Penang Char Kway Teow. If you love smoky rice noodles in a savory sweet sauce with Chinese sausage, fish cake, egg, shrimp and veggies then you'll love this! Ready in 30 minutes!
What is Penang Char Kway Teow?
Penang Char Kway Teow is a very popular and iconic noodle dish in Malaysia. This dish features smoky rice noodles stir fried in a piping hot wok with Chinese sausage, shrimp, eggs, fish cakes, garlic chives, bean sprouts. The noodles are coated in a savory brown sauce. It's commonly served at many Malaysian restaurant or hawker stands with chili garlic sauce or sambal. This version is the Penang version where the noodles are drier and do not contain as much sauce as the original KL version.
Whenever my husband and I visit his hometown in Kuala Lumpur, we must have these noodles! They're so incredible in taste that when I returned back to Canada, I had to try making my own version of this dish. After many attempts, I've created the best Penang Char Kway Teow and my Malaysian husband certainly approves!
Ingredients
Please scroll down to below recipe card for exact measurements.
Note: Most Asian grocers will carry these ingredients. You may find some at your select grocery store or online, like on Amazon.
- Rice noodles: dried wide flat kind
- Jumbo shrimp
- Chinese pork sausages
- Fish cake
- Egg
- Bean sprouts
- Garlic Chives
- Garlic
- Water
- Dark soy sauce
- Sweet soy sauce, aka Kecap Manis
- Oyster sauce
- Chili garlic sauce
- Neutral oil
How to cook Penang Char Kway Teow
Create noodle sauce
In a small bowl whisk together your noodle sauce ingredients by combining dark soy sauce, kecap manis and oyster sauce. Set aside.
Soak & Strain Rice Noodles
Soak dried rice noodles in hot boiling water for 4 minutes. Strain immediately. Rinse with cold water until cool to touch. Gently separate any noodles that are stuck together with your hands. Set aside.
Fry Shrimp & Chinese Sausage
In your pan set over medium high heat, add cooking oil. Once oil is hot, add shrimp and fry until shrimp is cooked. Then add Chinese sausage. Fry for 30 seconds. Remove and set aside.
Fry Eggs & Fish Cakes
Add more oil into the pan, fry your beaten eggs until glossy and scrambled. Push to the side, add fish cakes, and garlic. Fry for 10 seconds.
Add Chili Garlic Sauce
Mix in chili garlic sauce with other ingredients.
Add Noodles & Sauce
If needed, add more oil followed by rice noodles and sauce. Mix everything together. Taste your noodles, they should be soft and chewy at this point. If not, add 2-4 tablespoons of water and cook until they are. Allow the noodles to char in the pan for that smoky flavour.
Add in Shrimp & Sausage
Toss in shrimp and sausage mixing with noodles.
Add Bean Sprouts & Garlic Chives
Throw in bean sprouts and garlic chives. Fry for another 20 seconds.
Serve & enjoy!
Other recipes you may like!
- CHAR KWAY TEOW
- KL HOKKEIN MEE
- NASI GORENG SPAM
- MEE GORENG
- MALAYSIAN CURRY PUFF
- SINGAPORE CURRY VERMICELLI NOODLES
📖 Recipe
Easy Penang Char Kway Teow
Ingredients
- 200 grams dried wide flat rice noodle
- 6 jumbo shrimp deveined & peeled except for tails
- 1 Chinese style pork sausage thinly sliced
- ⅓ cup fish cake thinly sliced
- 1 egg beaten
- ½ cup mung bean sprouts
- ½ cup garlic chives chopped
- 1 tablespoon garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce aka Sambal Oelek
- 2 tablespoon vegetable oil or any neutral oil
- 2-4 tablespoon water for cooking noodles if needed
Noodle sauce:
- 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon sweet soy sauce aka kecap manis
- 1.5 tablespoon oyster sauce
Instructions
- In a small bowl whisk together your noodle sauce ingredients.
- In a separate bowl, beat your egg.
- Soak dried rice noodles in hot boiling water for 4 minutes. Strain immediately. Rinse with cold water until cool to touch. Gently separate any noodles that are stuck together with your hands. Set aside.
- In your pan set over medium high heat, add cooking oil. Once oil is hot, add shrimp and fry until shrimp is cooked. Then add Chinese sausage. Fry for 30 seconds. Remove and set aside.
- Add more oil into the pan, fry your beaten eggs until glossy and scrambled. Push to the side, add fish cakes, and garlic. Fry for 10 seconds.
- Add chili garlic sauce and mix with other ingredients.
- If needed, add more oil followed by rice noodles and sauce. Mix everything together. Taste your noodles, they should be soft and chewy at this point. If not, add a couple tablespoons of water and cook until they are. Allow the noodles to char in the pan for that smoky flavour.
- Toss in shrimp and sausage and mix with noodles.
- Throw in bean sprouts and garlic chives. Fry for another 20 seconds. Remove off heat. Serve & enjoy!
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Amanda
The whole family loved it! It was perfectly balanced in flavours. I really enjoyed the smokiness from the Chinese sausage.
Dan
Finally found a recipe where I could use the abundant Garlic Chives in my herb garden. And what a delicious recipe it is. All of the ingredients were singing from the same hymn book and inspiring a few solo performances, such as the shrimp which was the star of the show. All ingredients were easy to find except for the fish cakes which my grocer doesn’t stock. But next time I’ll substitute firm tofu if I can’t find it someplace else. Another Asian classic that will be on frequent weeknight menu rotation. Thanks, Christie!
christieathome
So happy you enjoyed my Char Kway Teow recipe, Dan! It's truly a great way to use up garlic chives isn't it. Thanks for making my recipe and glad it'll be apart of your weeknight rotation! - Christie
Jessica
This was SO GOOD and the leftovers were even better
I did make some substitutions (like fresh rice noodles, more Chinese sausage, gailan) but made no changes to the sauce. Love how it turned out and the fact that you can add pretty much anything to it!
christieathome
Thanks so much for making my recipe, Jessica! I'm so glad you enjoyed my Char Kway Teow!