How to make crispy fried noodles out of thin spaghetti, for topping Asian soups and salads

These aren't exactly like commercial crispy chow mein noodles, but they are very good in their own right.

I was making an Asian cabbage and chicken salad the other day, and wanted to top it with crispy noodles. I've made crispy lasagna noodle squares before, so I knew this was possible to do from dried pasta. I thought you might like to try this sometime, too.

Here's what I used and did:

• dry, thin spaghetti noodles -- I used whole wheat and it was "thin spaghetti" (if you use someting else, you'll have to adjust your timing of cooking the pasta in water), about enough for 1 serving of pasta
• 3 teaspoons corn starch
• oil for frying, no more than 1/2 of a saucepan of oil (too much can overflow when noodles are added)

Break uncooked noodles in half. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Drop the thin spaghetti into the water, and stir to separate. Set the timer for 4 minutes. (This thin spaghetti normally takes 5-7 minutes to cook. So, for other pasta, I'd subtract 1 minute from the low end of cooking time suggestion.)

After 4 minutes, drain the noodles, thoroughly. Spread on a dinner plate.

Sprinkle the noodles with 1 teaspoon of corn starch. Use a fork to toss the noodles and corn starch together.

Sprinkle, again, with 1 teaspoon of corn starch, and again toss with a fork to distribute the corn starch.

One more time, sprinkle the noodles with the last teaspoon of corn starch. Use your fingers to toss the noodles, thoroughly, picking up any corn starch on the plate beneath the noodles.

Allow to stand for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Bring oil up to about 350 degrees, over Medium heat. Test the oil with one piece of spaghetti to see if it begins sizzling right away. When test piece is sizzling, well, remove it from the oil.

Drop small pinches of the noodles into the hot oil, in 3 separate spots in the oil. The oil will foam up significantly, from the moisture in the noodles. When the sizzling is almost done, the noodles should be cooked.

Use a slotted frying scoop to remove cooked noodles, and place on a paper lined plate. About half way through frying all of the noodles, transfer the fried noodles to a new plate lined with paper. Continue using the old paper-lined plate for remaining noodles.

After the noodles have cooled, they can be kept in a tightly-sealed container in the pantry for a few days.

I am considering frying regular white spaghetti noodles, to use in haystack cookies, this holiday season. I'll let you know how they turn out.