(Joyful music) (crowd applauding) - Wherever I go, I find people using the noodles.

It is a world of infinite pastability, and I never get tired of discovering new ones.

In Japan, there are hundreds variety of noodles, but the most popular one is somen, like an angel hair pasta.

Every time I go to Japan, I think so many noodles, and so little time.

(audience laughing) Let me show you how to make a light summer salad with somen the Chinese version, and the Japanese version of angel hair pasta.

Here, look at this, I have some cooked some somen Japanese style and ange.. (audience laughing) - Its stuck, and then I put this right over here.

Look at that, I coat them.

Doesn't take too long, only about three or four minutes.

And then I rinse it with ice cold water, I set it aside and I put it over here.

In the meantime, I want to show you all the other wonderful things that I'm putting in somen salad.

Here I have some lettuce, I have some kamaboko This is actually a fish cake, died red as well, pink color.

And I have some char siu, Chinese barbecue pork, cucumber.

And of course, green onion.

I'm going to cut this thing up.

First, I'm going to cut up some lettuce, I'm going to Julienne this lettuce, like this, one, cut it up.

(chopping food sounds) That's all I need.

I don't need all of them.

And I sprinkled this around here.

This is a wonderful, refreshing salad.

It's not very heavy.

So we put this all around, put this all around here, then I cut up some, kamaboko This fish cake, you come with the little, look at this, it's really cute.

When you bite it, it got a little piece of fish cake a little cutting board here, his personal cutting board and you cut it right here.

Put it here, cut it up, cut it up.

And then you take this and you just keep the damn thing and the cutting board.

(audience giggling) And then you line them all up.

And of course, I'm going to also cut up some Chinese barbecue pork, cut into a little Julienne, this way it looks give you color, and also few slices go a long way.

You can feed 600 people with four slices (audience laughing) - And then you put them all over here.

Look at that.

This is very interesting.

You can put it any way you want.

You can put it here, or there, and then also cut up some barbecue pork.

If you don't have barbecue, pork or char.. in Chinese, you use him.

You put this right over here.

Sprinkle.

This is nice, OK. And then meantime, I also put a tiny bit of cucumber, Cut it up, and Julienne and put some green onion, (chopping food sounds) - Set it aside Put it here.

This way, it is like a one dish meal.

All of these things, nice and colorful.

If you have some carrot, put a tiny bit of carrot here too.

Look at that, got everything.

And then in the meantime, you know what I'm going to do?

I'm going to make a nice golden omelet.

Let's heat up my frying pan.

OK, and I beat up an egg and make a little thin omelet.

I'm going to make an omelet thread, to sprinkle on top, to give some extra protein (audience giggling) - Put it right here and use this Chinese cordless beater (audience laughing) - You can take a nap (audience laughing) - Just make sure you don't have the chopsticks here.

(audience laughing) Now let's put a tiny, tiny bit of oil.

Not much because this is a nonstick.

Just enough to coat the thing, or, if you don't want, you can use a little nonstick spray in a can.

And then you'll make a nice thin omelet.

OK, you put it right here, look at this thin omelet.

Why I'm making this omelet, you know what I'm gonna do?

While I'm gonna make this omelet, I'm gonna make the dressing for my somen salad.

Here, I have a little glass container, I have some soy sauce, How much I put in?

approximately this much (audience laughing) - And, rice vinegar, and a tiny bit of Sesame seed oil.

Oh, got everything.

And also a tiny bit of salad oil.

Not much, just a tiny bit and a tiny bit of sugar, salt and sesame seeds toasted.

And then I'll cover this up, and now you cannot cover the damn thing up, you go like that, you got to go like that and then you shake it.

(audience laughing) - In the mean time, this is ready, don't walk away.

(audience laughing) - Oh, wow.

Almost, almost in trouble, Huh?done.

OK, make sure this is nice and done.

Shake this up.

Let's move these.

So we are ready to go, now, look at that extra sesame seed.

When it's done, we'll put this right over here, and then I use my knife and I cut this up.

This is how you can cut them, the long ones OK, roll them all up, like this: one, r.. (chopping food sounds) - And its still steamy hot.

And then when it's done, look at that, you can have long ones, looks like this and then, toast sesame seeds like that.

And then make sure, make sure once you close it You gotta figure out how to open the damn thing up.

(audience laughing, presenter laughing) - And then right before you serve, you toss in the dressing and right before you serve, you toss it.

And you have this beautiful light summer, somen noodles salad.

(audience clapping) - The Chinese, as I said, the Chinese are all fun.

Loving people, chow fun that is.

Fun is the Chinese name for fresh rice noodle and beef.

And asparagus chow fun is one of the tastiest and the most popular dish that you can order in a Chinese restaurant, but also a best way to enjoy this rice, fresh rice noodle.

OK, here, I want to show you because we were talking about noodle.

We're talking about all kinds of things.

I want to show you a few popular noodles.

We start from here.

This is a somen.

The Japanese style angel hair pasta, very very small pieces like this, just to show very small.

And it is the Chinese dry egg noodles.

This is a Chinese style, dry rice noodles.

They sometimes call the rice thick noodle but they are thicker than the little stick.

And this is the buck wheat noodles, Japanese style, buck wheat noodles.

And of course this is the fresh pasta, this is what I call the Chinese fun rice noodle in Chinese fun is rice noodle.

The whole, they come in a whole piece like that and if you open it up, they have a whole piece, looks like this.

See the whole thing looks like this.

If I can open it up, if I can not open it up, uh, forget it.

(audience giggling) - I can actually open the whole th.. just like a sheet, a blanket.

OK, I actually take the time to show you because some of you have never, never seen this before.

This is the first time I have seen something, so spectacular.

Look at that, just like a whole sheet.

OK.

I'll look at that.

And then when you use it, I'm show you, when you use it.

We're going to put this over here.

You have to cut it up.

OK, you have to cut it up like this.

Look at this, cut it up.

Fresh noodle.

The Chinese, when they call it the wheat flour noodle they call mein, the rice noodles they call fun, are you having fun?

I am because I'm having this fun.

Now, when this is all cut up the next thing I want to do is cut up some mushroom.

Okay, let's cut up some mushroom.

This is soaked in water.

Of course, this is the dry mushroom, which you can keep in the air, tight container infinitely and we'll serve, and these soak it and they become soft.

And you remove the stem and then you stick them all up.

And then you can cut into little strips like this.

When it's done, you set it aside, put it over here, We'll remove these.

The next ingredient I'm have is get some beef already cut up, marinaded with wine, soy sauce and a tiny bit of corn starch.

OK, and in the meantime, I'm going to hit up the wok.

While I'm heating up the wok and getting this ready, Make sure there's heat up.

I'm going to get ready some asparagus.

This are wonderful asparagus from California.

Look at this.

When you choose asparagus, make sure you choose the right asparagus because the good asparagus are should be bright green with a fresh firm spear and a close compact this, the good ones normally available from February to June with the peak season around March to May.

Heat it up.

You know, I use asparagus in a lot of dishes, I use in salad and soup, stir fry dishes, and I even pickle them, occasionally, this is hot enough.

We're going to use a tiny bit of garlic and ginger, and I also use some black bean.

Now the black bean normally come like this, salted black beans is dry.

It can be kept for a long time.

You got to rinse it in water and then they'll become soft.

And then you can put a tiny bit of this right here and you crush it and get the black bean flavor out.

And then I get the beef.

You can do the beef first, but it's just as easy to do it together with the nice flavor.

Stir, make sure to stir it as much I always remind people, don't stare, stir (cooking sounds) (audience giggling) - Stare will burn, if you want, look at that its amazing.

If you want to make it nice and exciting we are going to have some excitement for you.

(sizzling, cooking sounds) Wow.

Look at that, I'm glad that I'm far away.

And then, put a tiny bit of green onion, and get ready, toss it.

And then we'll come back to get all of these wonderful asparagus.

Now you'll have the time.

This is how you do it.

You cut an angle like this and angle, angle If you don't have time, you don't have to worry about it.

You don't have time.

You just stick them all up together and say three, two, done, (audience giggling) - OK, and then put them all together and then .. because in order to save time, I already have water blanched or steamed asparagus, ahead of time.

And then the mushroom is already done and I continue to toss.

And then when it's all ready, I'm going to put the chow fun in here.

A lot of people probably don't realize asparagus is also very, very healthy.

It has a lot of nutritional value.

You know why?

Because asparagus is a good source o.. thymine, and also potassium and very low in sodium.

And they recently found out there is a substance called lithotony to reduce the risk of cancer.

So eat more.

And they also have that in broccoli.

Now look at that to make it nice and dark, I'm using a lot of light soy, and also some dark soy.

This will give them rich color.

And if you want, you can put a teeny tiny bit of white pepper to give the punch, more.

You know why I have to keep tossing?

if You don't toss the rice noodle, might stuck and stick to it.

So when it's done, we are going to put this right over here and we are going to serve this.

And I want to show you how beautiful this dish is.

This is Beef with Asparagus, chow fun, with black bean sauce.

(audience clapping) - Now, let me take you to Hong Kong, all the way to Hong Kong and introduce you to a master noodle chef who makes his living making fun.

My good friend, Chef Kon Wan Ung, of the great China restaurant here in Hong Kong, is famous for his dragon beer pasta, which he makes from scratch.

To make the noodle, you need plenty of room.

And there is a lot of twisting and turning.

It is kind of like an, aerobic exercise.

(quiet chatting in background) And, you need plenty of flour to keep the noodles smooth and separated.

Chef Ung says the trick is all in the wrist.

You pull, you fold back and you pull again.

Chef Ung has a lot of pull around here.

Each time he pulls, he doubles the number of strands.

And more flour, always remember more flour.

(background chatting) - You know, the Chinese dragon is a mythical figure that rules heaven and earth.

and it has soft full beard, just like this.

(frying and bubbling sound) And for quick snack, we often fry dragon beard pasta and eat it just like potato chips.

(oriental music, audience clapping) Chef Ung, Hong Kong can go on and on to pull noodle all day long.

If I hadn't stopped him he probably would have made dental floss.

(audience giggling) - Now, next I'm going to show you .. of Chinese pasta, bean thread or cellophane noodles.

They started out about as tough as cellophane, but I'm going to braise them with ground chicken and lot of seasoning, and they will be clear and tender, when is ready to be served.

I want to show you all the ingredient.

This is a very, very traditional Chinese dish.

My mom always served me this.

We start from here, look at this, this is a cellophane noodle make from mung bean flour.

You buy in a packet just like this.

Don't open it until you're ready to serve.

Then this particular dish, you've got to soak them in water.

So, when you soak them, they become somewhat translucent.

OK, and then I've dried shrimp, this dried shrimp can be kept in an air tight container for months, indefinitely.

You soak them in water until they're softened, like this.

And, of course we'll have the dry mushrooms, soak them.

Finally, we have the fuzzy or hairy melon, also called hairy squash.

You peel them and you Julienne them and you're ready to go.

Now look at this.

Here, I have some fuzzy melon, some dry sh.. and some mushroom and cellophane noodle, and we're all here.

OK. And we'll move these away.

And then I also have some ground chicken, I marinade my ground chicken with a tiny, tiny but you can use ground turkey or ground pork.

And then also a tiny, tiny bit of wine.

And of course our tiny, tiny bit of corn starch and mix it up.

Now, of course it would help if you.. (audience giggling) - Unless you're on absolute diet, ..

When oil is ready, we're just, heat up your wok first (audience laughing) - Ah, this is amazing.

I'm telling you, depends on what kind of diet, strict diet forget about oil.

Put this in, ground chicken.

Stir it, you'll notice that I've been using a chopstick to show you how functional.

Then when the chicken is almost ready and then you put mushroom, fuzzy melon.

If you don't have fuzzy melon or a fuzzy squash you know what you can do?

soak in, it has some similar textur.. of course, some shrimp, dry shrimp, which already have been soaked.

They give a wonderful fish flavor.

Dry shrimp is widely used, not only in Chinese cooking, but in Japanese and Thai and a lot of South Asian cooking, OK. And then finally we put the cellophane noodle right on top.

So this way they won't get burned.

And then some chicken broth.

After that, we'll cover this up, cover this up and let it braise.

You can even do it.

Let us turn it down, let it braise slowly.

Now you can see what you're doing this this is what you call cook and look at the same time.

(Audience laughing) - You look while you cook.

Now, since we have so many people around so I have prepared twice as much.

So here is what we have here.

We have something already done, when it's done.

I pick this up and I put a portion over here.

So serve individual portions, and it looks pretty nice.

And this is what you call braised cellophane noodle with squash and dry shrimp.

And you serve it right here.

And this is very, very classical, very traditional Chinese dish.

(audience clapping) - In Thailand, fresh basil is as popular as in Italy.

So it seems like a very great idea to create a Thai style presto sauce for our fresh pasta.

Here, all I have is some clam, I partially steam it or boil.

So this way is open, I have some Shrimp and basil and of course I have some fish.

Now, let's get this wok ready so we can get going without, now to the tiny, tiny bit of oil, not much.

And then you can toss in the shrimp.

When I cut the shrimp I also keep the tail, I want to show you, look at this.

I want to keep the tail.

So it looks nicer.

And I put this right in here and toss it (sizzling cooking sounds) - Toss, until they almost nice and pink, and then put the clam.

And, then in the meantime I cut up the fish to save time, cut up.. into strips, you can cut it smaller, you can cut a bigger, all you have to do is do it like this.

And also, I want to use a tiny, tiny chicken broth to cook it, look at this a tiny bit of broth.

In the meantime, I'm going to let it cook for a few seconds.

In the meantime, I'm going to show you how easy it is to make the pesto sauce, Thai style with the Thai basil.

I show you first, this is the Thai basil, so they have like a little flower and also purple stem.

I have some Walnut whole, or you can use a chop Walnut.

And then ginger, sesame oil, tiny bit of sugar, lemon peel, tiny bit of salt, lemon juice, cooking oil, and sesame seed oil, and also I have a tiny bit of garlic and cilantro, put them all together, to save time, I have done it.

So this way we don't have to have guests waiting for two hours.

(audience giggling) - We'll take this out and we are going to get read.. toss our fresh pasta, right here, fresh pasta.

You can use any pasta.

You can make this, and put this right here and then you can toss it, no problem at all.

Toss, this.

Look at this, This is very, very interesting, very flavorful.

Make sure they are tossed evenly, OK. Take your time.

Do not rush, like me.

(audience giggling) - I am having fun, I don't know about you, people never enjoyed, always rush.

Take the time to smell the pasta and pesto sauce, like you take the time to smell your rose.

(audience giggling) I am having so much fun.

Put it right over here, This is a lot, this is good enough for two people.

And then in the meantime, I'm going to put this, which is already done, put it right over here.

Wow.

Look at this.

Isn't that amazing?

This is beautiful.

Look at that for added extra texture, You know what you can do?

Sprinkle some, extra roast walnut right here to get that extra texture, and you'll have a beautiful pasta with pesto sauce, Thai style.

(audience clapping) - The good news about noodles, is that they are full of carbohydrates, for energy, and now you can use and eat all kinds of delicious healthy toppings to turn them into a complete one dish meal.

That's why from Thailand to your land, dragon beer to angel hair, everybody's noodling around So until next time, use your noodle and remember if Yan can cook, So can you.

“Goodbye!” (##!)

(audience clapping)