Non-Fried Fried Noodles

Last Friday I decided to make myself a vegetarian fried noodle dish for dinner, partly since I was going to a BBQ potluck dinner the following evening (which meant there was likely going to be a fair amount of meat), and partly to clear out a bit of my fridge. Until recently I'd only known to make a fried noodle dish by, well, frying the noodles. However, when my mother visited me recently, she taught me a substitute method to make fried noodles with considerably less oil.










Fried Noodles, Alternate Method
1 - 450g (1lb.) package egg noodles
Vegetable oil

1. Pre-heat oven at 400F.
2. Boil egg noodles as per package's instructions. If no instructions exist, boil for 1-3 minutes.
3. Drain noodles and thoroughly rinse under cold water. Set aside to drain again.
4. In a large baking dish brush the inside of the dish with vegetable oil up to the edge of the dish.
5. Place noodles evenly in the oiled dish. Drizzle some more oil on the noodles.
6. Place dish in oven and bake for 5-8 minutes. Flip noodles and continue baking every 5-8 minutes until noodles have browned. Be careful to not burn them. (I suggest starting with two 8-minutes cycles, then going for 5-minutes cycles until the noodles look crispy enough.)
7. When noodles are crispy enough, remove from oven and add toppings, best cooked while the noodles are being baked, evenly over the noodles. Serve.