The hard part of bi chay tron thinh is the frying: every vegetable holds a different amount of water, and frying them together leaves the lot wet and limp. Done right it stays dry, every strand separate, and smells of toasted rice powder.
Frying the glass noodles at 175 degrees C keeps their structure, so they stay soft even after a night in the fridge. The vegetables, mushrooms and mock ribs are fried separately, each one only until just done.
This batch weighs about 2.1kg, at roughly 177 calories per 100g.
Method
Slice the tofu 5mm thick. Cut the jicama, carrot, king oyster mushroom and oyster mushroom into long thin strips and keep each one separate. Soak the dried mock ribs in salted water for 30 minutes until soft, then tear them into strands. Finely chop the bird's eye chili, red horn chili, garlic and shallot.
Heat 500ml vegetable oil to 175 degrees C and fry 400g glass noodles quickly, then lift them out and set them aside. Fry the tofu until crisp, let it cool and cut it small. Fry each vegetable, mushroom and the mock ribs in turn and keep them separate. Fry the shallot and garlic quickly until fragrant and set them aside.
Toss everything you have fried with 2 tablespoons chili oil, 1 teaspoon ground pepper, 1 tablespoon vegetarian seasoning powder, 1 tablespoon kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, the chopped chili, shallot and garlic until evenly seasoned. Let the mixture rest for 15 minutes.
Scatter 300g ready ground roasted rice powder over the mixture, toss well and serve.
Tips
Frying the glass noodles at 175 degrees C keeps their structure, so they stay soft even after a night in the fridge.
Fry each vegetable and mushroom separately so each is just done and none of them water down the others.
Cut long, thin, even strips and the strands stay separate once tossed.
Let the mixture rest the full 15 minutes before the rice powder goes on, added early it turns soggy.
Serve as soon as it is tossed, standing time draws water out of the vegetables and dulls the flavor.
Need kOBE Monk Fruit Blend?
The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.