Fried egg noodles with curry roasted vegetables

As so many dinners do, this developed from necessity and adaptation. In other words, what was supposed to be an experiment in learning to like brown rice became something else entirely. The plan was to slowly simmer brown rice in coconut milk as a broth, with a few aromatic curry leaves, a pinch of golden saffron strands and a garlic clove thrown in to infuse. Then, once cooked and softened and delicately flavoured with coconut and spice, it was to be stir fried with some roasted vegetables with a few sprinkles of chili and turmeric and maybe an egg stirred through to lightly scramble. Of course, I had no brown rice and so, with the vegetables already roasting away, I decided to use egg noodles instead and abandon the coconut milk to another supper.

What transpired was a noodle dish flavoured with deeply savoury roasted onions, broccoflower tender and toasty crisp on the edges and a few tomatoes roasted until they were so soft they literally fell apart upon touch. The noodles, once fried in oil and mixed with the veg, took on the sweet, sour and meaty juices from the roasting tin. I don't think I would have enjoyed the rice any better than this, although my quest to actually use brown rice more often continues..

Recipe : Noodles with curry roasted vegetables

1/2 a broccoflower, (a hybrid of cauliflower and broccoli), or, 

1/2 a broccoli or cauliflower, broken into small florets

1/2 red onion, peeled and cut into rough chunks

10 baby tomatoes, left whole but pierced with a knife to prevent them exploding

1 tbsp oil and 1 tsp butter

2 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp turmeric

1 tsp salt

freshly ground black pepper

2 blocks of egg noodles

First, heat the oven to 375oF and lay the broccoflower, (or broccoli or cauliflower) florets, the onion and tomatoes onto a baking dish. Drizzle over the oil, sprinkle with the chili powder, turmeric, salt and pepper and toss everything together to coat well. Bake in the oven for around 1 hour until the onion is well caramelised with crispy, darkened edges, the broccoflower is very soft with toasted bits and the tomatoes are very soft and squashy. 

While the vegetables are roasting, cook the noodles in a pan of boiling salted water for about 7 minutes until soft. Drain well and set aside. 

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a frying pan over medium - high heat and add the noodles. Stir fry for a moment or two and then add the vegetables, scraping all the juices and gooey bits from the baking dish into the noodles. Stir fry together for about 5 minutes until the noodles are heated through and starting to crisp a little. The noodles will be slightly sticky, coated with the juices and crispy bits which will give them a really strong flavour. 

We ate this with a simple chicken curry, but I would have been happy enough with a plate of noodles alone, maybe a few drops of soy sauce or a little sweet chili sauce drizzled over before eating. 

Depending on the season, many other vegetables could be roasted for this dish, including bell peppers, carrots, zucchini, potatoes, beets or mushrooms, basically any veg robust enough to be roasted. The onion, however, is essential to give you that caramelised, savoury stickiness stuck to the bottom of the roasting dish which, once scraped off and added to the noodles will provide a lot of flavour.