When I decided to write about “Fallen Angels,” I knew I wanted to figure out a way to get angel hair pasta into a relevant dish, so Hong Kong noodles were an easy choice.

My vegan take on this classic dish makes 4 “servings.” If you use a a gluten-free vegan meat replacement, the recipe is gluten-free.

“Meat” Ingredients
1 tablespoon rice vinegar or wine vinegar
1 teaspoon corn starch
0.25 teaspoons salt
1 9.5-ounce can mock chicken
1 tablespoon sesame oil

“Shrimp” Ingredients
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 14-ounce can hearts of palm
0.5 tablespoons rice vinegar or wine vinegar

Stir-Fry Ingredients
18 ounces angel hair pasta
0.5 cups broth
1 tablespoon tamari
1 tablespoon vegan oyster sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar or wine vinegar
1 tablespoon corn starch
2 tablespoons pasta water
0.5 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon ginger
0.5 cups onion
2 heads baby bok choy, quartered
1 cup shredded carrots
marinated “meat”
marinated “shrimp”

Instructions
Cook your pasta so it’s al-dente and strain so it dries out a bit, being sure to reserve 2 tablespoons of the pasta water for your stir-fry sauce.

We used noodles that didn’t involve cooking: a packet of hearts of palm angel hair and a packet of konjac angel hair we had on hand. We drained and rinsed the noodles but kept 2 tablespoons of the liquid from the packets.

Create your stir-fry sauce: mix together the broth, tamari, oyster sauce, rice vinegar (can also use cooking wine or wine vinegar), corn starch, pasta water and sugar. Set aside.

Mix together the marinade for your “meat”: rice vinegar, corn starch and salt. Drop the mock chicken in and let it marinate for at least 20 minutes. You can also use mock beef, mock steak, pressed firm tofu or tempeh for this.

Heat 1 tablespoon of sesame oil in a large frying pan or wok. Add the rice vinegar and drained hearts of palm. You can consider cutting them in half or in quarters to make the pieces smaller.

Set the “shrimp” aside.

Pour your al-dente pasta into the pan and let it fry for a minute or two then flip so it gets crisped up a bit on both sides. Remove the noodles from the pan and set aside.

Start the stir fry! Heat up the oil in your pan and add the garlic powder, ginger and onion. You can use whatever onion you like, we had some cocktail onions to use up.

After 30 seconds, add the shredded carrots and cook for a minute.

Add the bok choy and stir-fry sauce. Cover and let steam for a minute or two.

When the sauce has thickened, reduce the heat and add in the “meat,” “shrimp” and noodles.

Toss everything together so it is well-mixed. Serve and enjoy with “Fallen Angels!”

The Easy Route
You might be able to find a premade sauce to make this a little easier, or you could simplify it to just the mock chicken (or another mock meat) instead of also adding hearts of palm as a substitute for shrimp.

The easiest route would be to find a restaurant that makes vegan Hong Kong noodles. If you know of such a place, please share it in the comments.

The Pairing
Three years of Veg Out, three Wong Kar-wai films. I cannot promise I’ll keep this streak up, but I do promise that “Chungking Express,” “In the Mood for Love” and “Fallen Angels” are a good place to start if you haven’t seen anything from this renowned filmmaker.

I chose “Fallen Angels” this year because May 30 (today) is an important date in the film.
“Fallen Angels” is yet another mesmerizing love story, this time set in the present 1995 day, when the film was released, in Hong Kong.

“Chungking Express” star Takeshi Kaneshiro takes the lead in another film that has two intersecting plots. This time, he is on the other side of the law as a mute, deaf ex-convict on the run from the police. His journey rather stylishly intersects with a woman going through a bad breakup (Charlie Yeung).

The other plot follows a pair of criminals (Leon Lai and Michelle Reis) coming to terms with one wanting to leave that life behind, especially as he falls in love with a sex worker (Karen Mok).

The combination of Wong’s storytelling, the performances of the five leads, Christopher Doyle’s lush cinematography and the moody score and soundtrack bring Wong’s signature sense of yearning to a boil.

It is a stunning example of neo noir that I recommend to anyone who wants to explore the film noir genre further.

If you decide to make Hong Kong noodles and/or watch “Fallen Angels,” let us know! Tag us in your Instagram posts & stories, threads, tweets or TikTok videos: @veg_out_recipes