Chicken and vegetable stir-fried noodles

Method

1. Mix the chicken strips with 8 g light soya sauce, the regular salty soya sauce in the ingredients list, 10 g water, the white wine and cornflour. Cover with cling film and refrigerate for 10 minutes. Bring 3 litres unsalted water to the boil in the large saucepan with the lid on: egg noodles already contain salt and will finish cooking in a seasoned sauce. Meanwhile, prepare the vegetables: cut the cabbage into 1 cm strips, the carrot into fine 3 mm matchsticks by slicing diagonally 3 mm thick, then cutting into strips, and the mushrooms into 5 mm slices. Keep the spring onion whites and greens separate, and chop the garlic and ginger. Rinse and drain the beansprouts.
2. Prepare the sauce in a bowl: crumble half the stock cube into 60 g very hot water and stir until dissolved, then add 27 g light soya sauce, the dark soya sauce, sugar and pepper. When the water boils, cook the noodles for 1 minute less than the packet instructions, generally 2–3 minutes for fine noodles. The centres should remain slightly firm, as they finish cooking in the wok. Drain, briefly rinse under cold water, shake the colander thoroughly, toss with 3 g oil and separate on a large platter: wet noodles will steam in the wok rather than brown.
3. Mix 5 g oil into the marinated chicken: this separates the strips and keeps the cornflour coating intact. Heat the wok over a high heat until lightly smoking. Sear the chicken in two batches, using 8 g oil per batch: leave in a single layer, untouched, for 2 minutes, then stir-fry for 1 minute. The strips should be golden underneath and opaque; they will finish cooking in the sauce. Set aside in a dish. If browned juices stick to the bottom, loosen with 1 tbsp water and pour this liquid over the reserved chicken: it adds flavour and returns to the wok with the chicken at step 6. Wipe the wok with kitchen paper.
4. Return the wok to a high heat with 8 g oil. Stir-fry the mushrooms and carrot matchsticks for 2 minutes, until the mushrooms brown. Add the cabbage, spring onion whites, garlic, ginger and salt, and stir-fry for 2 minutes. The cabbage should be soft at the edges but still crisp, the carrot glossy and firm to the bite, and the garlic fragrant without browning. Set aside with the chicken.
5. Add 15 g oil to the wok over a high heat. When it shimmers, spread the noodles into a flat cake and leave untouched for 2–3 minutes to brown: the underside should be golden, crisp in places and smell toasted. Turn them in sections using the two spatulas, without crushing, and brown for 1 more minute.
6. Push the noodles to one side and pour the sauce into the empty part of the wok; let it bubble for 20 seconds. Return the chicken, vegetables and their juices and toss, lifting the noodles, over a high heat for 2 minutes, adding the beansprouts for the final minute. It is ready when the chicken strips are opaque and firm with no pink when cut open, the noodles have absorbed the sauce and the bottom of the wok is dry. Taste; if bland, add 1 tsp light soya sauce, but no more. Off the heat, toss with the sesame oil and spring onion greens, then serve immediately on warm plates.