Chow Mein Noodles???

[canadamommy]

Okay I need some help here! I have this really cute recipe for a lion birthday cake for my three year old and the mane consists of crunchy chow mein noodles. I just went to Fusion and none of the workers had ever even heard of chow mein noodles! My husband was in Canada last week and I could've gotten him to pick some up there, but I figured we live in HONG KONG... there should be some chow mein noodles kicking around, right? Wrong! And I need to make this cake for Saturday. Back home the chow mein noodles are curly and crispy (hard, deep fried) and often just sprinkled on top of a dish.

Anyways, I googled it and apparently the ones I am looking for are also called Hong Kong style chow mein noodles! So this is getting more frustrating. Is there anyone who knows 1) if they are just called something else here (or the cantonese pronunciation) 2) where to get them ????

[carang]

they don't sell them here. i believe they are north american in origin, just like fortune cookies...however, why don't you buy some fresh ones, then fry them yourself?

otherwise, you could try to improvise....

[geomum]

I have eaten these many times in chinese restaurants but never seen them at a any supermarket here. Like Cara said you could boil some noodles al dente and then fry them yourself. I actually do that myself to make Chop suey (My version).

[dmk cheung]

I am a local Chinese so I think what you mean is those thick yellow noodle for Fried noodle ( Chow Mei means Fired noodles in Chinese). You can easily find them in Chinese Wet Market. If you need help, feel free to PM me.

[carang]

yes, but you have to cook them yourself and they are not very "thick" .... although they are called "chow mein" noodles, they are not. what she is looking for is a canadian thing, like fortune cookies are NOT chinese... they're american.

[thanka2]

You can do the same thing with rice vermicelli--just as another poster mentioned, cook them al dente and then quick fry them in hot oil in a wok. They will be fine and golden brown. If you want a thicker "mane" for the lion, get thicker vermicelli and do the same thing. (Vermicelli is rice noodles--available everywhere but you'll have to fry them yourself).

[thanka2]

Here is an instructional video:

How to Make Crispy Vermicelli

Depending on how you want the noodles to look you can either use different noodles (egg noodles for example) or you can cook them longer to get a brown look.