Mi Xao Mem Recipe (Vietnamese Egg Noodles)

Mì xào mềm, as opposed to mì xào dòn (crispy egg noodles) is the Vietnamese version of Chinese chow mein. This dish appears in almost every Vietnamese fast food joint. It usually comes with chicken and seafood such as baby squid and shrimp, but I wanted to make sure the entire family would enjoy the dish as well (half of my family is vegetarian). So this time, I mixed the soft egg noodles with rolled tofu skin and several vegetables.

Living in the Bay Area, we're lucky enough that Asian markets carry a wide variety of fresh egg noodles. I always look for the thin kinds. If you can't find any, you could always boil angel hair pasta. The flavor will be slightly different but still delicious!

Soybean Sprouts with Black Bean Sauce

Stir fried soybean sprouts make a healthy, yet tasty side dish if you're planning a quick and easy Asian meal. The bean sprouts are seasoned with black bean sauce and soy sauce. Baby spinach is added for a nice contrast in color.

Soybean sprouts are a lot harder to get than regular mung bean sprouts. The sprouts are much larger and have a yellow color, whereas mung bean sprouts are green. I buy mine at a local Korean store. It's definitely worth the effort to find them though, because soybean sprouts give the dish an extra dimension of flavor.