Singapore Hokkien Mee

Even though I’ve been to Singapore so many times but I don’t think I ever tried this noodle dish before. They are very different from our KL style Hokkien mee. KL hokkien mee uses thick yellow noodles braised in thick dark soy sauce. As for the Singapore Hokkien Mee it is white in color with yellow noodles and rice vermicelli/ bee hoon and it’s braised in flavorful stock and serve with sambal chili and lime, giving it that extra zing and tanginess.

I made this dish hoping to submit it for AFF – Singapore month but I didn’t make it. I am just too lazy to blog nowadays. I guess after blogging for nearly 8 years, I am slowly growing out of it. I used to put out 3 post a week now it is just once a week. I still cook and bake but mostly  repeat and easy dishes. Anyway, I hope I am able to find my mojo to blog regularly soon.

Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup

I like this noodle dish after having it at a Taiwanese restaurant a few times but never attempt making it at home. I always thought it involves a lot of work and time consuming but it is not so after I read through some recipes online. It is just putting all the ingredients in a pot and let it simmer away. In a few hours you will be rewarded with rich beefy broth with tender beef and white radish. It is so good that I am planning to cook it again soon.

Chicken Yakisoba

Yakisoba, literally fried noodles, is considered a Japanese dish but originally derived from the Chinese chow mein. While chow mein uses soy sauce, the Japanese season this noodle with a sweeten Worcestershire like sauce. Although soba means buckwheat, typically suggesting noodles made from that flour in mainland Japan, yakisoba noodles are made from wheat flour similar to ramen. Yakisoba is very easy to make and you can add almost any ingredients to make it your own. Popular yakisoba varieties include vegetarian, seafood, chicken, beef or classic with pork belly.

Cabbage and Corn Beef Fried Beehoon

I always have a can of corn beef in my pantry so that I can use it when my craving strikes. I don’t buy them often as it cost around $5.50 a can and I find them way too expensive for can food. The brand I am familiar with is Libby but I notice they sell so many other brands here in Northern CA especially at the Filipino supermarket. I guess Filipinos like corn beef. I will usually make corn beef sambal or cabbage fried rice with it but this time I decided to use half a can to fry some beehoon. It tasted really good actually as the beehoon absorb all the nice flavor of the corn beef. I will definitely make this again.

Dan Dan Noodles

Dan dan noodle is a classic dish originated from Chinese Szechuan cuisine. It consist a spicy meat sauce with preserved vegetables in it and it is served over noodles. You can use either pork or beef for the meat sauce and since I like this noodle on the dry side so I just omit the broth part. I never try the original Szechuan noodles before but I understand that they were pretty spicy. I did put some chili in mine but please feel free to adjust the amount of spiciness to your preferences. I find this meat sauce is pretty good to eat with rice too.

Hong Kong Style Pan-Fried Noodles

This is by far one of my favorite noodle dish and I like can eat it either lunch or dinner. I love the texture of the crispy noodles and it will absorb all the flavor of the sauce. What I like the most about this dish is that you can use whatever ingredients you have on hand for the sauce. There are days I make it into vegetarian version using tofu, mushrooms and veggies and other days I make it into beef version and once a while into all seafood versions. The options are endless. For today I make a mix version using meat and some shrimps.

Ingredients:
(Serve 2)
Half packet of Hong Kong Style Noodles
4 oz flank steak, sliced thinly against the grain (can be chicken or pork too)
8 shrimps, peeled and deveined
4 button mushroom, sliced thinly
2 stalk bok choy, cleaned and cut
1 small carrot – peel and sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, minced
5 slices fresh ginger

Beef Chow Fun/Stir-Fry Rice Noodles with Beef

Beef chow fun or stir-fry beef in rice noodles is a very popular dish here in the US. Every Chinese restaurant or take out place will have this dish in their menu. Basically it is just beef strips stir-fry with fresh rice noodles (hor fun), bean sprouts and onion. The important factor in making this dish is very hot wok and stir-fry must be done quickly. I like having this dish in the restaurant but they are usually very oily which I am not a fan of that is why I prefer to cook it myself. This way I can control the amount of oil I put into it.

Nyonya Fried Noodles with Jicama and Pineapple Sambal - Day 23

My friend Shereen told me that almost all Peranakans/Nyonya will have a recipe like this in their family. The unique thing about these particular noodles is that it will be eaten with Sambal pineapple and cucumber. It is somewhat similar to a salsa albeit with a different taste and spiciness level. This noodle is usually eaten during happy occasion such as Chinese New Year, birthdays or family get together for a celebration. I replace the cucumber with jicama as I don’t have it in my fridge and I am too lazy to drive out just to get it.

Since the noodles and sambal were eaten together, I thought it will be a good idea to pile them up together into the jelly mould. The sweet and tangy taste of the sambal compliments the noodles really well. This is a very appetizing dish indeed. Thanks Shereen for sharing the recipes with us. I did some minor changes to the recipe to suit my taste and also the availabilities of ingredients in my fridge.

Laksa Lemak/Nyonya Laksa

There are so many different variations of laksa in Malaysia. . It depends on which part of Malaysia and you will surely get a different bowl of laksa. Penang Laksa, Asam Laksa , Kelantan Laksa, Johor Laksa, Sarawak Laksa and the list goes on. The most common one from Kuala Lumpur is Curry Laksa or curry mee Laksa lemak, also known as Nyonya laksa is a Laksa from Melaka. It is a type of curry laksa with rich and sweet coconut gravy. Lemak is a Malay culinary term which refers to the presence of coconut milk. As the name implies, this dish is all about the broth, it is made with rich, slightly sweet and strongly spiced coconut broth.

Clay pot Loh Shu Fun/Clay pot Silver Needle Noodles

I like all kinds of noodles and I can have it for breakfast, lunch or dinner. There are so many types of noodles out there and three of my most favorite has to be flat rice noodles, yee mee and this Loh Shu Fun or literally means rat noodles. The noodle got its name from its shape resembling the tail of a rat. Loh Shu fun is white and semi-transparent and it is made mainly from rice flour and corn flour to get the smooth texture.

I am so glad that I am able to get this type of noodles here in the US. I will never hesitate to buy a few packets if I see them on the noodles shelves. There was once I was looking for it at the Asian supermarket and can’t seem to find any of it and I asked the cashier if they have any Loh Shu Fun at the back of the store. She gave me a weird look and had no clue what I was talking about. She must think I was crazy ha ha.. I described the noodles to her and she said…oh..you are looking for "Ngan Chum Fun". I never knew it was called ngan chum fun in Cantonese. Literally means Silver Needle noodles. Well, now I know.

Hokkien Lor Mee/Stew Noodles

There two types of Hokkein mee. One is braised in dark soy sauce and the other one is not which we called Lor Mee. My mom used to cook this for us during the weekend as we can help her to roll out the noodles dough. Yeah she made her own noodles. After all the rolling she will used a knife to cut the noodles. No pasta maker during that time and all were done by hand.

Lor Mee is a simple soup noodle with very thick eggy broth. It is a staple fare in our traditional Hokkien family. It is less well known than the dark Hokkien mee that Kuala Lumpur is famous for. Some of the Hokkien Mee stall still serves this lor mee. Lor Mee is usually eaten with Chinese black vinegar but I like having it with pickle green chilies.

Nyonya Style Fried Noodles

I cook noodles very often as it is something that I will eat for lunch when I don’t want anything elaborate. This is something that I will cook for Diana too for her lunch in the office. This is a little bit different from the traditional Chinese fried noodles. It has some blended chilies, dried shrimps, lemongrass and fermented bean paste in it. It brings a great aroma to the fried noodles.

Ingredients:

400 gram yellow noodles – wash and drain
1 piece chicken breast – sliced thinly
15 shrimps – peel and deveined
2 cups bean sprouts
2 pieces fried tofu – cut into small cubes
1 small bunch Chinese chives – cut into 1” length
Some cut red chili for garnish

Pad Thai

This is a must order noodles dish for me when I dine at Thai restaurant. Pad Thai is one of the most popular Thai dishes, perhaps second only to Tom Yum Goong. The key to perfect Pad Thai is in the cooking of the noodles - learn how to get them chewy-perfect pad thai sauce which is tangy, sweet and a little spicy. When it's all put together, you'll find there isn't a noodle dish better than world-famous Pad Thai.

Ingredients:

Half packet Thai rice sticks – you can get this from the regular supermarket at the Asian section
4 oz beef tenderloin – slice thinly and marinate with some soy sauce and pepper
14 shrimps – peel and deveined
2 cloves garlic - chopped
2 shallots - sliced thinly
2 cups bean sprout – remove the tails
2 spring onions – cut into 1” length
Some pepper and fish sauce to taste
Some peanuts – for garnish

Fried Udon Noodles

I love udon noodles. It can be in soup or quick stir-fry. I will always have a few packets of it in my fridge so I can have it anytime I want. Making this noodles dish is easy. You can pretty much use any type of proteins or vegetables you have in your fridge.

Ingredients:

1 packet fresh Udon noodles (400 gram)
1 piece chicken breast – removes skin and sliced thinly
10 shrimps – peel and deveined
3 cloves garlic – chopped
2 shallots – sliced
1 carrot – peels and sliced thinly
5 button mushrooms – sliced
1 yellow pepper – sliced thinly
A handful of sugar snap pea – cut small
1 green chili – sliced thinly

Mee Rebus/Noodles in Sweet Potato Gravy

This mouth –watering mee rebus (in English, Mee rebus is literally translated as boiled noodles) is a popular dish among Malaysian and Singaporeans. It is a noodles dish served with thick sweet potato gravy and garnish with prawn fritters, fried tofu, hard-boiled egg, bean sprout, julienned cucumber etc. I made this some time ago with the leftover prawn fritters that I made perviously and decided to use it up for this dish but if you don’t want to make any fritters you can always replace it with blanched shrimps or cooked chicken.

Ingredients for the gravy:

4 shallots
3 cloves garlic
1” ginger
4 tbsp dried shrimps – soak in water for 15 minutes
6 red chilies – remove seeds
2 stalk lemon grass – remove the outer layers and cut small

Blend all the above into a smooth paste.

Sang Har Mee/Freshwater Prawns Noodles

Sang Har Mee or freshwater prawns noodles are one of the most expensive noodles dish back in Malaysia. A plate will cost your around RM40-RM75.00 depend on the serving size and also the cost of the prawns. Actually cooking this dish yourself is much cheaper. All you need is a few ingredients like fresh big prawns, ginger, green onions and some vegetables to cook the thick gravy. The prawns should not be over-cooked and the choice of noodles can be sang mee or wanton noodles. But for this dish I used yee mee since Diana bought some from New York. Diana and I enjoyed this dish a lot and we plan to cook it again the next time she comes home.

Ingredients:

2 pcs of yee mee
6 big fresh water prawns – clean and cut into halves. Season with a bit of salt and pepper
2 cloves garlic - chopped
5 slices of ginger
2 spring onions – cut into 1” length
A handful of cabbage or any type of green vegetables
2 ½ cups chicken stock
1 egg – beaten
1 tsp cornstarch – 2 tbsp water

Ipoh Noodles Soup with Shredded Chicken/Ipoh Hor Fun

Ipoh is famous of their hor fun (flat rice noodles). The star of this noodle dish is the silky-smooth flat noodles, or as the locals calls it, hor fun. Around Ipoh, vendors may serve the hor fun in a clear chicken broth, or with chicken-and-shrimp broth. I actually cooked this noodles many months and only post it now as I totally forgoteen about it.

Ingredients:
Recipe adapted from My Gastronomic Odyssey

A handful of dried shrimps, soaked for 5 minutes in hot water, then drained
About 1 pound shrimp heads and shells
a handful of rock sugar
a small handful of peppercorns
4 tbsp oil
1 liter of chicken stock

Mee Goreng/Fried Noodles

It is difficult to find our Malaysia thick black soy sauce here in the US and I will usually end up using the one imported from China. No doubt they are black but I don’t like the smell and flavor of it. I finally found our Malaysia black sauce  in New York and I lug the heavy bottle all the way back to PA. After buying it in NY I found out they do sell it in PA. What a bummer!! Anyway, I love using black soy sauce in my cooking. I think food taste better when it has dark caramel color to it. The first dish I cook with the dark soy sauce was this Mee Goreng. What do you think? Do they look appetizing?

Ingredients:

400 grm fresh yellow noodles – wash and drain dry
2 shallots – sliced thinly
3 cloves garlic - chopped
1 piece chicken breast – cut thinly and season with salt and pepper
15 shrimps – peel and deveined
1 small bunch of Chinese chives – cut into 1” length
2 cups of bean sprout

Curry Noodles/ Curry Laksa

There are times Diana and I will crave for a bowl of piping hot curry laksa. Making the laksa broth from scratch takes a lot of works so we opted using the ready mix laksa paste. There are so may type of premix paste out there but our favorite is still Tean’s Gourmet brand. We are lucky that we are able to get this laksa paste here so I will always keep a few packets handy my pantry. Preparing this noodles dish is easy and you can have dinner on your table in less than half an hour. All you have to do is add some water, coconut milk and the Laksa broth is done. As for the condiments it is all up to you. You can add noodles, tofu puffs, long beans, eggs, bean sprouts and etc to it. Nothing is more comforting to me than a good bowl of curry noodles.

Fried Noodles with Seafood in XO Sauce

This is one quick noodle I cooked for lunch using homemade XO Sauce . This sauce is really versatile as I like using it in my noodles and also in stir-fried dishes. You can make this sauce at home but for convenience, it is available in most Asian Supermarkets. There are many varieties of Chinese Noodles but for this I used the fresh yellow noodles. If you can’t find this kind of noodles you can just use spaghetti.