Shanghai Scallion Oil Noodles

From the garden

• 2 bunchs green onions, cut into 3-inch lengths, greens included
• 1 bunch cooking greens (bok choy, spinach, or chard), torn (optional)

From the pantry

• ¾ cup neutral oil · it all ends up in the bowl, so do not cut it back
• ¼ cup dried shrimp · the classic kai yang version; small peeled shrimp, chopped, also work
• 3 tbsp soy sauce · make one spoonful dark soy sauce if you have it, for color
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 12 oz dried wheat noodles
• 4 eggs (optional) · boiled 7 minutes and halved, for the top
• salt · for the noodle water

1. Put the oil and green onions in a wide pan together while it is still cold, then set it over medium-low. Fry 20–25 minutes, stirring now and then, until the pieces shrink to deep brown and crisp.
2. Lift the browned scallions out with a slotted spoon onto a plate. Add the dried shrimp to the hot oil and fry about 1 minute, until they smell toasty, then take the pan off the heat.
3. Stir the soy sauce and sugar into the warm oil until the sugar dissolves. Taste it: the dressing should read salty first, faintly sweet behind that, and thick with scallion.
4. Boil the noodles in well-salted water until just tender, dropping the greens in for the last minute if using. Drain, saving a small cup of the cooking water.
5. Toss the hot noodles with the scallion oil, loosening with a spoonful of noodle water at a time until every strand is glossy and dark. Divide into bowls, scatter the crisp scallions back over, and add a halved egg if you boiled one.