Fried Mee Hoon

I am playing with the idea of starting a food blog, as suggested by my friend Evy. My cooking is mainly simple but that's because I had fantastic training from my mother, Rose, who is a fantastic cook. Most of the dishes I cook are simple, as I am not the most fastidious person ever.

Simple is relative I guess, what may be simple for me, may not be for others, right? And vice versa. As I was saying, my mother is the most amazing nonya cook, the things she churns out of her kitchen are better than any restaurant... so I had a brilliant teacher. I was sous chef in her kitchen for many years, starting with just peeling all the onions and garlic needed for the week on Sunday mornings, after she returned from the week's marketing.

I guess I must have been about 8-9, about the time I was sensible enough to use a paring knife without causing too much harm to myself or others! So, every Sunday, I had a huge bowl of shallots to peel and a smaller one of garlic. With these she would make into a curry paste that she would use throughout the week. Some of the garlic was minced for the stir frying of vegetables. Alongside this, I had to deshell about 1-2 katis, or about 1-2 lbs of shrimp, which would be divided into little packets and frozen, again for stir frying with vegetables during the week.

My mother worked full time, so all the preparation for meals to be cooked during the week started on Sunday, ready for use as the days rolled on. Initially, I was excited to help, woo hoo, mummy finally letting me into the kitchen to help, but I usually carried out my duties at the dining table, out of her way, as she prepared the other foods that she had bought for the week, and cook lunch all at the same time, multi tasking, my mum was an expert at that. In the years that went on, it became my Sunday chore, I would go to the kitchen as she returned from the market to get the bowl of shallots, another of garlic and my supply of shrimp.

As I got older, I got let into the kitchen more and more, and be delegated more duties, mostly I would food prep, she would cook, and I was there to wash up as we went along, in this way, I learnt by watching her. It also meant that when we sat down to eat, all the pots and pans would be clean, and any prep plates we used would be washed clean.

My mum had the knack to recreate dishes that we ate when we were out. If she ate something she liked, it was almost as if she instinctively knew what was in the dish and would whip it up at home. Most of my European friends would not know the wonderful nonya dished she cooked but my Malaysian ones would. She made the best otak otak- steamed fish in a curry paste all wrapped up with daun kadok and coconut leaves, perut ikan- a sour curry made of loads of finely sliced local herbs and veg, pineapple and the secret ingredient, preserved fish guts- yummy, right??? LOL.. she made wonderful things like popiah, lam mee, law mee, yam cake, rice porridge with dried oysters, nasi ulam, nasi kunyit and chicken curry....All time consuming dishes but all wonderful and delicious.

As we all left the nest, she cooked less and less and all these recipes are in her brain, she never used a cook book for these local delicacies. Apart from all these, she would cook the simple everyday food that my famiy ate with rice everyday apart from Saturday, which was a non cook day for her. I, too, have carried on this tradition and try not to cook on Saturdays, hehehehe. That was a day we would eat out, and gave her and I a rest from kitchen duties.

So, I am going to try to post how I made fried mee hoon with prawns and fish cake.

The ingredients are

1in ginger, finely julienned

4 shallots- finely sliced

2-3 cloves garlic- chopped

1 piece dried wood fungus, soaked and finely sliced when rehydrated

5-6 dried shitake mushrooms, I normally soak these in hot water, shortens the soaking time, sliced when rehydrated

3 inches of chinese fish cake- you can buy this form the chinese grocers

100g of shrimp, raw or cooked

2in square of pressed tofu- firm tofu- this is pan fried till all sides are golden brown then cut into sticks

1 egg- beaten and fried as a thin omelette, when cooled- roll and slice thinly

Cilantro/ coriander leaves and spring onions chopped

The 3 above ingredients are garnishes to be added at the end.

1 packet bean sprouts

about a handful of sliced veg eg- pak choy, cabbage, chives, choy sum or use a mixture

200g dried rice vermicelli or mee hoon, soaked in cold water till soft.

Cooking oil

Soy sauce, salt and pepper

.

So, start cooking, pour about 2tbs of cooking oil into a heated wok, any would do, I used light olive oil, as that was all I had.

Add shallots,ginger and garlic and fry till fragrant. Be careful not to over brown the garlic as it's bitter if burnt. I would suggest adding the garlic last after the ginger and shallots have been cooking for about 2 mins.

Next add the mushrooms and wood fungus, stirring the ingredients as you add them, fry for about 2-3 minutes, add shrimp and fish cake which has been sliced thinly, fry for 2 minutes, add the green vegetables that you are using, fry for a minute and add the mee hoon/ vermicelli, using spatula and aid of tongs or chopsticks begin to turn the noodles in the wok as you cook them, this may be a bit tricky as your wok would be pretty full by now. Add about 4 tbsp of light soy sauce, continue to toss the noodles and other ingredients for 4 minutes, add bean sprouts and continue to cook until vermicelli softens and all veg is cooked but still crunchy. Season to taste, you may need more soy sauce or salt and some pepper.

Dish up, and garnish with the fried tofu, spring onions, coriander and the sliced omelette. You could also garnish with sliced chillies if you like hot food. Another good garnish is fried thinly sliced shallots, just fry some sliced shallots in some oil til golden brown and crispy and top the noodles with that- it's Dave's favourite garnish as the shallots are crunchy and slightly sweet.

Enjoy!! This is just a trial, please comment if you want more food blogs, should I keep a separate one for food alone?