people as it was a cheap source of
energy and
nutrients. When the dish was first served, it was often sold by
fishermen,
farmers and
cockle-gatherers who doubled as
char kway teow sellers in the evening to supplement their income.
Etymology
The term "
Char kway teow" is a transliteration of the
Chinese characters "炒粿條", based on the
Min Nan spoken variation of the
Chinese language. More precisely, "炒粿條" is pronounced as
chha2-koe2-tiau5? in
Min Nan, and
cháo guǒtiáo? in
Mandarin.
However, as
Char kway teow was brought from Min Nan-speaking regions to
Cantonese-speaking regions, the Chinese name was
corrupted as "炒貴刁". This is pronounced as
caau2 gwai3 diu1? in
Cantonese and
cháo guìdiāo ? in
Mandarin. "" has no literal meaning, but its pronunciation in Mandarin is similar to "粿條" in Min Nan.
Moreover, "
Char kway teow" is often known as "Singaporean
Char kway teow" (星州炒貴刁) or "Malaysian
Char kway teow" (馬來炒貴刁) in Hong Kong, in order to emphasize the origin of the dish.
In Vietnamese cuisine, a similar stir fried noodle dish is called
hủ tiếu.
Variations
A variation is the gourmet version of
char koay teow. This is commonly found in the island state of
Penang,
Malaysia. The version of
char kuay teow found there's sometimes augmented with duck's eggs (for richer taste) and crab meat (for sweetness).
Another evolution of this dish is fried without pork fat or lard. This evolution has come about due to
char kway teow's growing popularity amongst the
Muslim community in Malaysia.
This dish is also popular in take away establishments in Australia and New Zealand.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Char Kway Teow'.
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