Char kway teow, literally "fried flat noodles", is a popular noodle dish in Malaysia and Singapore. It is made from flat rice noodles (called Shāhé fěn or hé fěn in Chinese) fried over very high heat with light and dark soy sauce, chilli, prawns, cockles, egg, bean sprouts and Chinese chives. Sometimes slices of Chinese sausage and fish cake are added. It is fried in pork fat, with crisp croutons of pork lard, which give it its characteristic taste. This, in the same way as pytt i panna in Sweden, is a dish for providing fuel to labourers, with dense amounts of fat. The name is thought to have come from the Min Nan Chinese but the transition has been so complete that char koay teow is often known as "Singaporean Char koay teow" (星州炒貴刁) or "Malaysian Char koay teow" (馬來炒貴刁) in Hong Kong to emphasize the origin of the dish. In Penang, in Malaysia. The version of char koay teow found there is sometimes added with duck's eggs (for richer taste) and crab meat (for sweetness). Another evolution of this dish is fried without pork fat or lard. This evolution has come about due to char kway teow's growing popularity amongst the Muslim community in Malaysia.
