Chinese stir fry beef and tenderstem brocolli with noodles

Chinese New Year is just around the corner, I believe many of you who are celebrating it must be busy "spring cleaning", baking cookies, decorating houses with auspicious items and etc. For me, "spring cleaning" - tick, baking-intend to, decorating with auspicious item - could be tough, I can't even find ang pow packets here. Indeed, the Chinese New Year has all it do's and don't. I would rather spend my energy to create some nice recipes to whip out on Saturday, the eve, for friends to enjoy. And of course to inspire people who reads my blog to try out the recipes and enjoy them too.

For those who know me well, I'm not a keen beef meat eater. Maybe my mum did not train us to eat beef since we're young as she herself has allergic towards beef, and hence beef is not something common on our palette. However I did try a stir fry beef noodle and it did change my opinion on this rarely eaten meat for me. The red meat taste is not overwhelming and is so gorgeously tender, and yes it's acceptable for my taste department. I started out to like this stir fry beef and now it's a love affair. This is a simple recipes and I believe in no time you'll love it too. It will be a lovely noodle dish for Chinese New Year rather than the traditional longevity noodles. :-)

Chinese stir fry beef and tenderstem brocolli with noodle
Ingredients (serve 4)

• 200 gm lean pork fillet-thinly sliced perpendicularly to grain
  
• 300 gm egg noodles/spaghetti- I used spaghetti here
  
• 4 cloves garlic-finely chopped
• 1 packet of tenderstem brocolli (200 gm) / Chinese Kailan
  
• 2 tbsp of vegetable oil
  

Marinating ingredients for beef

• 1.5 tbsp light soya sauce
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp shaoxing wine
• 1 tsp of ginger juice
  
• 2 tsp of corn flour
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp of dark soya sauce/caramel sauce
  
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce (optional)

Noodle sauce

• 300-400 ml chicken stock
• 1/4 tsp of white/black pepper
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp of light soya sauce
• 1 tbsp shaoxing wine
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce (optional)
  

1. Marinate the beef with marinating ingredients for 30 minutes.
2. Boil a pot of water, once boiling, blanched the tenderstem brocolli for 30 seconds and remove. Then add in spaghetti to cook. Follow the spaghetti packet instruction, i.e if 15 minutes require to achieve al-dente, drained after 12-13minutes.
3. Heat a wok on high heat. Add in a tbsp of vegetable oil. Once it's hot, add in the garlic and lightly brown. Then add in the beef, lay thinly over the wok and let is slightly caramelised, this will take about 1 minute or so. Then flip over and stir fry for another minute. Do not overcook as you want your beef to be just tenderly nice. Remove to a plate.
4. Add in another tbsp of oil onto the wok, throw in the green and stir fry quickly to nicely coat the vegetable with oil. This will take about a minute. Remove to a plate.
5. Then pour in the noodle sauce, once it start simmering, turn the heat to medium. Add in the spaghetti and stir, let it absorb the liquid. When the liquid is almost absorbed, turn off heat, add in the beef and brocolli stem and mixed well. Served hot with pickled green chillis.

Pork Ball Cellophane/Glass Noodle Soup

As from the title of my recipes, my main aim here is to share with you how to make bouncy meatballs [pork, beef or chicken] that one could easily make.
I always thought making those bouncy meatballs required a lot of skill. Fear not, it's as easy as I promised you. Infact this is my first try in making these bouncy meatballs and it turned out really well.

Pork ball
Ingredients (make 20-24 balls)

• 250 gm mince pork
• 60 ml icy cold water
• 1/2 tsp nam pla- Thai fish sauce
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp oil
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp of white pepper

1. Put the mince pork into a food processor and blend until a paste is form. During blending, add 3 tbsp of icy water slowly(one tbsp at a time) until a smooth paste is form. Remove the blended meat paste into a big bowl
   
2. Then mix the remaining icy water with fish sauce, salt, sugar, oil, cornflour, white pepper and baking powder in a bowl.
3. Pour this mixture into the meat paste and use a big spoon to stir slowly until all the liquid is absorbed.
4. To do the taste test, boil a little of the paste. Taste it and season according to your taste by adding salt or sugar.
5. Cover the meat paste with cling wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes or so.
6. When you wanted to shape the pork ball, boil a kettle of water. Pour the boiling water into a deep pot.
7. Using a wet hand, scoop the meat paste onto your palm, close your hand, push the paste through the index finger and thumb, use a wet spoon to scoop the ball and drop it onto the hot water in the pot. Continue to do so until complete. Here a video clip on how to shape the ball with your hand.
   
8. At this time, you should notice the outer layer of the meatball is slightly cook. Bring the pot onto your cooker, on the heat to lowest, slowly bring it to simmering point but not boiling. This will ensure your pork ball will be bouncy. This roughly takes about 15minutes or so. Once cooked the pork ball will float to the surface. You can half one of the ball to ensure it's cook, no sign of pinkish meat.
   
9. While it's cooking, prepare a big bowl and fill in with icy water. Drop the cooked pork balls into it. Once cooled, you can remove the pork ball and store in the fridge until it is required.
   
   

Cellophane/Glass Noodle Soup
Ingredients (serve 4 persons)

• 200 gm dried cellophane noodle
• 1.5 litres of chicken+anchovy stock- add salt and 1/2 tbsp of sugar
  
• 2 stalks of spring onion-finely chopped
• 2 tbsp shallot oil
• 1 tbsp of pickled radish/turnip (chai po)
• 2 cups of bean sprouts or some greens
• pinch of pepper
  
• sliced red chillis (optional)
  

1. Boil the cellophane noodle for 5 minutes or so till cook. It should be transparent.
2. Bring to boil the prepared stock. You can add in the pork ball to boil as well. Off the heat
   
3. Separate the noodle into 4 bowls.
4. Garnish the noodle with bring sprout, spring onion, pickled turnip, shallot oil, pork ball and red chillis.
5. Served piping hot, nice to dip the meat ball with garlic chilli sauce or just soya sauce with bird eye chillis.
   

Pad Thai

The start of the year has been so cold with so many snowy days. This winter has been the coldest in Britain for the last 3 decades. My snow excitement might have fizzled away as it's quite common to snow lately. How I wish it could be slightly warmer.

If I can't change the weather I can make my food spicier to ward off the Big Chill. So I decided to make Pad Thai tonite.

Pad Thai
Ingredients (for 3-4 persons)

• 300 gm dry pad thai rice noodles- soak in water for about 15minutes, drained.
  
• 500 gm bean sprouts
• 3 duck/chicken eggs-duck egg is tastier
• 50 gm chopped pickled turnip/radish
• 250 gm king prawns-de-shelled & de-veined
• 1/2 cup ground roasted peanut
• 5 cloves garlic-minced
• 1/2 cup vegetable cooking oil
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 3 tbsp fish sauce-nam pla
• 1 tbsp of tamarind paste+ 5 tbsp of water-make into tamarind juice
• 50 gm Chinese chives
• 2 shallots-chopped
• 2 green chillis- sliced (medium hot)
• 1 cake tofu bean curd-cut into smaller cubes

1. Heat 3 tbsp of oil in a frying pan and sautee garlic and shallots. When it is fragant, add the noodle and stir fry. Add just enough water to soften the noodle, continue to stir fry them to prevent noodle sticking to the pan. If you've a big pan, you can remove the noodle to aside, else remove them from pan.
2. Heat another 3 tbsp oil in the pan, when it is slightly smoky, add in the prawn, pickled turnip, tofu cubes and chillis. Stir fry for a minute or so. Return the noodle into the pan. Add in tamarind juice. Mix thoroughly.
3. Make some space on the pan to make the scramble eggs. Heat 2 tbsp of oil, when it is hot, break the 3 eggs and scramble them.When set, mix thoroughly with noodle. Add the bean sprouts and chives and off the heat immediately, this will prevent the sprouts and chives for being overcook. This will give you the crunchy bites of the bean sprouts.
   
4. Serve on a plate, garnish with ground peanut and chilli flakes.

Looking outside my window, it's quite pretty things cover in white........the tune of let it snow, let it snow, let it snow comes naturally.

Wanton noodle soup

A bowl of piping hot wanton noodle soup on a cold winter day, it's so invigorating to the core. It's tasty broth and homemade little morsel of wanton and egg noodle is just my kind of comforting food on a dull winter's day. I like it with some minced garlic+vinegar sauce over my soup.

Wanton skin wrapper+filling recipes can be obtained here

Egg noodle recipes can be obtained here

Broth
Ingredients

• 800 gm pork bone/chicken + 1 handful dried anchovies
  
• 2 liter water
• 1 thumb size ginger-smashed
• 5 cloves garlic-smashed
• 1 thumb size rock sugar
  
• salt to taste

1. Put all the ingredients for broth in a pot and bring to a boil. Lower heat and let the broth simmer for 3 hrs.
2. Remove the bone from the pot and filter the broth onto another pot.
3. Heat the broth when you wanted to serve.

Noodle+Wanton

1. In a pot boil enough water, once boiling, drop in the wanton and let it cook. Once cooked it will float to the surface. Use a spatula to scoop them out and drained.
   
2. Then add the egg noodle to boiling water and cook. Once cooked, remove the noodle from the pot and wash under running cold tap water. Add some water to the boiling water in the pot, once boiling, add the noodle back and cook just to heat it. Drained and served in bowl. Top up with wanton, scoop the broth onto it and garnish with some spring onion, fried shallot, pickled green chillis and lettuce. Sprinkle some white pepper to serve.
   

Fried Hor Fun (Wat Tan Hor)

I suddenly have a craving for stir fry rice noodle. So I went down to Asian supermarket after work to obtain some fresh hor fun. I thought to myself, if I'm back in Singapore/Malaysia, I won't bother to cook this dish at all, as most stir fry stall 厨 绰 sell this noodle and it's really yummy. I like the seafood gravy with egg being drizzled over the smoky flavor fried hor fun. My craving gets the better of me...........

Fried Hor Fun (Fried rice noodle)-Wat Tan Hor
Ingredients (3-4 persons)

• 400 gm fresh hor fun (rice noodle)
• 1 tbsp dark soya sauce (I use Cheong Chan thick dark caramel sauce)
• 1 tbsp of light soya sauce
• 3 cloves of garlic - minced
  
• a handful of bean sprouts (optional)
• few dash of fish sauce
• 2 tbsp of vegetable oil
  

Sauce/Gravy

• 150 gm pork/chicken lean meat-sliced thinly and mix with 1/2 tsp of corn starch
  
• 12 medium prawns - deveined with tail intact
• 4 fish ball - sliced thinly
  
• 1 stalk of choy sum - chinese green mustard- chopped to separate the green and the stalk
  
• 2 cloves of garlic-minced
• 1 tbsp of tapioca/corn/potato starch + 4 tbsp of water
• 1 1/2-2 cups of chicken stock
• 1 egg-beaten
• 1/2 tbsp of vegetable oil
• 1/2 tbsp of shaoxing wine
• 1/2 tbsp of light soya sauce
• 1/4 tsp of sugar
• 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce

1. Heat a non-stick wok on high heat. Pour in the oil and wait till it get slightly smoky. Add in the garlic and let it sweat till fragant.
2. Add the hor fun in and stir fry quickly. Then add in the soya sauce, dark soya sauce, fish sauce and mix well. Add in the bean sprouts to mix and immediately dish out onto a plate.
3. Using the same wok, add in 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil, once hot add in the gralic and fry till fragant. Add in the pork and fry for a minute. Then add in the prawn, fish ball and fry till slightly turning pink. Add in the stalk part of choy sum, soya sauce, shaoxing wine and oyster sauce and stir fry for another minute. Then pour in the chicken stock, sugar and the green part of the choy sum. Bring it to boil. Then immediately pour in the egg and stir. By now you should get the egg thread. Add in the tapioca starch to thicken the gravy.
   
4. Off heat and drizzle the gravy onto the fried hor fun.
5. Served hot with some pickled green chillis.
   

Anyone wants fried hor fun? :-)

Sitiawan Fuzhou Loo Mein

Oops! I forgot to post this recipes which I wanted to share for some time. This signature dish is very popular among the Fuzhou communities in Sitiawan. The secret to a good loo mein lies in the gravy. The gravy consist of cuttlefish, cabbage, wood ear fungus, golden needle, fried pork belly fats, bamboo shoot and egg . In Sitiawan, I can't actually find any noodle shops that serve this dish has similar and identical taste to each other. One of the best loo mein stall (Ah Choon Loo Mein) can be found in my hometown village of Pekan Gurney, please note this stall only open in the evening. When I was back there, I will have loo mein for breakfast, then some Fuzhou snacks for lunch and loo mein again for dinner. This noodle is definitely an acquired taste for some because of slight pungentness of fermented bamboo shoot and rather sweet taste to the gravy.

I try to cook this dish awhile ago and yes they taste nice, I would prefer to use fresh bamboo shoot but I can only find can bamboo shoot here. Nevertheless, the loo mein I love that I grew up with.... count in on nostalgic value

The fresh bamboo shoot that my mum dug up from our Pekan Gurney backyard

Sitiawan Fuzhou Loo Mein
Ingredients

• one handful of dry wood ear fungus-soaked in water till soft
  
• one handful of golden needle-soaked in water till soft
• one can of bamboo shoot/ 250gm fresh bamboo shoot-julienned
• 3 dry cuttlefish-soaked in water till soft and sliced into thin strip
  
• 30 gm of pork belly (fats part)-diced
• 100 gm cabbage - sliced thinly
  
• 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1-2 tbsp dark soya sauce
• salt to taste/light soya sauce
• 2-3 tbsp sugar or to taste
• 2 tbsp of tapioca starch diluted with 4 tbsp of water
• 2 eggs beaten
  

Stock

• one handful of dry anchovies-clean
• 1/2 kgs pork bone (you can use chicken bone as well)
• 1.5 - 2 litres of water
• 3 cloves of garlic-minced
• 1/2 tbsp of vegetable oil
  
  

Noodle

• 8 bunches of fresh egg noodles (one bunch serve one)

1. Heat a deep pot, pour in the oil and sweat the garlic. Add in the anchovies, fry for a minute or two. Then add in the bones and water. Let the stock boil on high heat, once boiled, turn over to low heat and simmer for an hour or so.
2. Once stock is ready, sieve the stock and set aside.
3. In another pot, heat the oil, then add in the pork belly fats and fry till crispy. Dished out and set aside. Then add wood ear fungus, golden needle and cuttlefish, fry till fragance. Pour in the stock and let it boil.
   
4. Add in the salt, sugar, dark soya sauce and cabbage and let it boil for 10minutes for the cabbage to cook.
5. Then pour the beaten egg slowly and keep stirring so that it's well mixed and create egg thread. Slowly add in the tapioca starch solution to thicken the gravy. Keep stirring. Once it's done, let it simmer on low heat.
6. Now, it's time to cook the fresh egg noodle. Boil a pot of water, once boiling add the desired noodle and let it cook. Once cook, it will float onto the surface. Drained and served onto a bowl. Scoop the gravy onto the noodle and garnish wih some fried pork belly fat. Served hot and enjoy.
   

Ah Choon Loo Mein

Foochow Red Wine Chicken

As the weather is getting cooler, officially we're in autumn now, gosh how time flies, it's October now. So I'm yearning for revitalizing and warmth food for the cooler evening/nites, at least to be warm before I turn on the heater comes winter. Still remember the Foochow red glutinous rice wine that my mum made in my previous post? Typically we use the wine to cook the fame Foochow Red Wine Chicken serve with longevity noodle (mian xian). As a Foochow, this is the signature dish that we grew up with.

Foochow Red Wine Chicken with longevity noodle
Ingredients

• Half free range chicken (kampung chicken is the best)
• 1 cup of Ang Chiew (red wine)
• 1 tbsp of Ang Zhao (red wine sediment)
  
• 80-100 gm of ginger-julienned
• 3 tbsp of sesame oil
• salt to taste
• 1/2 tbsp of sugar
• 1 litre of water
  
• 3 bunches of longevity noodle (if you can find the Sitiawan mian xian-they taste really good)

1. Cut the chicken into bite size. Marinate it with the ang zhao, leave it for 30minutes or so.
2. In a wok, heat up the sesame oil. Once it is smoky, throw in the julienned ginger and stir fry till fragance. I love this aroma.
3. Then pour in the chicken and stir fry continuosly till slightly cook. Add in the and chiew and stir fry again. Add in the salt and sugar and continue to stir fry for a minute or so. Pour in the water and close with a lid. Let it simmer for 10-15minutes till cook.
   
4. While the dish is simmering, prepare a pot and boil some water to cook the longevity noodle. When it is boiling, add in the noodle and let it cook on high heat. Remember to use a chopstick to stir the noodle so that it doesn't stick together during the cooking process. Once the noodle is cook, it will float. Drained. In a bowl, place the noodle and laddle some red wine chicken and soup onto it.
5. Serve while it's still piping hot.

I'm enjoying this dish :-)

Chicken Kway Teow Soup

Been doing 34 miles bicycle ride on Saturday, weather was superb. Being May bank holiday this weekend, it was a nice break even though I didn't go anywhere.
So I thought of having a piping hot bowl of chicken Kway Teow soup for breakfast. Light enough to start the day. Back home I could have fresh Kway Teow, here if I'm lucky enough I could find in Chinese shop, else I opt for the dry kway teow in a bag from Vietnam. They taste quite good, but nothing beats the Ipoh fresh Kway Teow.

Chicken Kway Teow Soup
Ingredients (for 2 persons)

• 700 ml of chicken stock (Boil half chicken in 800ml water, a slice of ginger, one handful of dried anchovy, 1 garlic cloves, 1/2 tsp sesame oil, 1 small cube of rock sugar and 1 tsp of salt for an hour.
  
• 100 gm of cooked skinless chicken breast meat - sliced thinly/shredded
• 100-120gm dry kway teow (Banh Pho)
  
• 2 handful of bean sprouts (washed and removed roots)
• 2 shallots, sliced thinly and fried in 2 tbsp of vegetable oil till brown
• 1 tbsp of preserved radish/turnip
• 1 stalk of spring onion chopped finely
• 1 red chillis thinly sliced
• a dash of white pepper

1. In a pot, boil some water to cook the dry kway teow. When water is boilng drop in the kway teow and cook till soft (this takes about 4-5minutes). Drained and divide them into 2 bowls. Blanched the bean sprout and set them on the kway teow.
   
2. Bring to boil the chicken stock.
   
3. Garnish the kway teow with sliced chicken meat, spring onion, preserved radish and red chillis.
4. Scoop the soup into the bowl and a dash of white pepper.
   
5. Served hot.

Some cut flowers from my spring blooms

White ranunculus, with little blue forget-me-not, little white allium and purple chives flower


This is the real Quuen Of The Night almost black color tulips

Cut tulips Queen Of The Night from my garden nicely wrap as a gift to my friend

Spaghetti with chargrilled vegetables and tuna flakes

Lately my weekends were mainly spend on tidying up my garden for spring display. That explains my lack of activities and updates on my blog. Another good reason is , weather has been of spring theme even we're still officially in winter. But nevertheless, I enjoyed the earlier spring anyway :-) and fresh air outside.

I also tend to cook easy meal for lunch so that I can maximize the time spend on daylight outside :-). Here's an easy recipes and quite healthy.

Spaghetti with chargrilled vegetables sauce and tuna flakes
Ingredients (good for 2 persons)

• half a bag of dry spaghetti
• half a bottle Bertolli chargrilled vegetables sauce
• 1 small can of tuna flakes
• 2 cloves of garlic minced
• a bunch of corriander finely chopped
  
• 1/2 lemon juice
• some black pepper
• some grated parmesan cheese
  
• 3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
• a dash of sea salt

1. Cook the spaghetti till al-dante (this takes about 11-15mins). Drained in colander. Put in a bowl and pour in the olive oil and sea salt and toss.
2. Meanwhile the spaghetti is cooking, pepare the sauce. In a little of olive oil, fry the garlic till fragant. Add in the tuna flakes and stir fry for about a minute or so. Then pour in the vegetable sauce and simmer for about 3-4minutes, add the lemon juice. Remove from heat and add in the chopped corriander. Stir and mixed well.
3. Put the cooked pasta on a plate and dressed with the sauce. Drizzle with black pepper and grated parmesan cheese.

Quick yet tasty meal and I'm off to my garden :-).

Here are some flower pictures from my garden which I took yesterday. Enjoy the vibrant color :-).
Light purple crocuses in full bloom

Christmas rose or Hellebores

Dark purple iris

Hue of purple crocuses basking in the sunlight

white crocusses, don't they look like little chicks coming out from their shells

White daffodils blooming in the pot

Yu Mein

When weather is cold, I resolved to having piping hot noodle soup to warm up. I made Yu Mein(fine egg noodles) as satisfying winter warming meal. The secret to a good bowl of Yu Mein lies in it's stock and dipping chilli garlic sauce. I even made my own chilli garlic sauce to go with my Yu Mein. Typically they cook each portion of noodle (for each person) in a small pot. It's a very popular noodles in Singapore and Malaysia.

Yu Mein (Fine Egg Noodles Soup)
Ingredients (serves 2)

Stock

• 1.5 litres of water
  
• some rock sugar
• one handful of dried anchovies
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 tsp of fried shallot oil
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• a dash of pepper
  
• 1/4 chicken (esp on bony parts-his will give sweetness to the soup) or can use pork rib as well

Noodles

• 150gm fresh egg noodles
• 3 bok choy plant.
  
• 100gm minced pork(1/2 tbsp of shaoxing wine, 1 tbsp of pepper, 1 tbsp light soya sauce, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp corn flour, half egg)
• spring onion for garnishing
• fried crisp shallot for garnishing
  
• one handful of dried anchovies-removed head and stomach- shallow fry till crisp
• 2 eggs
  

Chilli garlic sauce

• 1 big red chilli
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1/2 tsp rice vinegar
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• a dash of sea salt
• 2 tsp of water

1. You can prepare the chilli sauce before hand. Minced the chilli and garlic and place in a small dish. Add in lime juice, rice vinegar, sugar, salt and water. Set aside.
2. Prepare the stock. In a stock pot, add in water to chicken, anchovies and garlic. Let it boil on high heat and then turn to low heat and let it simmer for an hour. Add in pepper, rock sugar and sesame oil. Let it simmer for another 5 minutes or so.
3. Seived the stock into another pot, let it boil. Add in egg noodle and cook till float. With a spoon, scoop the minced meat in small bite size into the stock. Cook for about 2minutes. Crack the eggs and poached (soft boil) them in the stock . Throw in the vegetable and cook for another minute.
4. Served piping in bowl. Garnish with fried anchovies, fried shallot and spring onion. And don't forget your homemade dipping chilli garlic sauce.

Enjoy homemade Yu Mein, I love it.

Homemade Fresh Egg Noodle

My mom gave me a pasta/noodle machine last year, and frankly speaking it has been seating in a corner of my cabinet until today. It always feel comforting to have piping hot soupy noodle when it is this cold. It has been cold today as easterly Artic wind from Russia is bringing slow flurry and more heavy snow expected on Monday. Brrrrrr...... it has been really cold winter this year and this week going to be in sub-zero temperature again.



Homemade Fresh Egg Noodle
Ingredients

• 3 cups of plain flour
• 2-3 eggs (beat in a bowl)
  
• 3 tbsp of water
• 1 tsp of salt

Chicken stock

• 1 cube of chicken stock
• 1 tsp of oyster sauce
• 1 litre of water
• 1 tsp of caster sugar
• salt to taste
• dash of white pepper
• one portion of chicken breast about 100gm
  

Garnishing

• blanched bok choy
• spring onion chopped
  
• fry shallot flakes
• some pickled green chillis
• 1/2 tsp garlic vinegar
  

1. Put flour + salt onto a big kneading bowl, make a hole in the center and pour in the eggs.
2. Use hand to mix.
3. Add in water. If it's too dry add more water, if too wet add more flour. Transfer onto a floured work surface and continue to knead. Knead till dough is smooth and not sticky to your hand. Rest the dough for awhile before rolling in the pasta machine.
4. Roll the dough and cut into several portion.
5. Use a pasta machine, the flat roller slot to roll the dough portion to the desired thickness, start with higher thickness selection then move to thinner option, as you do this coat the dough with a bit of flour. Continue to roll untill all the dough is being rolled to required thickness.
6. Then change the slot to noodle slot, place the thinned dough to cut it into noodle. Dust with tapioca starch or corn starch so that noodle won't stick together. You can store the noodle in air tight container in freezer and can be stored for up to 2 weeks.
   
7. Prepare the chicken stock. Throw in the chicken and let it boil till cook, blanch the bok choy. Remove chicken and shred into thin pieces.
   
8. In another big pot pour in water to boil. Once boiling, put the required amount of noodle to cook. Once cook, the noolde will float on the surface. Depend on the texture you desire, this may take about from 5-10minutes. I prefer mine chewy, so I cook for about 5-6minutes. Drained and put into a bowl. Pour the chicken stock over, garnish with bok choy, chicken meat, fried shallot, green chillis and spring onion.

Oh my, oh my.....did you hear I'm slurping my noodles.... oops :-)

Here's a picture of my favorite cat Jerry(he's cahsing the snow flurry though) and some snow flakes on my primrose

"A Long Man" Kwan Lo Mee (Dry Noodle)

Recently had been feeling rather nostalgic, perhaps Chinese New Year is just around the corner, and me, yes me announcing not going back to Malaysia/Singapore this Ox year....
Even my recent dishes in a way has been linked to my growing up years in little village of Pekan Gurney ( named after Sir Henry Gurney as my dad told me) , after all Malaysia used to be under British ruling.

Once in awhile I will miss the food I grew up with in this little village. Tonite, I'm making dry noodle(kwan Lo Mee) , one of my favorite meal for anytime of the day-be it for breakfast, lunch or dinner. One of my favorite noodle stall back home is "A Long Man" noodle stall. The reason for this nickname is that the original owner is a very tall man. This stall has been passed down through few generations. For my family , it's been 4 th generations that we had eaten there.

Secret to nice Kwan Lo Mee : pork fats, and the usage of minced garlic in rice vinegar that make "A Long Man" dry noodle uniquely his :-) .

Minced garlic in rice vinegar

A Long Man Kwan Lo Mee
Ingredients (serves 2)

• 150 gm fresh egg noodles
• some char siew pork (roast pork)
• some book choy
• some spring onion for garnishing
  

Sauce:

• 1 tbsp soya sauce
• 1 tsp pork lard
• 1 tsp sesame
• 1/2 tbsp black soya sauce
• 1 tbsp premium oyster sauce
• 1 tsp minced garlic vinegar ( 5 cloves of minced garlic in 1 tbsp rice vinegar-let it pickled overnite)
  
• 1 tbsp char siew gravy

1. In a plate, add the sauce ingredients and mixed well.
   
2. In a pot, boil some water, once water boiling, throw the noodle in, use a chopstick to stir so that noodle will not clump together. Once cooked the noodle will float. Remove the noodle and run it under cold running tap water. This will ensure the noodle will be springy.
3. Once water is boiling again, put in the noodle back again to re-cook.
   
4. Once cooked, drained, and put the noodle into the sauce and mixed well.
5. Garnish with spring onion, bok choy and char siew pork.

Nostalgic......

Fried Vermecilli (Fried Bee Hoon)

When I want to eat something quick that requires easy stir fry, fried bee hoon has always been in my shortlist. It's versatile enough to fill my hunger pangs in less than 30minutes. This dish is very common in Malaysia and Singapore, be it for breakfast, lunch as well as dinner. My mum used to pack this dish whenever we've picnic for the day. Her fried bee hoon is so tasty even the local church asked her to fry bee hoon for social gathering function. Her secret in taste is using special brewed anchovy stock and lots of fresh ingredients.


Fried Vermecilli (Fried Bee Hoon)

Ingredients (Serves 4)
1/2 packet bee hoon/vermicelli
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 bowl of bean sprouts
2 shallots sliced
2 cloves of garlic
2 chillis
a bunchful of fresh coriander
1 carrot thinly shreded
100gm char siew pork (optional)
20 medium prawn deshelled
4 squids ring cuts
1 cup anchovy stock (can substitute with oyster sauce)
1 tbsp thick dark soya sauce (Malaysian Cheong Chan brand)
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp sugar
4 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 lime for garnishing or squeeze in when served

Method:

1. Soak the vermecilli(bee hoon) in water until soft. Drained.
   
2. In a bowl add in dark soya sauce, sugar, light soya sauce, pepper, sesame oil and anchovy stock and mix.
   
3. Beat the egg with a dash of pepper and salt. In a non stick pan, prepare the egg omelette. Cooked and removed from pan, cut into shreds and set aside.
   
4. In a wok, heat the oil. Once hot, add in shallot & garlic, chillis and fry till fragant.
   
5. Add in prawn, char siew pork and stir fry continuosly for 2minutes until prawn turned pink. Add in shredded carrot and stir fry for a minute.
   
6. Add in vermecilli and stir fry on high heat. Pour in the sauce from (2).
   
7. Toss and stir gently till sauce is fully absorbed by the bee hoon. Add in bean sprout and off the fire. Serve garnished with egg shreds, fresh corriander , lime and garlic chilli sauce/sambal belachan.

Enjoy the simple and no fuss fried bee hoon

Never waste your food

Twas bitterly cold today, in the morning the temperature barely hits 7degreeC. I even wore a wool scarf & glove to sleep the nite before[brrrrrr.....]. It feels wintry. It's only early October for goodness sake.
Well.....well.... it's UK anyway :-)

Back to topic:
I was taught from young by mom to finish all the food on my plate, all clean and clear, not even a single grain of rice visible. I was told, if I finished everything I'll be bestowed a handsome boyfriend or husband in the future......hmnnnnn....guess it was a myth after all.... it was a bit silly though but the trick work just fine as it taught me not to waste food.....hehehehe.

So as from last nite, I made Teriyaki chicken and still have leftover(note: I couldn't finish 4 thighs at one go), so I thought why not made myself a nice bowl of Teriyaki chicken noodle soup. It was a fusion between Japanese and Chinese ingredients. I love soup when weather is plunging, cold and miserable. Hot soup always do wonder to perk me up. My mom will be so happy now, no more leftover .....

Teriyaki Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients

• 1 chicken cube stock or anchovies cube.
  
• A hanful of noodle (about 70gm)
  
• Chicken teriyaki meat sliced thinly[from leftover]
• 2 handful of green spinach leaves
• 400ml water
• 1 tsp shaoxing wine
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• few sprigs of parsley
• slices of red chillis
• some sesame for decorating
• 2 tsp of light soya sauce
• 1 tsp oyster sauce(optional)
  
• pinch of salt to taste
  
• seaweed (Nori)
• pinch of pepper
  

1. Cook the noodle and drain and put into a bowl, top up with bits of seaweed.
2. In another pot, prepare the chicken stock, add in the cube and boil. Then add in seasoning-sesame oil, salt, soya sauce, shaoxing wine. Still boiling add in spinach and turn off the fire.
3. Pour over the soup into the noodle in the bowl. Top up with teriyaki chicken, chillis slice, parsely and pinch of white pepper. Serve while it's hot. I throw in a pint of beer for bonus.....

Seafood fare with a fusion twist

I love seafood especially fresh seafood. This is one of the few things I missed much about Singapore/Malaysia. I could easily testifed that Sabah has the best seafood. Think my cousin Fen + cousin in law Perry will be so proud now. Over here , it's quite expensive to have fresh prawn, the closest you'll get is frozen king prawn (note: king prawn = medium size prawn back home) pack in a 250gm packaging in supermarket. If you're lucky, you may get headless fresh prawn in the seafood counter. One would wonder, Britain is surrounded by oceans, North Sea to the East, and Atlantic ocean to the West, there should be abundance of seafood and should be cheap as well. I think the reason of the high price is that labor cost that gone into de-shelling them, removing head, skin and bone from fishes and etc. Some may disagree with me , claiming that declining fish stocks and ethical fishing method may be the real reason. So everything came with headless, boneless or some even skinless. No wonder the westerners are traumatised by the ''Fish Head'' curry we had for that matter :-).
So what to cook(scratching my head tho)? One is craving for some seafood fare. Checklist: Still some ''frozen'' king prawns and scallops left in the fridge. The first instant thought was fried seafood guotiau(thick rice noodle) but no time to run down to Chinese store to get it. In time of emergency like this, pasta always come handy. Down to pasta fusilli then....decided....full stop.
My chives herby planted in my garden make good frying companion especially for noodle, well no harm throwing in for my fried dish.... :-) .... for me if it's fresh, everything also can lah....
So does Italian pasta blend in well with Malaysian "goreng" (in Malay means fry) style....fusion indeed with a twist.

Fried seafood fusilli ala Malaysian
Ingredients

• 120gm of pasta fusilli
• 2 pieces of garlic, chopped
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 1 cili padi (small spicy chilli)
• 2-3 cabbage leaves sliced thinkly into strip
  
• 1 tbsp tomato ketchup
• 2 tsp dark soya sauce
• 1 tbsp light soya sauce
• 1 bunch of chives ( can use Chinese chives, mine is the herby chives)
• 150 gm prawn
• 6 scallops
• 3 small squid, cut into rings
  
• 2 tsp shaoxing wine( I like to use wine when cooking)
  
• 1 egg
• 1-2tbsp vegetable oil and 1/2(half) tsp sesame oil
  

1. Boil the fusilli in a pot until al-dante. Takes about 10-15mins. Drained.
2. In a pan/wok, high fire, pour in the oil ,stir fry the garlic, onion, chilli until fragrant.
3. Add in prawn, squid, scallop and stir fry for 2 mins, add in egg then cabbage + pasta and stir fry again for 2 mins.
4. Stir in all the seasoning-1st shaoxing wine, follow by light soya sauce, tomato ketchup then dark soya sauce. Stir fry again for 2mins.
5. Add in the chives and off the cooker, mix well......ready to serve in a nice plate.

It's so tasty...... brrrrrrp..........
By the way that's my Sunday lunch ;-)