Chow mein

Chop 300 g of Hong Kong style noodles with scissors eight to 10 times, to roughly five to seven inch lengths.

Chop four to five scallions into one and a half inch planks, losing the last half inch of solid white.

Julienne 75 g of carrots with a julienne peeler.

Break one large chicken thigh into a few larger pieces and cut it into long thin strips.

Stir fry sauce: combine 30 g soy sauce, 30 g oyster sauce, 5 g sesame oil and 100 g chicken stock.

Add a long drizzle of high smoke oil to a medium high heat wok, drop in the chicken in the centre, hit with a strong pinch of salt and spread it out.

Leave it untouched about 60 seconds until it has a crusty golden brown sear.

Shimmy and cook another 60 to 90 seconds on the backside until cooked through, then flip into a bowl.

Add another ring of oil over medium high heat, drop in the noodles and add more oil on top so they sizzle.

Toss and stir to coat evenly in the fat, then detangle the noodles with tongs so they do not stay a raft.

Once the noodles have taken on fried flavour and gone slightly stiff and crunchy, add the julienned carrots and chopped scallions and stir fry two to three minutes, just enough to round off the crunch.

Add more oil; the noodles absorb everything put in earlier.

Add 75 g fresh bean sprouts and toss to combine, snipping the noodles a couple more times if they are not combining.

Add the stir-fried chicken thigh and pour the stir fry sauce around the edge.

Toss and fold to spread the sauce, keeping the heat fairly high so it steams and softens the crisp noodles just enough.