Cōng Yóu Bàn Miàn

Shanghai scallion oil noodles: spring onions cooked slowly to nothing, and the oil they leave behind

Origin: Shanghai & the Lower Yangtze, China

From the journey of Spring Onion.

This is one of the great demonstrations in any cuisine of how little a good dish needs. Noodles, oil, soy sauce, a little sugar. That is the whole of it. Everything depends on one operation performed properly: a very large quantity of spring onion is cooked in oil over a low flame for twenty minutes or more, until the onion is brown, shrivelled, and entirely spent, and all it had has gone into the fat. The instinct to stop early must be resisted. At ten minutes the onions are golden and smell wonderful and the oil tastes of very little. The flavour transfers late, in the last stretch, as the onion gives up its water and begins to fry rather than stew. Shanghai cooks take them to the edge of burning and judge the moment by colour and by smell. It is the exact opposite of the northern Chinese treatment. Beijing throws scallion into a scorching wok for ninety seconds; Shanghai simmers it for half an hour and then throws it away. The same vegetable, two cities, two philosophies, and both produce a dish worth eating. Cōng yóu is not made only for noodles. It is a household staple kept in a jar, spooned over blanched greens, into wonton soup, over cold chicken, and into anything that wants savour without weight. Making a batch is the point; the noodles are simply the best use of it. The dish has become Shanghai's most exported lunch, and it survives translation better than most because there is nothing in it to get wrong except the patience.

Ingredients

Scallion Oil

300 g spring onions, cut into 6 cm lengths, white and green separated
250 ml neutral oil, such as groundnut or rapeseed
4 whole shallots, thinly sliced, optional

Sauce

4 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp caster sugar

Noodles

400 g fresh thin wheat noodles, or 300 g dried

To Finish

4 tbsp spring onion greens, finely sliced, to finish

Method

Put the oil and the white parts of the spring onions in a wide pan or wok over the lowest heat and let them cook very gently for fifteen minutes.
Add the green parts and the sliced shallots if using, and continue on the lowest heat for a further ten to fifteen minutes.
Keep going until the onions are deep brown, shrunken, and dry, and the kitchen smells emphatically of them. Do not stop whilst they are merely golden.
Lift out the solids with a slotted spoon and set them aside; keep the oil.
Return 4 tbsp of the scallion oil to the pan with both soy sauces and the sugar, and warm over a low heat, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved. Do not let it boil.
Cook the noodles in plenty of unsalted boiling water until just done, then drain well. Do not rinse.
Tip the hot drained noodles straight into the pan with the sauce and toss hard until every strand is coated and glossy.
Divide between bowls, spoon over a little more of the plain scallion oil, and scatter with the reserved fried onions and the fresh sliced greens.

Notes

The oil keeps for a month in a sealed jar in the refrigerator and improves for the first few days. Make double. Three hundred grams of spring onion reduces to a couple of tablespoons of spent solids. That is correct and it is where all the flavour has gone. Use thin, springy fresh wheat noodles if you can find them; dried noodles work but want a slightly heavier hand with the oil. The same oil is excellent over blanched pak choi, stirred into wonton soup, spooned over poached chicken, or simply on plain rice with a fried egg. A spoonful of Chinkiang black vinegar at the table is a common addition in Shanghai and cuts the richness usefully.

The Gastrographer

Name: Cōng Yóu Bàn Miàn
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: China
Ingredients: 300 g spring onions, cut into 6 cm lengths, white and green separated; 250 ml neutral oil, such as groundnut or rapeseed; 4 whole shallots, thinly sliced, optional; 4 tbsp light soy sauce; 2 tbsp dark soy sauce; 2 tbsp caster sugar; 400 g fresh thin wheat noodles, or 300 g dried; 4 tbsp spring onion greens, finely sliced, to finish

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Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control