Mie Ayam Jamur

Kwetiau — flat rice noodles, slippery and wide — arrived in Indonesia with the Hokkien Chinese who settled in Java's northeast coast, especially around Medan and Surabaya, in the 18th and 19th centuries. The name is Hokkien: *kway teow* (粿條), pronounced by Indonesian tongues as kwetiau. The character literally means "cake strip" — referring to the way the rice-flour dough is steamed into sheets and then cut. The dish is married to a Chinese-Indonesian cooking technique that is now distinctly local: the *wok hei* breath, the heavy hand with kecap manis, the small bites of protein and crunch of bean sprouts. Kwetiau goreng is the standard preparation: flat rice noodles, beef or chicken, egg, garlic, and a sauce made of kecap manis, oyster sauce, and a touch of dark soy for color. The signature is the slight char on the noodles from the smoking-hot wok. Medan is the spiritual home of Indonesian kwetiau — the city has dozens of warungs devoted to it, and the Medan style is spicier and more savory than the Jakarta version.