My favorite noodle is bean thread, which I’ve referred to as mung bean noodle or glass noodle. I enjoy how it is chewy and absorbs the flavors from the dish. This was especially true in a recipe that I recently tried.
Below are some links to more details, including photos:
My Story
Almost a year ago, I bought a package of bean thread for a vegetarian recipe. Since my family prefers meat in their meals and I didn’t want to make a dish just for myself, the noodles sat in the cabinet.
However, since I really wanted to use these transparent noodles, I recently searched for a different recipe.
Inspiring Recipe
The recipe that I found was Stir Fried Glass Noodles with Shrimp from the blog, Pickled Plum.
First Try
After defrosting the shrimp a day before I planned to make the dish, I was ready to cook!
Ingredients to Use
The bean thread noodles that I had weighed 5.29 ounces, so I increased the amount of the remaining ingredients and used the following:
Main
- 5 2/3 ounces of shrimp
- 2 1/2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon of oil
- 5 garlic cloves
- 2 thumb-sized ginger
- 4 tablespoons + 3/4 teaspoon + 1/8 teaspoon of light soy sauce (Included twice the needed amount due to a conversion error.)
- 1 1/3 teaspoons of sesame oil
- 2 ounces + 1 1/2 tablespoons + 2/3 teaspoon of water
- 2 large eggs
- 3 stalks of scallions
- Salt
- Pepper
Marinade
- 1 tablespoon + 1 1/4 teaspoons of rice wine (See below on why this was included.)
- 1 tablespoon + 1 1/4 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon + 1 1/4 teaspoons of soy sauce
- 2/3 teaspoon of corn starch
Also, there were four ingredients that I substituted in the recipe because I didn’t have them at home. They were as follows:
- Avocado oil for vegetable oil
- Regular sesame oil for toasted sesame oil
- Black pepper for white pepper
- Apple cider vinegar for rice vinegar
Steps to Prepare
Before starting on the instructions in the recipe, I had already made some modifications to the process.
Instead of mincing the garlic and chopping the ginger, I sliced both of them, so we could easily pick them out while eating.
When it came to the five steps in the instructions, I changed the first two.
In Step 1, I had confused rice wine for the rice vinegar and didn’t realize this until I had started making the marinade. Since I didn’t want to waste the rice wine, I just left it in the mixture.
For Step 2, I missed the part that I had to drain the noodles after 10 minutes. It didn’t occur to me that it would take more than the soaking time before I would use the noodles, but since it did, I drained the noodles when I saw this part while re-reading the instructions.
Time to Eat
Because the glass noodles with shrimp came together quickly, the dish was on the plate in no time!
Recipe Rating
Below were the results of the recipe after the first try:
| # of Ingredients | Effort | $ / Serving | Try Again? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 * |  | |  |
Though the shrimp was a little over-cooked because I was measuring the liquid ingredients during Step 4, the tasty chewy noodles more than made up for that. Even my family enjoyed this dish!
Second Try
For the second round, my goal was to follow the recipe closer and not overcook the shrimp.
Ingredients to Use
With twice the amount of noodles as the first time, 10.58 ounces, I used the following amount for the remaining ingredients:
Main
- 12.24 ounces of shrimp (Targeted for 11 1/4 ounces, but ended up with a little more after defrosting.)
- 5 1/2 tablespoons + 2/3 teaspoon of oil
- 9 garlic cloves
- 3 thumb-sized ginger
- 4 tablespoons + 3/4 teaspoon + 1/8 teaspoon of light soy sauce
- 2 3/4 teaspoons of sesame oil
- 4 ounces + 1/2 tablespoon + 1/4 teaspoon of water
- 3 large eggs
- 6 stalks of scallions
- Salt
- Pepper
Marinade
- 2 1/2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar
- 2 1/2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon of soy sauce
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of corn starch
With spices on sale recently, I had picked up some white pepper. As a result, I didn’t have to make the substitute on pepper like I did during the first attempt.
Steps to Prepare
One of the areas where I stuck to the recipe this time was in Step 2, where I drained out the water after soaking the noodles for 10 minutes.
However, to minimize the time that the shrimp was cooking, not only did I pre-measure the ingredients that I needed for Step 4, I also cut the cooking time in Step 3 to 1 minute as it didn’t need 4 minutes to cook through.
Also, I kept the same method as in the first try for preparing the garlic and ginger, i.e., in slices.
Time to Eat
After plating the dish, I couldn’t wait to stick a bunch of noodles in my mouth!
Recipe Rating
Below are the results of the recipe from the second attempt:
| # of Ingredients | Effort | $ / Serving | Try Again? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 * | | | |
Though I missed the taste of rice wine from the first attempt, the combination of white pepper and salt on the chewy noodles was delicious! Also, I was happy that the shrimp was not overcooked.
Since there were pluses from both tries, what I would do next time is as follows:
Continuous Improvement
- Include both rice wine (mirin) and white pepper in the recipe.
Since this noodle dish could be addicting, I would share the following with my younger self:
Lesson for Dumber Self
- Try not to overindulge on a good thing.
What will you do now?
Next Step for You
- Try the Stir Fried Glass Noodles with Shrimp recipe from the blog, Pickled Plum?
- Learn more about glass noodles starting with the post, A Guide to Bean-thread Noodles (AKA Cellophane or Glass Noodles) from The Vegan Atlas site?
- Read another post on this site? (Go to the menu at the top of the page.)
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