RECIPE: Lobster Noodles with Ginger and Spring Onion

I love Chinese food but when your favourite restaurant is rather pricey, sometimes cooking at home is a better option. So when I got my hands on two lobster tails from my fishmongers recently, I decided to make one of my favourite Chinese dishes of lobster noodles. Admittedly, I could have taken a better picture of this recipe but the aromas were so inviting that I just couldn't wait to tuck in and so 'slap-dash' imagery is all you will get this time.

When I cook, I have a tendency to ignore recipes in favour of 'guessing' how something should be made. I can say that (surprisingly) the success rate of my method has thankfully been quite high and rarely do my attempts fail. Ginger, spring onion, lobster, egg noodles... Maybe a bit of onion? How hard can that be? Not hard at all... and here is the recipe;

Lobster Noodles with Ginger and Spring Onion (serves 2)

2 lobster tails (Or uncooked whole lobster if you prefer)
6 inches of ginger, sliced into 2 inch strips
8 spring onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
1 medium white onion, halved and sliced into 1cm thick half-moon slices
150g of fine egg noodles
Kikkoman's Soy sauce
A little corn flour or plain flour
Salt
Oil for cooking (vegetable, sunflower, ground nut but not olive!)

Bring a pan of water to the boil over a medium-high heat ready for cooking your egg noodles in.

Place a large wok or deep cooking pot over a medium-high heat (just medium if using gas). Then using a large sharp knife or meat cleaver, chop your lobster tail into 5-6 pieces (keeping the shell on) and dust the pieces with a little cornflour or plain flour. This process is the classic Chinese way to treat any meat/fish bound for wok-frying and is called 'velveting'. It not only protects the meat a little but also thickens the sauce that everything cooks in. Once coated, put a generous amount of oil in the pan, about 3 tablespoons or so add in your ginger and onions. Give them a quick stir before adding all the lobster pieces into the pan also.

At this point, add your noodles into the boiling water (adding some salt to the water) and cook them per the packet instructions. This usually takes 5-6 minutes. Once done, drain and rinse with cold water an set aside.

Move your lobster around the pan ensuring it gets well coated in the ginger and onion infused oil and check to see that the shells are turning from greyish black to the vibrant orange colour of cooked lobster. Then add your noodles into the pan and mix the ingredients well before adding about 4-5 tablespoons of Kikkoman's soy sauce to the pan and mixing well again. Make sure you are stirring the contents of the wok/pan every minute for a few minutes before finally adding your spring onion slices and giving it all one last stir. Your lobster meat should be nice and bright white and the shells should all be completely orange before serving. Garnish with a few chopped spring onions and enjoy!