Dish · malaysian
Char Kway Teow
Flat rice noodles stir-fried hard and fast in a wok with egg, prawns, bean sprouts, and Chinese sausage, finished with a char that comes only from very high heat.
Where it comes from
The dish began as a cheap laborer's meal cooked by Chinese hawkers in Penang, using pork lard and cockles that were plentiful and inexpensive at the time; some stalls have since dropped lard for cost or dietary reasons.
What cooks argue about
Cooks argue over lard versus vegetable oil for frying: lard gives the deeper smoky flavor the dish depends on, but many stalls now use oil, and the difference is obvious to regulars.
Versions
Nobody has published a char kway teow here yet. When somebody cooks one from a video and publishes it, their version appears in this list, with a link back to the original.
What goes in it
Each one opens everything else made with it.
egg
bean sprouts