Common Chinese Dishes For New House Chefs

 

INTRODUCTION

This is a compilation of common Chinese household vegetable dishes targeted as new house chefs. Including in one post is the technique of vegetable blanching and the common sides ingredients to go with the vegetable dishes.  The list is endless and it will constantly be updated.

For recipes, click on the picture or title and go to the relevant link. If the link goes to Facebook Pages, click on individual picture, all the recipes and instructions were stated in the relevant picture.

---

BLANCHING VEGETABLE AS A HEALTHIER ALTERNATIVE

---

VEGETABLE DISHES

Braised luffa with egg 蛋汁炆丝瓜

Foochow Preserved Mustard Fried With Minced Meat (福州糟菜炒肉碎）

 

Fried Winged Beans With Minced Meat (肉碎四棱豆）

Blanched Kailan With Prawn (芥兰虾球）

Blanch Romaine lettuce with miso sauce (味真酱罗明旦)

Manchurian Wild Rice Fried With Chicken Strips (鸡丝炒茭白笋）

Hairy Gourd Fried With Minced Meat and Glass Noodles (毛瓜肉碎炒冬粉)

Braised Bitter Gourd With Chinese Mustard (苦瓜焖芥菜) 

Salted Vegetable Fried With Pork Strips (咸菜炒肉丝）  

Spicy and Sour Shredded Potatoes (酸辣土豆丝）

Blanched Tri-Colour Capsicum With Prawns With Chicken Breast (虾仁鸡柳拌三色甜椒）

 

Chrysanthemum Green With Chinese Black Vinegar (春菊拌浙醋）

Seven Vegetable Auspicious Day For Chinese New Year (七色菜-人日）

Hope you like the post today. Cheers.

---

For more recipes, you can refer to my RECIPE INDEX (updated as at 10th February 2014)  here and you can follow me at PINTEREST or visit this blog’s FACEBOOK PAGE .  

If you are a Pinterest user and you are interested to have more recipes, you can join or follow this Pinterest Board set up by me  where there are more than 1500 recipes worldwide and pinned by various bloggers: FOOD BLOGGERS AND FOODIES UNITED PINTEREST BOARD. You can also join the Food Bloggers and Foodies United Group Facebook Group to see more recipes.

---

A Noodle Dish That Chinese Sarawakian Would Not Be Able To Let Go… Sarawak Kolo Mee

Kolo Mee prepared using Hong Kong Mee

INTRODUCTION

I remembered I started my long post on the famous Sarawak Laksa with these few words….

“Like any other Sarawakians, I am proud of our own version of laksa, Sarawak Laksa. It will not do Sarawak Laksa any justice if I did not do  a detail post on Sarawak Laksa”

The same applies to Kolo Mee, the second most common noodle dish in Sarawak, Malaysia, particularly in its capital city Kuching. As a Sarawakian, it will be unfair to my state of origin if I did not blog about Kolo Mee (or Sarawak Dry Noodles used interchangeably). Kolo Mee, a type of Sarawak dry noodles is deep rooted in the hearts of Chinese especially in the city of Kuching. Sarawakians who are overseas have always  craved for this special noodle and Sarawakian in Sarawak can have this noodle dish as breakfast, lunch, dinner or even supper. There will be at least one store selling Kolo Mee in  any eating outlets. The popularity is just like fishball noodles in Singapore context.

  Kolo Mee Prepared Using You Mian

Though popular and unique in its presentation, however, I am reluctant to say that the noodles originated from the State of Sarawak.  Singaporean foodies who visited Kuching and have the noodles said that it resembles the type of noodles called 车仔面 or Cart noodles which was common in the 1960’s. Some of the images that I have sourced from internet websites do have some resemblances to Sarawak Kolo Mee particularly websites from the area of Xiamen and Chaozhou, People’s Republic of China. In Singapore, there is a type of wanton noodle called Kluang wanton noodles, it is rather similar in taste and noodles textures. The same for the Feifei wanton noodles in Joo Chiat Road, Singapore, the taste are closed but not exactly the same.

Kolo Mee prepared using Hong Kong Mee

The popularity have started to expand to places besides Kuching. In Singapore, there is a rather big restaurant chain called Jiaxiang Sarawak Kolo Mee and some hawker centres selling it. In fact, Singapore’s Channel 8 do have a TV show recently on the SARAWAK KOLO MEE. I understand there are also stores in Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru, Malaysia that sell the noodles.

Besides, in bigger cities where there are a lot of Sarawakian’s residing such as Melbourne, Perth, Toronto, the noodles were being sold in local Sarawakian restaurants. 

 Kolo Mee Prepared Using You Mian

If you stay in Kuching, Sarawak, it is rather unlikely that you will be preparing this noodle dish yourself since it can be easily bought  in any eating outlets. Prices are generally reasonable and not many foodies will want trouble themselves to prepare such noodles. However, in overseas, foodies may have to wait  for the relatives to “pack” them the noodles when they visit them from Kuching or they will have to eat at the restaurant at a rather high price. Is it not good if overseas Sarawakians are able to prepare the noodles themselves ?

The challenge of preparing this noodle dish is the type of noodles used. The noodles used in Kuching is a type of springy egg noodles without the use of any alkaline water (碱水）。For size and texture, it resembles the type of noodles used in the preparation of wanton noodles in West Malaysia or Singapore. But the taste and colour are different. The colour is lighter and the taste is without the strong flavour of alkaline water. Being in Singapore, I do not have the noodles like those in Sarawak. I have resorted to the use of two types of noodles commonly sold in the Singaporean supermarkets. One is called “Hong Kong Noodles” with eggs and alkali water usually used for the preparation of wanton noodles  and another noodle is called the “You Mian” without eggs and alkali water.

 

---

WHAT IS REQUIRED

All quantities are for reference only as it is very depends on individual likings

 

• 1 packet of Hong Kong Noodles (or You Mian)

• Some lard (optional)

• 3-4 shallots, cut in small pieces

• Some Chinese barbecue pork

• Some minced pork

• Some choy shym or other leafy green vegetables

Not in pictures above

• Some spring onions, cut in small pieces 

• Some white vinegars or black vinegars

• Some seasonings of your choice (mushroom concentrate or chicken stock or MSG)

• Some sugars

• Some light soya sauces

• Some dark soya sauces

• Salt to taste

• Some cooking oils

• Some sesame oils

Lard is traditionally used in these cuisines and recently I was shocked to know that most of the stalls in Kuching still uses lard in the preparation of this noodle dish. Depending on individual, you can just use cooking oil or olive oil instead.

---

STEPS OF PREPARATION

Preparing the fried shallots and shallots oil

• In a frying pan, have 1 cup of cooking oil, heat the oil under medium heat. Add in the chopped shallots and deep fried until the shallots are brownish in colour. Drain and set aside. The shallots shall be crispy when cold. Keep in an airtight container if desired.

• Use the same oil, add in the chopped spring onions. Stir fried the spring onions until brownish and let it soaked in the oil. When cooled, transfer the shallot oil to a bowl and set aside for later use.

---

Preparing the minced meats and blanching of vegetables

• For 200 grams of minced meat, marinate the mince meats with 1 teaspoon of light soya sauce, 1 teaspoon of dark soya sauce, 1 teaspoon of sesame oil, pinches of white pepper and pinches of salt. Stir well and let it marinate for about 10-20 minutes.

• In a pot of boiling hot water, put the marinated minced meat in sieve, put the sieve in the boiling hot water and blanched the minced meat for 2 minutes. Take out the blanched minced meat, put in a bowl, add one scope of dark soya soya sauce, one tablespoon of shallot oil, and additional white pepper. Set aside for later use. Keep the meat blanching water for preparing of some vegetable soup to go with the noodles.

• Use the same hot water to blanched the vegetable for 1-2 minutes, drained and set aside for latter use.

• For minced meat, if you do not want to use blanching method, another alternative is to stir fry the minced meat with 1-2 tablespoons of shallot oils for about 5 minutes.

---

Preparing of noodles

• In a hot pot of boiling water, put in one serving of noodles and cook the noodles by following the instructions as in the package, In this illustration, the package required the noodles to be blanched in hot boiling water for 45 seconds only. Transfer the hot noodles to another pot of cold water for 10 seconds.  Drain and put in the serving bowl with all the seasonings (PLEASE REFER BELOW).

---

Assembling the noodles

To summarize, the following should be ready before assembling the noodle dish. Fried shallot, white vinegar, black vinegar (optional), light soya sauce, minced meat, Chinese barbecue pork, blanched choy sum (in this picture, I used xiaobaicai), shallot oils and lards.

• In a serving bowl, put 2 tablespoons of shallot oils, 1 teaspoon of white vinegar, 1 teaspoon of lard (optional), 1 teaspoon of light soya sauce, pinches of salt, pinches of sugar or seasonings of your choice (such as mushroom concentrate or if you prefer MSG). Mix well and add the blanched noodles (immediately after you blanched and dipped in cold water). Use 2 pairs of chop sticks or any other kitchen utensils to mix the seasonings, shallot oils and noodles as evenly as possible. Put some blanched vegetables, 1 tablespoon of minced meat and some Chinese barbecue pork on top of the noodles. Let it rest for 2-3 minutes before serving.

• In a small soup bowl, transfer some minced meat broth and put in some blanched vegetables.

• Best served with hot with soup (optional) and red cut chilli dipped in white vinegar.

---

CONCLUSION

This is a rather long post. The taste of this noodles dish is satisfactory as compared to those sell in Kuching Sarawak. The most obvious difference is the noodles used. As I can’t get the authentic noodles from Sarawak, I will have to substitute with the next best alternative so as to satisfy my palate. I will continue to search for better alternatives in Singapore and I may want to “thick skinned” enough to ask the store owners selling Kolo mee in Singapore where is the source of supply of their noodles? Imported… I seriously doubt? Making at home….?

I was surprised to see my kids having 2 big plates of noodles .. Possibly they are also craving for the noodles. Of course they will not be able to criticize whether or not the noodles that I prepared is authentic or not.

This is a localized and regional dish.. However, I strongly encourage my readers from Singapore, West Malaysia or other countries to try it. None of my circles of friends who visited Kuching have ever reject the offer as the taste is quite an international taste..To conclude: If you like wanton noodles anywhere in the world, YOU WILL DEFINTELY LIKE IT! DO GIVE IT A TRY! It is not difficult to prepare at all!!

Hope you like the post today and cheers. Have a nice day. 

---

• For more recipes, you can refer to my RECIPE INDEX (updated as at 8 June 2014)  here and you can follow me at PINTEREST or visit the blog’s FACEBOOK PAGE to keep abreast of my future posts.  

• You can also join the FOOD BLOGGERS AND FOODIES UNITED FACEBOOK GROUP  to see more recipes. Currently there are about 11,500 members sharing various food photos . I am posting my daily home cooked food in the above Facebook Group daily. I would be more than happy if you can  post in the Group for the recipes that you tried from my blog.

• If you are a Pinterest user and you are interested to have more recipes, you can join or follow this Pinterest Board set up by me  where there are more than 2600 recipes worldwide and pinned by various bloggers: FOOD BLOGGERS AND FOODIES UNITED PINTEREST BOARD.

When East Meets West, It Is A New Cuisine….Japanese Curry Spaghettis

INTRODUCTION

It was last night’s dinner and I wouldn’t have any luxury of time to take additional photos. Therefore, with the limited photos that I have taken, I will just share this extremely nice “one pot” noodle dish – JAPANESE CURRY SPAGHETTIS. I did not refer to any recipe when I cook this but before I cooked this, I have predicted that it would be a nice combination and this was confirmed by my wife after she took the first bite : “It is much better than spaghettis with tomato pasta sauce!”

I have a post on Japanese curry potato pie yesterday and I have some leftover Japanese curry cubes. When I read Travelling Foodies’s Spaghetti with Bacon and Leeks (Ree Drummond), I told Ms. Yen Simpson (the blog owner) that I like pasta but I do not like the cooking time. She assured me that it is very easy to cook and took her only 8 minutes to cook the spaghettis. I concluded that I will try to cook the spaghettis again and it ended up that I was cooking spaghettis with the leftover Japanese curry cubes.

Personally, I should say, this is a good combination. My kids were asking me when am I going to post this recipe in my blog because they wanted their cousins in Malaysia to try the spaghettis. They said that it was very nice. What they said were expected since they like noodles and Japanese curry sauce which was sweet and not spicy. That, however, should only be used as a reference and readers should try to prepare this and testify yourself if it is a nice combination.

---

WHAT IS NEEDED

Servings: About 4-5 Adults

All measurements are estimated and you can always add or minus or even substitute the ingredients to suit your family’s taste buds.

Must Haves

• 400 grams of spaghettis (cooked using package’s instructions)

• 250 grams of Japanese curry cubes or Japanese curry sauce

• 2 medium sized onions (cut into small pieces)

• 3 cups of water

• 2 tablespoons of olive oil or cooking oil.

Optional and Substitutable

• 20 grams of slightly sweetened cooking chocolate

• 4 chicken franks (cut in slices)

• 1 small carrots (cut into cubes)

• 150 grams of cauliflower (cut into smaller pieces)

• 1 small packet of fresh mushrooms

• 150 grams of minced meat

• Some coriander leaves or Chinese celery for garnish.

• Seasonings for taste.

---

STEPS OF PREPARATION

Cooking the pasta

• Cook spaghettis until desired texture and it is best to follow the instructions in the packaging to get best results. Every pasta will have different cooking time.

• After cooking, drain away the water and put it in icy cold water for 3-4 minutes. Drain again and set aside for later use. The purpose of this step is to make the pasta more chewy rather than soggy.

Preparing the Japanese Curry Sauce and Assembly the dish

• In a sauce pan, heat up some olive or cooking oil under high heat. Add in onion and stir fry until aroma start to emit. Add in broccoli, carrots, minced meat, chicken franks and mushrooms and stir fried for 1-2 minutes. Add in the water and let it simmer under medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Add in Japanese curry cubes or Japanese curry sauces and let it simmer for another 2-3 minutes.

• In order to “enhance” the colour and the sweetness of the curry, add in the cooking chocolate and let it melt into the sauce. Once the chocolate have melted, off the heat and add in some coriander leaves, if desired.

Theoretically, no condiment is needed but it is advisable that to take a spoon and taste whether the sauce suits your taste buds. Add additional seasonings if desired.

---

Assembly of the pasta

• In a big serving plate, place some spaghettis on top of the plate and scoop some pasta sauce and place on top the spaghettis. Garnish with desired greens of choice such as fresh coriander leaves. Best served hot during meals.

---

CONCLUSION

This combination is fabulous and it is kids friendly. I do hope that readers can take a step out to try making the dish. If you can’t get ready made Japanese curry sauce, you can always used traditional curry sauce which can be slightly spicy. Remembers, the dish have full flexibility in the selection of ingredients that your family likes..

This recipe was included in Page 65-66 of the “One Pot Noodle E-book”. For more One Pot Noodle Dishes, you can have a copy of “Easy One Pot Noodles  – A step by step guide” that was packed with 30 recipes, 60 pages at a reasonable convenience fee of USD5.00. The recipes covered various recipes from curry laksa, prawn noodles to fish head beehoon and etc. Of course not forgetting the well like Economy Bee hoon and Mee Rebus . You can purchase by clicking the link above.You can either pay using Pay Pal or Credit card account. Please ensure that you have an PDF reader like Acrobat or iBooks in your mobile phone or iPad if you intended to read it in your ipad or mobile phone. Should there be any problems of purchasing, feel free to contact me at kengls@singnet.com.sg and separate arrangement can be made.

Hope you like the post today. Cheers and have a nice day.

 

Devilled Egg- Simplicity Rules…

INTRODUCTION

I loved eggs. Be it poached, fried, boiled, braised I liked it. My kids loved eggs, be it poached, fried or boiled, they loved it any forms. My whole family loved eggs, we fight for eggs, fried rice will definitely come with eggs. eggs cooked in any form will be appreciated. If I am not baking, on the average, we will need about 40 eggs for a month. If I am baking. we will need about 20 eggs per week.

We cooked eggs in omelette form, like salted turnip omelette, braised tofu and eggs, minced taukwa omelette, steamed tofu and eggs and etc. We use eggs in almost all the noodles dishes like Singapore fried prawn noodles, Sarawak Laksa and etc. We used eggs to cook our vegetable dishes such as braised luffa with eggs, and etc. We also used them for soup dishes such as shark fin melon soup and etc. Therefore, you can see that we used eggs almost daily in the foods I cooked.  However, I never cooked any egg dishes from Western cuisines besides the normal hard boiled eggs or scrambled eggs.

While I am searching of some eggs recipe, I came across this term devilled eggs! It caught my attention! What is this cuisine? I goggled and managed to get some definition from Wikipedia.

Devilled eggs (US) or devilled eggs or ‘eggs mimosa’ are hard-boiled eggs, shelled, cut in half and filled with the hard-boiled egg’s yolk mixed with other ingredients such as mayonnaise and mustard,but many other variants exist internationally. Devilled eggs are usually served cold. They are served as a side dish, appetizer or a main course, and are a common holiday or party food. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deviled_egg)

There are many many recipes in the internet and most of which I can’t followed as it utilizes ingredients that I do not have. Therefore, I have decided to prepare my own devilled eggs based on the ingredients that I have.

This is a simple recipe and easily tailored to meet your families taste buds. If you love eggs, you will not be able to reject this simple dish!

---

WHAT IS REQUIRED

• 6 eggs

• 1 big tomatoes (optional)

• 1 teaspoon of Italian dried herbs

• 2 tablespoon of mayonnaise

---

STEP OF PREPARATION

• Hard boiled the eggs and shelled the eggs.

• Cut off 1/3 top part of the eggs and take out the egg yolks.

• Chopped the tomatoes and top part of the egg whites (1/3 portion). Add in the herbs, few drops of olive oil or cooking oil, pinches of salt and mixed well;

• Scope one table spoon into  your choice of egg holder.

Note, depending on how you want to present your dish, this step is optional if you preferred not to use an egg holder.

• Mash the egg yolks with a big spoon and add 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise. Mash until as finely as possible.

• Add in herbs and mixed well. Spooned the egg yolk into the egg whites portion. Sprinkled with more Italian herbs if desired.

• Can be served as a party snack

Notes

You can cut the eggs into half and make 12. However, because my eggs are rather small, therefore I have decided to cut out 1/2 and retained the remaining two third. Otherwise, if you cut into half, you can cut it symmetrically and cut of the bottom to let it “sit” stably in the plate.

---

CONCLUSION

It is rather easy to make this dish and have full flexibility of tailoring to meet your family’s taste buds. It is definitely a good choice of party foods due to its simplicity of preparation but elegant presentation!

Hope you like this short post! Have a nice day!

I am submitting this post to Little Thumbs Up “Eggs” event organized by organized by Bake for Happy Kids, my little favourite DIY and hosted by (Baby Sumo of Eat Your Heart Out). You can link your egg recipes here.

FOOD PREPARATION SERIES INDEX

 

 

The following are temporary indices for all recipes issued by Guaishushu in both https://kwgls.wordpress.com and Guaishushu’s Facebook Page. The index shall be for temporary references only.

 

 

Desserts:
Aloe Vera	Some Aloe Vera Sweet Fruit Dessert Just Specially For You, Dear!
Barley Peanut Soup	Easy Peasy Barley Bean Curd Sheets Sweet Soup （腐竹薏米甜汤）
Black Glutinous Rice	What? Having Rice as A Dessert- The Nutritious Black Glutinous Rice Porridge
Sweet Potato Soup	Malaysian Singaporean Chinese Food–Sweet Potato Soup Dessert
Barley/Black Glutinous Rice	X4 – Black Glutinous Rice and Barley Sweet Porridge (血糯薏米甜粥）
Honey Dew Granita	C1 Honey Dew and Cantaloupe Granita  哈密瓜奇异果挫冰
Poached Bosc Pears & Dragon Fruits	X3-Chinese Style Poached Pear and Dragon Fruits Desserts (博斯克梨龙珠果炖冰糖）
Bubur Cha Cha	X5 – Bubur Cha Cha (摩摩喳喳）
Drinks:
Chrysanthemum Tea	Come and have a cup of Chrysanthemum Tea (菊花茶）
Hawthorn Ume Tea	Need A Drink To Repair Your Vocal Cord? Hawthorn Ume Is The Tea For You!
Roselle Tea	Game To Try Some “Wild Hibiscus” Tea………….?（洛神花茶）
Rhoeo Tricolor Tea	Purple is mysterious, purple is nobly and a purple drink is definitely lovely! – Rhoeo Tricolor Tea （如意兰茶，蚌兰花茶，红竹叶茶）
Hedyotis Diffusa	Snake Tongue Tea? Gosh.. I Am Going Away……白花蛇舌草罗汉果茶
Breads
Sarawak Style Butter Buns	Homesick Buns? Yes, I am homesick of Sarawak Style Butter Buns..
Roast Meat Buns	P1 – Roast Meat Bun (烧肉包）
Cakes/Muffins/Scones
Banana Cake	P2 – Banana Cake (香蕉蛋糕）
Butter Cake/Pound Cake	1 Butter + 1 Sugar + 1Egg + 1 Flour + 1 Milk = Mrs. NgSK’s Butter Cake-Guaishushu’s Version
Butter Cake/Pound Cake	Hey, My Chick Want To Eat My Zebra Pound Cake !
Chinese Steamed Sponge Cake	The Plights of Kuey Neng Ko…The Traditional Chinese Steamed Sponge Cake…
Chinese Steamed Sponge Cake	My Steamed Sponge Cake (Kuey Neng Ko) Is Full Of Gas。。。。 (汽水鸡蛋糕）
Steamed Sugar Cake	P3-Steamed Sugar Cake (白糖糕）
Microwave Mug Cake	Microwaved Mug Cakes, Another Quick Alternative to Baked and Steamed Cakes…
Sarawak Midnight Cake	Where is my cake? I Can’t See!–Famous Sarawak Midnight Cake (Cake Seri kaya Sarawak) revisited..
Grapefruit Chiffon Cake	Grapefruit Chiffon with Grapefruit Citrus Glaze,… Ever Try This?
Carrot Muffins	Simple Carrot Muffins for Your Love Ones…
Scones	Basic But Presentable, Basic But Irresistible…Basic Raisin Scones Shared…
Tapioca Cake	CCC – Cheesy Cassava Cake–A Modified Version of The Traditional Nonya Kuih Bengka Ubi
Cake Decoration Ideas	From Plain to Eye Catching…From Muffins to Elegant Celebration Cakes
Cheese Cakes
Ferraro Rocher Ice Cream	Simple, Tasty, Elegant …Chilled Ferrero Rocher Oreo Ice Cream Cheese Cake
Durian Cheese Cake	King of Fruits + Cream Cheese = Durian Cheesecakes, Game to Try?
Cookies
Pineapple Tarts	What A Golf Ball Have To Do With A Pineapple? Well, It Is The Famous South East Asian Pineapple Tarts
Puddings
Bread Puddings	Who Said Bread Puddings Must Be Prepared As Such…..Bread Puddings “Reinvented”
Cake Puddings	P4 – Cake Puddings (蛋糕布丁）
Cookie Puddings	Creative Food Series – Cookie Puddings 1
Cookie Puddings	Cookie Puddings – 2
Snacks
Nonya Chang	Is there any relationship between Dragon in a boat and a Peranakan Women?….The process of making Nonya Chang revisited…(Part I)
Nonya Chang	Is there any relationship between Dragon in a boat and a Peranakan Women?….The process of making Nonya Chang revisited…(Part II)
Popiah	Malaysian Singaporean Chinese Food–Popiah Sarawak Style
Kueh Pie Tee	Malaysian Singaporean Chinese Food -Kueh Pie Tee
Roasted Peanuts	C2 – Spiced Roasted Peanut (香脆花生）
Rice and Porridges
Chicken Rice	Why Not Cook Your Mother A Meal Of Chicken Rice This Coming Mother’s Day?
Nasi Goreng Aruk	Are you kidding? You don’t need oil to fry rice?– The authentic Sarawak Cuisine–Aruk Fried Rice
Fried Rice	N1 – Nameless Fried Rice (无名炒饭）
White Gourd Braised Rice	N2 – White Gourd Braised Rice （白莆焖饭）
Pork Porridge	N3- Pork Porridge (肉粥）
Noodles and Pasta Dishes
Kolo Beehoon	Food Preparation Series–Kolo Beehoon
Sarawak Laksa	Hey, My Laksa Secret Recipe Was Stolen!!!……… An In Depth Analysis and Pictorial Procedural Description Of The Famous Sarawak Laksa (PART I)
Sarawak Laksa	Hey, I have invented my own Sarawak Laksa Paste Recipe !!!……… An In Depth Analysis and Pictorial Procedural Description Of The Famous Sarawak Laksa (PART II)
Sarawak Laksa	Hi, Let Start Cooking the Laksa …. An In Depth Analysis and Pictorial Procedural Description Of The Famous Sarawak Laksa (Part III)
Singapore Prawn Noodles	Prawn noodles? Hokkien noodles?… No, it is Singapore Hokkien Fried Prawn Noodles (新加玻福建炒虾面）
Tom Yam Noodles	Bachelor’s Tomyam Noodles–Quick And Nice…
Tomato Yimin Noodles	What I cooked today (家常便饭系列）– 13-7-2013–Tomato Yimin Noodles (茄汁伊面）
Pasta Sauce	Let’s See How An Asian Make The Tomato Pasta Sauce From Scratch and How He Baked His Pasta….
Meat and Savoury Dishes
Korma Chicken	Special – What I cooked today (家常便饭系列）– 22-7-2013–Korma Chicken (科尔马鸡肉）
Grilled Chicken	M1- Chinese Style Grilled Chicken (中式烤鸡）
Ginger Chicken	M2 – Ginger Chicken (姜丝鸡）
Soya Sauce Chicken	M4- Braised Chicken with Soya Sauce (酱油鸡)
Minced Pork with Taukwa	Creative Food Series–Minced Pork Belly with Taukwa
Miso Pork Belly	M3 – Miso Pork Belly （味增五花）
Meat Rolls	Hey, This is not Italian Meat Rolls, It Is Chinese Meat Rolls Called Ngoh Hiang
Vegetarian Dishes
Tempeh	Tempeh Revisited – Sweet And Spicy Tempeh And Oven Baked Honey Tempeh
Vegetable fritters	Vege Vege Vegetable Fritters–Indonesian’s Bakwan Sayuran
Vegetables	Blanching Vegetables in Chinese Cooking – 利用汆烫准备可口的中式的”菜”肴
Chinese Lettuce	V2 – Blanched Chinese Lettuce With Fermented Bean Curd Sauce (白腐乳生菜胆）- Vegetarian
Bitter Gourd & Chinese Mustard	V3- Braised Bitter Gourd With Chinese Mustard (苦瓜焖芥菜)
Shark Fin Melon Soup	S6 – Vegetarian Shark Fin Melon Soup (素鱼翅瓜羹）
Vegetable Dishes
Luffa	D1-Braised luffa/tower gourd with egg* 蛋汁炆丝瓜
Preserved Mustard	D4 – Foochow Preserved Mustard Fried With Minced Meat (福州糟菜炒肉碎）
Winged Beans	D7 – Fried Winged Beans With Minced Meat (肉碎四棱豆）
Kailan with Prawns	V1 – Blanched Kailan With Prawn (芥兰虾球）
Romaine Lettuce Miso	V4 – Blanch Romaine lettuce with miso sauce (味真酱罗明旦)
Tofu and Egg Dishes
Minced Taukwa Omelete	D2 – Minced Taukwa Omelete （豆干蛋饼）
Braised Egg & Tofu	D3 – Braised Eggs and Bean Curd (豆干卤蛋）
Bean Curd Omelete	D5-Beancurd Omelet (豆干蛋饼）
Celery Omelete	D6- Celery Omelete (西芹蛋饼）
Steamed Tofu	D8-Steamed Tofu With Eggs (豆腐蒸蛋）
Salted Turnip Omelete	D9 – Salted Turnip Omelete (菜脯蛋饼）素
Devilled Eggs	Devilled Egg- Simplicity Rules…
Soup Dishes
Sweet Corn Soup	S1 – Sweet Corn Pork Rib Soup （ 玉米排骨汤)
Carrot Soup	S2 – White Carrot Pork Rib Soup (白萝卜排骨汤）
Double Mushroom Soup	S3 – Double Mushroom Chicken Soup (双菇鸡汤）
Bitter Gourd Pineapple Soup	S4-Bitter Gourd Pineapple Pork Rib Soup (苦瓜黄梨排骨汤）
Chinese Napa Soup	S5 – Chinese Cabbage (Napa) Soup ( 大白菜汤)
Salted Vegetable Duck Soup	Salted Vegetable Duck Soup (咸菜鸭）– A Quick and Easy Way to Prepare This Traditional Soup Dish
Interesting Cooking Ingredients
Chilli	Burnt, Hot, Spicy– I am running away!!!– Understanding Chilli Pepper and Making Of Chilli Sauce
Belachan	Can You Stand The Smell of Belachan (Shrimp Paste)?
Belachan	Z1 – Belachan (Shrimp Paste) – Roasting Belachan

What I cooked today (家常便饭系列）- 25-7-2013

On 25-7-2013， white rice served with:

Miso Pork Belly	味增五花
Tofu, Meatballs and Glass Noodles Soup	豆腐鱼丸冬粉汤
Ginger and Chinese Fermented Bean Braised Fish	姜丝豆酱焖鱼
Blanched Choy Shym with Prawns	虾球菜心

Oh! It is time for me to submit my daily report card! Haha! Tired as I have a lot of “projects” today.

As for the dish, all are rather common dish except the miso pork belly which is a new dish “invented” by me.

---

Miso Pork Belly

The inspiration of this dish is from a famous Chinese dish fermented bean curd fried meat（南乳炸肉）. While the fermented bean curd (腐乳）belong to Chinese and Miso is the fermented bean sauce of the Japanese. Therefore, I have decided to “invent” this dish purely using Japanese condiments. Unlike the Chinese fermented bean curd meat dish, the miso paste is much tastier and therefore this dish did not use additional condiments except some sugar to enhance the flavor. Miso is quite salty and the sugar will helps to negate its saltiness to a more balance taste. This newly created dish is a dish that utilizes Japanese ingredients but prepared using the Chinese cooking method! Therefore, shall I called it a fusion dish?

Frankly speaking, a rather unhealthy dish and I do not think I will cook it that often. I will in my next attempt try to use chicken cubes or fish slices or even prawns. I strongly believed the taste will definitely blend.

If you want to know how to prepare, you can follow this link to Guaishushu’s page’s for pictorial illustration.

---

Pineapple Tarts

Besides that, today, I have made a batch of closed version of pineapple tarts. The intention is actually for the celebration of Hari Raya Aidilfitri, a Muslim festival. I always think that as a Malaysian or a Singaporean PR, I shall play my part to contribute something for this celebration.

I am not entirely satisfied with this batch because the skin have a slight crack. However, I know that the reason is because I am too “greedy”. I have used too little dough for my filling causing my tarts to crack when the pineapple jams expand. That is not a great deal and I am still likely to share the recipe with readers soon. Again, the method of preparation is totally different from what you may find in the internet as I have discovered this method unintentionally during my Chinese New Year preparation.

 

---

Steamed Sugar Cake (Pak Tong Koh) or 白糖糕

I have a recipe book in the balcony where i sit and when my boy looked inside the book, he found the type of Chinese steamed cake that he liked. He immediately asked me to prepare. I have hold up this “assignment” for more than a month and as I was clearing my kitchen shelves, I found some rice flours that have been with me for quite a while. I thought why not I just prepare for him so that he will not pester me any more. I cooked the rice flour, let it fermented for 8 hours and after cooking the dinner, I steamed it and this is what i get!

I have yet to cut it as  I want to leave it overnight and completely cooled. It looks ok and who know what is inside like. Hope everything is okay.

---

Okay, that is what I cooked today. For those readers who are new, I have to reiterate that this series was created with the intention for people to “peep” into my kitchen and see how I rotate my dish, create my dish and it is best that readers take this as a casual reading. Pick up something that you don’t know and share with me things that I may have done wrong. Again, long recipes will be posted in this blog and short recipes will be posted in the Guaishushu’s Facebook Page.

---

Hope you like the post today. Have a nice day and cheers.

---

What I cooked today (家常便饭系列）- 13-7-2013–Tomato Yimin Noodles (茄汁伊面）

On 13 July, 2013. – Tomato noodles

Today’s dinner, i have cooked the a noodle dish which is a fusion dish between the famous Sarawak tomato noodles and Kuala Lumpur Style fried Noodles (Cantonese Yimin).

The main difference between the two is the gravy and type of noodles.

	Sarawak Tomato Noodles	Cantonese Seafood Yimin
Type of noodles	Fresh fine egg noodles fried in oil usually just before serving	Ready made fried egg noodles in a round shape. Noodles are coarser
Gravy	Tomato puree or tomato sauce with no egg added	Clear gravy with beaten eggs added

Since I have nothing much to comment on what I cooked today, I have decided to have my cooking illustration in this post.

Authentic Sarawak Tomato noodles

In Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia, the tomato noodles are a type of egg noodles, deep fried and soaked in a gravy made from tomato puree and sauce. The gravy is clear and orange in color.

pic courtesy : http://mile.mmu.edu.my

In Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, West Malaysia, there is another type of Cantonese noodles, called Cantonese Yi Min, a ready made deep fried noodles and soaked in a clear whitish egg gravy and cooked with seafood and meat.

pic courtesy: http://wongpenny.files.wordpress.com

The uncooked Cantonese Yimin is like the picture below and I bought it in a Singapore provision shop that sells other types of Chinese dried goods.

---

WHAT IS NEEDED?

Most if not all ingredients except the noodles (Yin Min) are substitutable to your liking. Measurements is for reference and for cooking a meal of 2 adults and 2 kids.

• 250 grams of shrimps or/and cuttlefish

• 250 grams of sliced pork/chicken

• 250 grams of fish cakes cut into slices

• 200 grams of fresh leafy vegetable such as choy sim

• 1 8 inches diameter fried egg noodles (Yimin) usually available in Chinatown especially Cantonese provision shops

• 100 g of tomato ketchup;

• 4 eggs – crack and slightly beaten

• 50  g of corn starch/potato starch

• 2 tablespoons of white vinegar

• Seasonings such as salt, flavour enhancers

• 5 cloves of garlics and shallots – chopped into small pieces

• Pinches of salt and 1 tablespoon of sugar.

---

STEPS OF PREPARATION

• In a big and dip plate, placed your noodles in the centre.

• In a small mixing bowl, place tomato paste/puree and corn starch, add half cup of water, stir until well mix and set aside for later use. Your tomato starch solution should be orange creamy in colour. You can also add the seasonings of your choice at this point of time).

• In a hot frying pan, put 3 tablespoon of oil, fried the chopped garlics and shallots until golden brown or until aromatic.

• Add the sliced meat (pork of chicken) and fried for about 1 minutes;

• Add the sliced fish cake, cuttlefish (if any), chopped vegetable and fried for another 1 minutes;

• Add 1.5 cups of hot water to the pan and bring to boil under high heat.

• Add in tomato starch solution and bring to boil.

• Add in the prawns, beaten eggs. Pour your beaten eggs slowly into the boiling tomato gravy, use a chopstick of fork to slightly make a circular motion in the gravy such that the egg will be broken into tiny pieces in the gravy.

• Add in vinegar, sugar, salt and any other seasonings that you like (e.g fish sauce, light soya sauce, mushrooms concentrate, pepper etc.) and bring to boil.

• Once boiled, slowly scoop out your gravy and pour on top of the noodles. The noodles will gradually soften. You can prepare your gravy first and pour on the noodles only when you want to have your meals.

• Let it soak for about 5 minutes before putting it in separate plates for individual servings. This will help the noodles absorbed the gravy making the noodles tastier.

• Serve hot in individual plate.

 

---

CONCLUSION

• This is the first time I published a cooking illustration in “What I cooked today series”. Cooking illustration that are less complicated will be published in this blog’s sister Facebook Page – Guaishushu’s Page. Please refer to this page for simple cooking illustration for daily meals.

• This noodle is neither the famous Sarawak tomato noodles nor the famous Cantonese Yimin noodles. It is a fusion of the two. I have used the Cantonese Yimin noodles and soaked in tomato egg sauce. The end product is better than I expected. As the Cantonese Yimin noodles are coarser, they are able to absorb more gravy making the noodles tastier. The texture of the noodles are better and will not break too easily as compared to the Sarawak tomato noodles.

• As for non-Asian readers, shall I call this Asian Style spaghettis? You will like it as the noodles are soft and smooth with tomato fragrance.

Hope you LIKE the post and let me know after you try out the dish.

Cheers and have a nice day.

   

For more recipes, you can refer to my RECIPE INDEX here and you can follow me at PINTEREST or visit this blog’s FACEBOOK PAGE .

 

If you are a Pinterest user and you are interested to have more recipes, you can join or follow this Pinterest Board set up by me  where there are more than 1000 recipes worldwide and pinned by various bloggers: FOOD BLOGGERS AND FOODIES UNITED PINTEREST BOARD. You can also join the Food Bloggers and Foodies United Group Facebook Group to see more recipes.

Prawn noodles? Hokkien noodles?… No, it is Singapore Hokkien Fried Prawn Noodles (新加玻福建炒虾面）

INTRODUCTION

The title of this dish will have to be very exact! It should be called “Singapore Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodles” or “Singapore Hokkien Hay Noodles”.

Singapore has to be included because it is uniquely Singapore and you can’t find elsewhere, not even in Malaysia.

The word “Fried” have to be used because it had to differentiate the Penang prawn noodles which is a soup based noodles as explained below.

“Hokkien” have to be included because “prawn mee” alone can mean the soup version of prawn mee famous in Penang whereby you used the prawn broth and to make the soup and usually served with watercress (kangkong), pork ribs and blanched prawns.

   Pic courtesy of : http://kaka-penang-prawn-mee.blogspot.sg/p/prawn-mee.html

Omitting the prawns and Singapore will become Hokkien Mee, and it can refer to another type of noodle dish that was commonly eaten in Kuala Lumpur usually fried with black sauce, cabbages, prawns and pork.

  Pic courtesy of:  http://ieatishootipost.sg/2011/07/restoran-ahwa-kl-hokkien-mee-in.html

Today’s post is about Singapore Hokkien Fried Prawn Noodles which shall look like this:

Readers who wanted to have a more detailed distinction of various prawn noodles can refer to the explanation here.

---

PRAWN NOODLES DEFINED

Wikipedia defines:

“Hokkien mee refers to fried noodles cooked in Hokkien (Fujian) style. Hokkien mee is served in many Southeast Asian countries (mostly Malaysia and Singapore) and was brought there by immigrants from the Fujian province in south easternChina. In Singapore, Hokkien mee refers to a variant of the Penang version of Hokkien hay mee. The dish uses the same egg noodles and rice noodles used in Hokkien hay mee, but is stir fried in lard and served dry. The main ingredients are shrimps and small pieces of sliced pork. It is usually served with lime and sambalchilli.” (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hokkien_mee)

---

WHAT IS NEEDED?

• Half kilogram of prawns – Wash clean, pluck the head and set aside. Keep the heads for making prawn stock. You can consider collecting raw prawn heads from cooking other dishes and keep it until a sizeable amount and start to make the prawn broth. (If desired, sotong or squids can be added in addition to prawns)

• 400 grams of pork belly cut into thin slices (optional, can be substituted with chicken slices)

• 5-10 large fish balls or fish cakes cut into slices

• 4 eggs – beaten and set aside

• 300 g of bean sprouts – wash and set aside

• 300 g of Chinese chives – cut into 1 inch length and set asides

• 3 small onions cut into small slices and some chopped spring onion (optional). You can consider adding in chopped garlics as well.

• Some yellow noodles (300g) and some rice vermicelli (about 150 g)
  

• Some calamansi for garnishing
  

• Some sambal belachan to use as condiments

---

STEPS OF PREPARATION

Preparing the prawn stock……

The success of this dish is very much depending on the prawn broth. The prawn broth should be thick, no fishy and tasty. Generally, you may wish to keep all the prawn heads from the meals that you have prepared previously. The more prawn head you have the better will your broth be.

• In a pot, place some water with 2 spring onions and some ginger slices. The purpose of adding these is to get rid of the fishy smell associated with the prawns.

• Bring the water to boil under high heat, add prawn heads and shells and boiled until the prawn heads are cooked. This is rather fast and needs may be less than 5 minutes.

• Sieve and transfer all prawn shells to a food processor.

• Blend the prawn shells until fine or small chunks. Place it back into the earlier prawn stocks

• Boil for about 30 minutes under medium heat.

• Sieve and the prawn stock are ready for next use.

---

Cooking the noodles….

• In a hot frying pan, put some cooking oil. Throw in the chopped shallots, spring onion and fried until golden brown. It is my practice that I add salt and white pepper at this juncture. Essentially, salt will increase the temperature for frying and pepper that were fried will emit a better aroma;

• Place the ingredients in this order. Pork belly, fish balls, chives. Fried for about 3 minutes until all the ingredients are well mixed. It is ok if the meat is not cooked as it will continue to cook in later processes.

• Note: Traditionally, lard is used for cooking this dish, however, due to health reasons, vegetable cooking oil were used instead of lard. Of course, there will be a compromise in taste but the taste difference wouldn’t be that obvious.

• Sieve the prawn stock into the pan and let it boiled for 1-2 minutes.
  

• Throw in the yellow noodles and rice vermicelli and let it cook for another 3 minutes.

• Add bean sprout and beaten eggs to the pan. The beaten eggs will serve as a thickener to the noodles gravy and add an additional fragrance.

• Add additional seasonings if necessary (fish sauce, mushrooms concentrate, white pepper etc.… ) and mixed well.

• Boiled for another 2 minutes and let it rest in the frying pan for another 10 minutes before serving. This will let the prawn stock have adequate time to penetrate the noodles and rice vermicelli. Note that the noodles and rice vermicelli will expand. Should you find that there is too dry, just add in some hot water and stir to make it slightly watery.

• Sprinkle with deep fried onion  and chopped spring onion or Chinese celery.

• Usually served in a plate with lime and Sambal Belachan.

---

CONCLUSION

• Singapore Hokkien Prawn Noodles are unique in Singapore and should not be confused with Penang Prawn Noodles and Kuala Lumpur Hokkien Noodles.

• Using the prawn heads to make prawn stock is a good way of maximizing the recovery of the prawns. Save the prawn heads from other dishes, make the prawn stocks and used it to cook the noodles. This will be very tasty and not much seasonings were needed. Chicken bones can be  added to make it a much tastier broth. Traditionally, lard is used for the dish but this is not encouraging because it may cause coronary complications. 

• The noodles cooked should be soft and moist with a fragrance of meat (pork or chicken) and prawns. The lime makes the dish slightly sour and adding chili will bring the taste to another higher level of enjoyment!

Lastly, hope you LIKE this sharing and do try to make the dish and let me know whether it suit your taste buds.

Have a nice day. Cheers.

 

 

---

For more recipes, you can refer to my RECIPE INDEX here and you can follow me at PINTEREST or visit this blog’s FACEBOOK PAGE .

 

If you are a Pinterest user and you are interested to have more recipes, you can join or follow this Pinterest Board set up by me  where there are more than 400 recipes worldwide and pinned by various bloggers: FOOD BLOGGERS AND FOODIES UNITED PINTEREST BOARD

 

Bachelor’s Tomyam Noodles–Quick And Nice…

INTRODUCTION

I am struggling whether I should post this simple noodle preparation. It is just that simple and up to your own creativities. I am thinking, will putting up this post insult my reader’s intelligence? Will it qualify as a professional blog post? Is this consider as an recipe? Well, after struggling for 10 minutes, I have decided to post this dish to gauge what is my reader’s reactions. Due to this impromptu decision, therefore, unlike other post, some pictures were not available.

This is a super fast dish that I cooked for myself today.  From cooking to eating to cleaning, it took me less than half an hour.  It is ideal for those who just want a simple, quick and nutritious meal.

 

WHY THIS DISH

I am alone by myself at home and I don’t feel like cooking for myself. Usually,  I would just eat the breakfast leftover items for lunch. But I have been eating breakfasts as lunches for the last 3 days and my body tells me that I need something that don’t taste like “breakfast”.

Cooking a dish for myself is never a problem, I just search my kitchen cabinet and my refrigerator and see what I have at home. As my kids were away on holiday and we will not be cooking these few days, therefore, my perishable stocks were very limited and this is what I found, a packet of Tom yam instant noodles.

As I have never fancy any instant noodles, this packet of instant noodles is not attractive to me at all especially if it is plain (meaning water plus instant noodles). But suddenly, it come across my mind and asked myself, why not cook myself some Tom Yam noodles. So I take out a pot and cooked my superfast Tom Yam noodles.

---

WHAT YOU NEED

As far as I am concerned, there is nothing that you can’t put it. I usually cooked based on what I have especially the side vegetables. What I used this time:

• One pieces or dry egg noodles – this is exactly the same as your instant noodles except it is slightly firmer;

• Some cherry tomatoes – supposingly to be eaten as fruits but since I have some in the fridge, I just dump it in.

• Some chicken breast meat (optional) cut into small chunks – I had this in the fridge for quite a while and since I will not be cooking for the these 2 weeks, I have to “get rid” of it. But frankly speaking, it taste better with some meaty flavor;

• Few pieces of chili (optional) – These chili were specially flown from China given by one of my guest who stay in Guangxi China. It is supposingly very spicy but for me, it is slightly more spicy than the red chili but not as spicy as chili padi.

• Tom Yam paste – It is good to keep some ready made tom yam paste at home for making quick soups, fried noodles and etc. My wife have bought this vegetarian tom yam paste which I don’t think there is much differences. The only difference in ingredients that I can think off is the shallots and garlics since Buddhist vegetarian were not allowed to consume any shallots and garlics.

---

STEPS OF PERPARTION

I have no picture to show as this post was rather impromptu and only decided half way when I was cooking. In fact, it is such a simple dish that there are only 2-3 steps and further elaboration will “insult” my reader’s intelligence. If you really can’t understand what I am trying to say, just imagine you are cooking some instant noodles in a pot.

• Take out a pot and pour in some plain water. Put a few table spoon of tom yam paste (depending on taste) and bring to boil. Throw in other ingredients in these orders – meat, chili, tomato, egg noodles. 

• As I am using chicken breast and cut into small chunks, it is rather quick to cook. The smaller your meat is, the easier it is to cook! You can use some sweet potato flour or corn flour to slightly cover your meat before you put them in the pot. The role of these flours is to keep the juice inside the meat and also make its texture smoother. For me, as I want it to be quick, I have not perform this step, I just put my meat in without adding any corn flour.

• Boil for 1-2 minutes until your noodles have soften.

• I prefer to rest it for a while until the noodles absorbed all the soup and this will make it tastier and softer.

• Variations – There are many variations that you can have. You may want to add some eggs. or sausages. some cabbage, red carrots, celery, etc. and the lists are endless. These are all up to your imaginations and creativities.

---

FINAL OUTPUT

In the picture, does it look appetizing to you?

To make it look better you can consider using mushrooms for black color, red chili for red color, baby corns for yellow color and carrot for orange color.

Compare to the 1st picture and the last picture, you can see that noodles is softer as it had absorbed the gravy.

Taste wise, if you want it more sour, you can squeeze some lime juice. For me that is just nice. It is essentially tom yam cooked with chicken stock and if you like tom yam, this is a suitable meal for you!

---

CONCLUSIONS

• Not all foods need to be elaborately prepared before it is considered as tasty. Simple meal like this is ideal for those who are kitchen phobia or short of time to prepare a nutritious meal;

• It is nutritious because the ingredients that were used are simple (like my post on Nasi Aruk here) but packed with proteins and vitamins. Tom yam paste itself is full of herbs and spices that is beneficial to the body.

• It is healthier because no oil and further seasonings were used. IT IS DEFINITELY HEALTHIER THAN INSTANT NOODLE AS NO MSG WAS USED。When you ate plain instant noodles, most people will craved for stronger flavor as the taste is very monotonous and you need seasonings to make your palate “happy”. With slight additions of meat and vegetables, your attention will gear towards your meats and vegetables. The soups will have some meaty flavor and you don’t feel the need to add any more seasonings. Is it not healthier?

• It is fast to prepare, full flexibility and you can substitute any ingredients with what you have at home.

Because it is so flexible, it essentially means there is no recipe. So, do you like this type of simple dish or you think reading my post is wasting your precious time?

I treasure your feedback and let me know how you feel about it.

Happy reading and cheers.

---

I have recently open a Facebook community page ‘AUTHENTIC SARAWAK FOOD AND HISTORY” and I hoped you can support the page by visiting the page. If you find the page benefits you in some way, please give it a “LIKE”.

The page is intended to become a center of collection of unique Sarawak Cuisines. For those who don’t know where is Sarawak, Sarawak is one of states belong to Malaysia and in the Island of Borneo. It is famous of its eco-tourism and multi racial society. Its unique cuisine are cuisines like Sarawak Laksa, Kolo mee and scarce vegetables such as jungle fern shoot, hairy eggplant etc. PLEASE COME  AND UNDERSTAND MORE ABOUT SARAWAK CUISINES HERE.

 

        

---

Thousand apologies.  I have to put this picture here due to technical error. Otherwise it will mess up my Tumblr. accounts posting and my Facebook posting.

What I cooked today (家常便饭系列）- 25-5-2013

On 25-May 2013

Usually, for Saturday and Sunday, if we dine at home, it will be something simpler as both my wife and me are rather lazy to cook. So today, we have noodles, noodles, noodles. We have 3 types of noodles including the kolo mee directly “imported” from Kuching.

1. Fried Rice Vermicelli with Green Vegetables and Pork Slice (菜心肉片炒米粉）

This is the type of fried rice vermicelli that my late mother used to prepare for us. I have insisted my wife to cook in this manner with only 3-4 ingredients （rice vermicelli, pork belly slices, chye Shim and shrimps). Besides at home, I have never eaten fried vermicelli with these simple combinations be it the one cooked by my mother in law or in parties or outside hawker stores. Usually, most fried rice vermicelli will have mushrooms, red carrots, bean sprouts, fish cakes, eggs and etc. But I am very insistent  to use only these 4 ingredients and it should not be substituted. Changes in any of the ingredients will not give the same flavor.  Today, the dish was prepared by my wife for my kids,PLEASE TRY THIS COMMONER’S RICE VERMICELLI！

2. Fried Rice Vermicelli with Laksa Sarawak Paste (砂朥越辣沙酱炒米粉）

As my wife cooked quite a lot of fried rice vermicelli above, I have decided to fry the above rice vermicelli with my own home made Sarawak Laksa Paste. You can learn more about home made Sarawak Laksa Paste here. Firstly, I slightly fried my laksa paste, when it started to emit the aroma, eggs were added followed by peanut powder and condiments. Before I serve, I add in shredded cucumbers and the taste was fantastic. Just imagine you are eating Indian or Malay fried noodles. PLEASE TRY THIS NEWLY CREATED RICE VERMICELLI FRIED WITH SARAWAK LAKSA PASTE and you wouldn’t regret it.

 

3. Sarawak Kolo Mee (Dry Noodles) (砂朥越干捞面）

This is another famous delicacies from Sarawak and shall I said, have attained at least the same status as Sarawak Laksa in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. It is unique and available in Sarawak only. There are visitors saying that this dish resemble the 车仔面 that were sold in Singapore in the 1960’s. You can read more about Kolo mee HERE, Kolo bee hoon HERE, and Sarawak Laksa HERE. Today’s Kolo Mee was brought to me by my mother in law who is visiting us from Kuching. She bought at least 8 packets of the noodles. This is a must try item in Kuching and I have never heard of any visitors ever complained about this dish be it Asians or Caucasians. PLEASE TRY THIS SARAWAK DELICACY WHEN YOU VISIT KUCHING, SARAWAK, MALAYSIA and without trying it, your trip to Kuching will not be considered as complete.