Char kway teow
Char kway teow (sometimes also spelled as char kuey teow, Chinese: 炒粿條; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: chhá-kóe-tiâu) is a stir-fried rice noodle dish from Maritime Southeast Asia of southern Chinese origin. In Hokkien and Teochew, char means 'stir-fried' and kway teow refers to flat rice noodles. It is made from flat rice noodles (Chinese: 河粉; pinyin: hé fěn; Cantonese Yale: hó fán) or kway teow (Chinese: 粿條; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: kóe-tiâu; pinyin: guǒ tiáo; Cantonese Yale: gwó tìuh) of approximately 1 cm or about 0.5 cm in width, stir-fried over very high heat with garlic, light and dark soy sauce, chili paste, whole prawns, shelled blood cockles, chopped Chinese chives, slices of Chinese sausage, and bean sprouts. Other common ingredients include fishcake and belachan.
Char kway teow at a hawker centre in Singapore | |
| Alternative names | Char kuey teow |
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| Type | Shahe fen |
| Place of origin | China (original) Malaysia and Singapore (adaptation) |
| Region or state | Southeast Asia |
| Associated cuisine | Malaysia and Singapore |
| Created by | Overseas Chinese laborers in Southeast Asia |
| Main ingredients | Shahe fen, light and dark soy sauce, chili paste, belachan, whole prawns, deshelled blood cockles, bean sprouts, Chinese chives, Chinese sausage |
| Char kway teow | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 炒粿條 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 炒粿条 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | stir-fry ricecake strips (i.e. stir-fried ricecake strips) | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Alternative name in Cantonese-speaking regions | |||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 炒貴刁 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 炒贵刁 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | transcription from the original name pronunciation in Hokkien (Min Nan) | ||||||||||||||||||
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Originally developed and catered to overseas-born Chinese labourers in the Southeast Asia region, the dish has achieved widespread popularity within the region from the late 20th century onwards, particularly in Malaysia and Singapore. The dish has also acquired a reputation of being unhealthy due to its high saturated fat content, as it is traditionally stir-fried in pork fat with crisp croutons of pork lard.