Longevity noodles (also known as yi mein) are traditionally served at celebratory feasts but there’s no reason you can’t slurp up a bowlful whenever the mood strikes.
These longevity noodles are served with mushrooms and green onions and braised in a soy based sauce. Since they’re cooked before adding to the sauce, the noodles absorb much of the liquid and have a nice texture when eating them. Rick and I slurped up the entire batch as a main dish. They’ll serve more people if served as a side or if you bump up the volume with additional protein and/or veggies.
What’s the difference between Yi Mein (Longevity Noodles) and Lo Mein?
There many different kinds of noodles in Asian cuisine. Some are made with rice flour, others with wheat. Some are intended to be served fresh while others are dried, or fried and then dried. It can get complicated! Both yi mein and lo mein are made with an egg and wheat based dough. Yi mein have a spongy texture due to the use of food grade potassium or sodium carbonate added to the dough. They are then formed into a cake and fried before drying.
Read more about yi mein and other Chinese noodles in this article from Thrillist and this one from Wikipedia.
You may have to visit an Asian store or order online to find longevity noodles. In the event you’re unsuccessful in obtaining them, substitute lo mein noodles (I’ll never tell!).
Use your favorite mushrooms for this dish. I tried enoki mushrooms when I couldn’t find straw mushrooms. They tasted fine, but I would have preferred more color in my final dish. I have also use cremini and button mushrooms at other times.
I relied on the crew at The Woks of Life and Ken Goh at Guai Shu Shu to help me pull my Longevity Noodles together. I didn’t use a wok. Instead the large pot I used to pre cook the noodles did double duty. I dried it out after draining the noodles and used it to stir fry the veggies.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces yi mein noodles I used half the pack shown above
- red pepper flakes
- 2 - 3 tablespoons vegetable oil I used sunflower oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- small bunch 5 or 6 green onions, trimmed with white and tender green parts cut into two inch long pieces. Reserve some of the green parts for garnish.
- 4 ounces enoki mushrooms trimmed and cleaned
- toasted sesame seeds for garnish
For the sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon sugar or to taste
- 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce I used tamari
- 2 tablespoon hoisin sauce
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil or to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon fish sauce or to taste...be careful with fish sauce
Instructions
- Bring several quarts of water to boil in a large pan or dutch oven. Add the noodles and cook for 3 or 4 minutes until the noodles are about halfway cooked. Drain and hold the noodles in a bowl while the rest of the meal is prepared. It's okay if there's some cooking liquid with the drained noodles. You can use it to help keep things from sticking if necessary.
- Make the sauce by whisking the ingredients together in a bowl.
- Rinse and dry the pan, then return to high heat. Add a tablespoon of vegetable oil and a pinch of red pepper flakes.
- Stir fry the mushrooms and green onions for a couple minutes. Then use tongs to transfer the noodles to the pan and gently mix together. Add more oil or some of the reserved cooking water to prevent everything from sticking.
- Pour the sauce evenly over the noodles and mix to distribute throughout and warm everything through. Again, add more water, oil or soy sauce to help keep things from sticking.
- Transfer to a bowl and garnish with sesame seeds and the remaining tops from the green onions.
The first time I made this I didn’t think Rick would like it. Boy, was I wrong! We’ve made it since and every time it’s a little bit different. We freely substitute onions for green onions or chopped up half a red pepper. As mentioned, we’ll use whatever type of mushroom we can find. We’ve also added leftover meats. Longevity noodles make an awesome weeknight meal.
More quick noodle recipes:
Good stuff! I’m lucky — I live a couple of miles from several really good Asian markets, so I can get almost any noodle there is. 🙂
I remember watching Martin Yan twirl dough between his fingers and all of a sudden he had a million noodles. It would be awesome to do that, wouldn’t it?