Fried Longevity Noodles

The yummy Longevity noodles

Dad's nong li's birthday (birthday according to the chinese calendar) is tomorrow. We just arrived from Singapore yesterday and mom depended on me to get groceries during my lunch hour. Since there was a time constraint with me bringing back the groceries after work, mom decided to push forward the frying of longevity noodles from tomorrow to today. I gotta hand it to my mom. Whatever she whips out seems to be so mouthwatering and delicious. The best part is she doesn't seem to be tired and constantly putting on her thinking cap on what to cook next or what newbie she can introduce on the dining table. Needless to say, my next one month is gonne be terrific with homecook meals (except for the fact that I desperately need to diet. Yea... you heard that months ago), nicely pressed blouse for me and shirts for hubby and fresh smelling clean clothes completely washed and hung dry. Aahh....blissful days ahead before mom head for Sydney till next year.

Red eggs for dad. Mom stole some of my coloring meant for baking

Oh yea.. the noodles. It was cooked with some mince pork, slices of mushrooms, shredded carrot, fish cake and spring onion. I haven't got the chance to interview mom thoroughly on what sauces she used but I overheard hubby telling mom to teach me to cook this. The noodle itself was slippery and the entire dish was not completely dry but  with little gravy beneath the noodles. Two thumbs up. Long live mom ...... and dad.

Something to go with the noodles

Hokkein Mee

I'm finally done with my vegan pledge. It drag for a good 4 months because of the days I skipped when I went for holidays in Taiwan and Kota Kinabalu. I also skipped vegan when I go cycling with my group of cycling friends. The first thing I went for after completion of the entire 'ordeal' was digging into a juicy fried chicken. The next morning, I bought some pork, fresh noodles, beansprout, mustard greens, beancurd, fishcake etc from the morning market , just before I got into office. I wanted to fry a noodle dish for dinner but I haven't the faintest idea what style of noodles I wanna fried. When I got home, it suddenly hit me that maybe I should just fry Hokkein Mee since the noodles are fresh. It's not often I get to have fresh noodles during weekdays. So hubby came home and had a surprised look on his face. I told him it was while he was sleeping, I was buying groceries in the morning market, thus making this Hokkein Mee dinner possible. He just grinned....then ate the noodles.... then gave me one thumb up :D

Ingredients :
Fish cake
Slice pork (marinate with sesame oil, soy sauce and a little cornflour)
Fresh noodles
Mustard Green
Garlic, chopped

Seasoning:
Dark soy sauce
Sweet soy sauce
Light soy sauce
A little oyster sauce
Chicken powder
Water

Spicy Korean Noodles

I recently purchased this Korean type of metal bowl which has 2 layers of god-knows-what that prevents the bowl from scorching your hands when the bowl is filled with hot soupy food. I was eager to try out and deliberately bought Korean noodles to cook together with puff tofu, shitake mushroom, tomatoes and mustard green. Naturally the small satchet of tastemaker that came with the packet of noodles was not sufficient because I had to add a lot of water to cater for so much ingredients in my noodles. To compensate for the lack of taste, I did what I had to do : added in chili flakes, sweet sauce and a little sprinkle of Maggi Cukup Rasa. Naturally, the Korean spicy noodles didn't exactly came out very 'korean' to me but it did great especially on a cold, windy, rainy night.  And yeah... it was true. The bowl wasn't hot at all on the outer area when I held it. Good buy coz I bought it at 50% off.

Another Vegetarian Pasta toss in olive oil

I'm seriously running out of food selection. Food that is meatless, to be precise. Here's another quick fix for my vegetarian dinner. It's another pasta tossed in olive oil with my favorite zucchini and swiss brown mushroom. Yea... it's yummy but I really really really wish I have some chewy meat to chew in my mouth. I miss the anchovies. I miss my satay. I miss Nando's chicken. I miss Burger King !!!!!

Fried Vermicelli (in white) (炒米粉)

A little bored with rice for dinner, mom told me she wanted to fry bihun for us for dinner but it will be 'white' in color instead of the usual dark type. I couldn't agree more to her suggestion. Everything she whips up seems to be 'effortless'. I gotta hand it to her because everything she claims to be simple and easy. For the past few weeks, I've been blessed with delectable homecooked dinner. With the simplest ingredients, she fried this delicious vermicelli with refreshing taste : minus the taste of dark soy sauce. Since I cannot do without any spicy note, I sprinkled some course chilli pepper on top.

Ingredients :

bai chai

carrots shreded

mushroom (soaked) - slice
pork - slice
fish cake - slice
spring onion
small onions - thinly sliced
garlic - thinly sliced

Seasoning :
chicken powder
oyster sauce
light soy sauce
salt
pepper
water

Method :

1. Soaked vermicelli for 30 minutes, drain and set aside. Mix all the seasonings with water and set aside.
2. Heat oil to saute small onions and garlic till aromtic or light brown.  Add in the  mushrooms and stirfry  for about 2 mins before adding in the sliced meat.
3. Once the meat turned color (meaning cooked), add in fishcake to fry for 2 - 3 minutes before adding in the vegetables.
4. Stir in the vermicelli and add in the seasonings.  Continue to fry for another 3 - 5 minutes or until vermicelli turn soft. Turn off fire and garnish with spring onions and/or cut red chillis.

My cooking note : You may wish to substitute pork with chicken slice or beef strips or any other seafood.

Maggi Goreng (Fried Maggi Mee)

It's been a long while since the last time I frequented mamak stalls. They have all varieties of food to offer but I normally go for either a tosai or maggi goreng (without egg). I've one heard one of my friends remarked before that only fools would order maggi goreng because anyone can jolly well whip up this dish at home at a much cheaper cost. While this could be true,  I somehow feel it's lacking in a particular taste when I fried it myself at home. I cannot pinpoint out exactly what is lacking. Wok flavor perhaps? Anyway, I was frying this vegetarian maggi goreng the other night for my dinner and to be packed for my lunch to office the following day. It wasn't spectacular (I'm comparing to this certain mamak where I've ordered from them before) but it was more than edible for me. From a scale of 1 to 10, I would give a rating of 7. Maybe I should have added an egg, I don't know but it was meant to be a vegetarian dish right from the start. Here's what I did :

Ingredients :

2 packets of Maggi Mee Kari Letup (Maggi instant Noodle with curry flavor)

2 pieces of tofu (hard type)

6 cloves of garlic - chop

1 carrot - cut strips

cabbage/ mustard greens (sawi)

1 tomato - quartered

dark soy sauce

a little water

Method :

1. Heat oil and fry the tofu in low fire. When all sides turn brown, dish out and let it cool slightly before cutting into cubes.
2. In a pot, boil water to cook instant noodles. When water is boiled, turn fire off before you add in the instant noodles. It takes a short while for the noodles to soften. Drain the noodles before it is fully soften and run over with cold water. Drain and set aside (leaving a little water in the pot with noodles.
3. Heat oil and fry garlic till fragrant. Add in cabbage and stir fry for about 2-3 minutes before adding in carrot strips and tomato.
4. Stir a while before adding in the tofu. Right after that, toss in the half packet of curry powder seasoning (the sachet in the noodle pack) in it along with a little water. Do not add in all 2 packets of seasoning. Stir to mix evenly. Pour in the drain noodles follow with the dark soy sauce. Mix evenly and taste the noodles before adding in more curry seasoning. Go easy on the seasoning and add according to your preference. Add in a little water if need be.
5. Garnish with fried shallots,cut chillis and lime.

Flat Flour Noodles (Pan Mee / Mi Hun Kueh)

This used to be a dish made by my grandmother when I was still in Batu Pahat. Grandma would knead the dough and mom would prepare the rest of the ingredients, including cooking the dish. Later on, mom undertook the task of kneading the dough. I wanted to introduce our Johor style of Pan Mee to hubby but what prevented me from cooking it was the work itself : all for just 2 of us to eat. I mean, how much can 2 person eat? And all the trouble for that? Finally when mom came over, I had 4 people in the house to have dinner. Mom took over the kneading of dough ... and the cooking. I prepared the ingredients for her. Together we made this for dinner. It was fabulous! There were many other side ingredients that were classified as 'must-have' : fried shallots, anchovies and lastly chili padi (bird's eyes chili) . I would scatter all these on top but Iwill not stir it. Reason being I do not want the anchovies to go soft and limpy. Hubby enjoyed the dish tremendously and actually asked mom how she made the tasty soup.

Ingredients:
For Dough:
500 gm all purpose flour
2 large eggs
150 ml water,plus extra if necessary
a pinch of salt
some corn starch for dusting

For Topping:
500 gm minced meat (we made into round balls. Marinate meat with salt, sesame oil and soy sauce)
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar

fried anchovies,head removed
fried shallot

Soup Base:
200 gm fresh anchovies,washed
5 liter water
1 anchovies cubes*Knorr*
salt and ground white pepper powder to taste
1 lb baby green mustard ,washed and cut (we used a vege which we called 'money' vege).

Method :
Noodles
1:Combine flour and salt in a large mixing bowl,sifted .Add in water and eggs,mix and knead into a stiff dough.Cover with wet cloth or paper towel,let it rest for 30 minutes.

Soup Base or Stock :
1. Prepare 5 liter water with fresh washed anchovies at medium high heat.Boil or simmer for 45 minutes. Add in anchovies cubes. Simmer for another 10 minutes before add in salt and ground pepper powder to taste. Reduce heat to low. Discard the anchovies. Taste the soup before you add the soy sauce and sugar. Add them based on your own taste preference.

2. In low fire, roll mince meat into balls and add into soup. Turn to moderate heat for about 3 - 5mins. Add some some fried shallot and fried anchovies. Turn down fire.

3. Pinch the dough into the soup. Some like it thick while others like it thin. Pinch according to your preference. When all dough are in the soup, stir a while so that they are cook evenly.

4. When the dough are cooked, add in the vegetables. Dish out and garnish with fried shallots and fried anchovies. Serve hot with cut chili.


My cooking tips : Instead of pinching the dough in, you may want it eat it as noodles. Use the pan mee machine  (cost less than RM50) to make the noodles. If you don't have one,  roll the dough flat on a floured surface. Use a knife to cut strips to the thickness you desire.

Mamak Mee Goreng

I still have a lot of the special noodles from Sg. Lembing, given to us by hubby's colleague. This is supposed to be the yellow noodles which chinese love to consume but 3 things set apart  this noodle (from Sg. Lembing) from the normal yellow noodle you purchase in hypermart :  (a) this noodles has considerably less amount of lye water in it (in Cantonese we call it kan soi), (b) this yellow noodle is not fat and round but it's thinner and flatter (something like linguine) and (c) other than the usual floor and stuffs used to make noodles, they claim to be using 100% pure mountain water as well, thus making the noodle tastier.  Both hubby and I will never order any yellow noodles when we eat out in hawker stall. With this Sg Lembing noodles, I am able to try out certain dishes which require nothing else but yellow noodles. In this instance, it's Mamak Mee Goreng.

I ran upstairs and frantically flipped through my recipe book and found the recipe I was looking for. To my surprise, the sauces were pretty much the same that I've used in my recent attempt of Ramen in a Jiffy. The steps to making this dish is rather simple. I didn't have any meat with me but that was fine because I had enough vege base ingredients on hand. Here's the recipe, adapted from Agnes Chang.

Ingredients :

500g fresh yellow noodles

120g mutton, thinly sliced (I omitted this)

1 tsp light soya sauce

1/2 tsp dark soya sauce

dash of pepper

4 tbsp oil

1 bombay onion, sliced thinly

4 stalks sawi, cleaned and cut into 3cm length (I substituted with cabbage)

3 pieces fried beancurd, diced

4 tbsp tomato ketchup

2 tbsp chilli sauce

2 tbsp light soya sauce

1 tbsp dark soya sauce

** I added 4 tbsp hot water

dash of pepper (I omitted this)

2 eggs (I omitted this)

3 green chillis, sliced

3 tomatoes, cut into wedges

**I added shitake mushrooms, carrot and fish cake, chopped garlic

Method :

1. Season mutton with soya sauces and pepper. Fry fish cake and set aside. Slice it when cool.

2. Heat oil and stir fry sliced onion till fragrant. Add in the mutton and fry till it changes color (if you have mutton)

3. Add cabbage and fry till slightly soft before adding in the tomatoes, carrot, diced beancurd and slice fish cake. Dish out and set aside.

4. Heat up oil, fry some chopped garlic. Add in sliced mushrooms. Fry till soft and set aside (Omit this step if you are using mushrooms).

5. With the mushrooms still in the wok, add back the vege based ingredients which you have fried earlier. Stir a while before adding in the yellow noodles. Pour the prepared sauces in.

6. If you have eggs, break in eggs and stir quickly to mix with teh noodles. Add in green chillies and mix well.

7. Dish out and serve. You may garnish it with fried shallots, green and red chillis and lime.

Ramen in a Jiffy

It's Sunday night and it's also one of those rare days I'm having dinner at home instead of somewhere else. For the past 2 weekends, the chinese were scrambling to the cemetery grounds for tomb sweeping, a festival we called Qing Ming. We got up pretty early for this and by the time I got home, it was almost 3pm! Since everyone was exhausted from the morning event, we decided to eat our dinners separately. I was trying to take an afternoon nap but of course that didn't materialize, much to my chagrin. Instead of wasting time by lying on the bed and gazing at the ceiling, I jumped out from bed and went straight to my kitchen. I started taking out a zucchini which I bought it because it was an 'on sale' item ( at RM2), a carrot, a packet of shitake mushroom. Obviously zucchini is normally used for a western dish while shitake mushroom is best cook in the asian or chinese way. I went against all odds and decided to mix the 2 instead to fry a ramen noodle.  What came to my mind was this looks like an East Meets West kind of dish.  Well besides using this 2 ingredients for my dish, I became adventurous and came up with a special sauce : a mixture tomato ketchup, chili sauce, chinese oyster sauce and soy sauce.  The verdict? You try it out and tell. All I can say is hubby ate quite plentiful. It tasted even better when I ate it the next day but I fried it again with an egg.

Ingredients :
1 zucchini - slice
1/2 packet of shitake mushroom - thinly slice
1 carrot - shred
7 cloves garlic - chop
3 shallots - slice
Organic ramen

Seasoning :
tomato ketchup
chili sauce
oyster sauce
soy sauce
pinch of salt
chili flakes (optional)

Method :
1. Heat up oil in wo and saute garlic and shallot till fragrant. Add in the zucchini.
2. Stir for about 2 minutes before adding in the shitake mushrooms. Saute till mushrooms turn soft and water seeping out from it.
3. Add in the shreded carrot and stir fry for a minute before adding in the ramen.
4. Stir the sauce and add in little by little. Taste and add more of whichever sauces to your own preference.
5. Dish out and serve hot.

Fried Vermicelli with canned Stewed Pork Chops

I was left dwelling on what to have for my dinner on a Sunday night as hubby had to attend his company annual dinner. We have been slogging since 11+am on spring cleaning, mending, repairing and rearranging stuffs for the forthcoming chinese new year. I didn't have much energy left in me but I didn't know what to buy for my dinner either. In the end, I found a can of stewed pork chops and settled my dinner with it by frying it with vermicelli. It was simple enough because all it needed was some chopped garlic which I had it in my fridge and some greens to go with it.

Here's a picture of the brand I bought. Normally I will fry it along with another can of stewed pork legs but I guess the chops will do just for now.

Mom's well loved Fried Mee Siam

Seriously, if not for our mini christmas gathering for office colleagues, I really would have to think thrice about frying my mom's famous mee siam. I wouldn't say it's extremely tedious work but I seemed to have spent a considerable amount of time preparing this dish. I even blended, sliced, cut, washed and did everything I could prepare , one day earlier. The last time I fried the mee siam was like 9 months ago or so. Naturally, I've forgotten how to get it done and so naturally, I again had to place a long distance call to my mom in Sydney. The recipe cost me RM 7 because that was what the call cost me. I'm pretty happy with the results this time compare to last because the vermicilli wasn't too soggy and wet. The taste of the pounded shrimp was just right. I'm glad cousin Soo enjoyed eating it though the portion for her wasn't huge enough to fill up 2 stomachs. I myself didn't had enough of it so perhaps it'll be very soon before I fry it again.

Fried Wonton Noodles with Mince Pork (gan chau zhu rou mien)

The other day when I made the sui kow, I had plenty of mince meat leftover and also 2 bunches of wontoon noodles. Since I reckon I would be getting home from work earlier, I decided to fry my longtime favorite 'Fried mince pork noodles". This has been one dish I've mastered when I was in my Form 6. I guess I've got the inspiration to cook it from my mom and perhaps she had kinda guided me on what seasoning to use and what ingredients to go with this simple frying dish. Normally I would use Maggi instant noodles as the noodles but this time, not wanting to waste the frozen wontoon noodles in my freezer, I've substituted it with the maggie noodles. The effect was very satisfactory because the noodle was very slippery and hubby prefers thin noodles rather the fat & thick ones.

Here's how I fry it :

Ingredients :
Chili paste (already fried with lemongrass and pounded shallots)
Small onions - slice a handful
Mince pork
Mustard vegetables (I hope I got the name correct)
Tomatoes (optional)
Soy Sauce and pinch of salt
Black soy sauce
Wonton Noodles

Method :
1. Heat up oil and fry the onions. Once slightly brown, add in the chili paste.
2. Add in the mince meat and fry till cooked.
3. Add in the stems of the vegetables, saute a while before adding in the rest of the vegetables.
4. Dish in the noodles and add in all all the seasonings.  Done !

Sui Kow with Wonton Noodles

I still have not fully recover from the 1st onset of my illness more than 2 weeks ago. As such, my tastebud has changed from the usual fried and spicy related food to something soupy and bland. I took a day off yesterday had initially planned to cook nasi lemak. Since both hubby and I are still under the weather, I decided to make Sui Kow (dumplings). The broth I cooked with lots of anchovies and it's 100% free from those instant cube enhancers. The recipe was derived from rasa malaysia but then again, I didn't follow it exactly.

Sui Kow filling:

Mince pork

Carrot - cube

Fungus mushroom - slice thinly

Waterchestnut - cube

Seasoning for filling :

Oyster sauce

Sesame oil

Soy sauce

Salt

I made the broth or the soup with just boiling lots of anchovies in hot water and keep it simmering in low heat for 2 hours.

Of course an inevitable ingredient here is the sui kow skin (dumpling skin).  Since this was gonna be our dinner, I bought wonton noodles from the morning market. Hubby had the soup wonton noodles with the dumplings while I whipped out a kon lou version (dry type) of wonton noodles.

Fried Beehoon with Hot Flushed Taste

That day, I was feeling slightly peeved off in office and coupled with the mountain high papers on my desk which never seem to get any lower, I decided to call it a day when the clock struck 5.30pm. Upon reaching home, I ransacked my fridge and to my delight, I found 2 carrots and 1 mid size zucchini. This is enough to start frying a real quick hassle free beehoon, I fried half a packet of beehoon just for the 2 of us so that we could eat it the following day and perhaps for another day again.

The ingredients and frying method is so easy that anyone can whip it up in a jiffy.

Ingredients :
Garlic (chopped)
Big & small onions (slices)
Soy sauce
Mushroom powder / Chicken powder
Chilli flakes
Zucchini
Carrots (shreded)

Pinch of salt

A little black soy sauce

Dried herbs (I happened to have mixture of dried spring onions)

Corriander (for garnishing)

Beehoon (soaked till soft)

Water

I could sum up the frying method in just a few sentences : Heat up oil, saute the garlic and onions, add in carrots and zucchini. When vege is almost soft, add in the beehoon , stir for a while then sprinkle in the powder, dried herbs and sauces (soy). Add water when necesssary. Lastly, sprinkle in some chilli powder and garnish with corriander.

Penang Fried Kway Teow (Char Kway Teow)

It was only when I made this dish that I finally threw  in the white towel and face the horror fact that I hate my new wok !!!! Ohhh.. how I despise it. I have been without a wok for more than a month before I finally found this Meyer hard anodized wok at a promotional price. Imagine my eagerness to try out this new wok soonest possible. I thought it would be a great idea to fry a Fried Kway Teow recipe with this new wok but oh, how wrong I was. I don't know the fault really lies with my cooking method or with the wok itself but you can guess I'm putting the blame on the wok because the 2 other dish I've cooked the other day using this same wok, produced the same problems to me. I finally managed to salvage this dish by dishing out the half cooked kway teow and set it aside while I washed the sticky wok. Thereafter, I resumed frying my kway teow with a clean wok and a little olive oil. The taste was satisfying despite all the earlier 'glitch' if you would call it. The recipe was adapted from Agnes Chang but I made a little adjustment :

Ingredients :
600g kway teow
300g beansprouts (taugeh)
300g prawns, shelled
100g chives (kuchai), cut into 11/2" length
2 eggs
2 chinese sausage (lap cheong), slice slanting
2 piece of fish cake (optional)
2 tbsp chopped garlic
2 tbsp pounded chili (with shallots) / or chili boh

Seasoning :
1 tbsp soya sauce,
1/2 tsp chicken stock granules
1 tsp salt
a dash of pepper

Method :
1. Heat up 4 tbsp oil in wok and saute chinese sausage over low fire. Dish out and set asie. Next stir fry garlic till light brown. Add pounded chillies and shallots and continue to fry until fragrant.
2. Add prawns and stirf ry until cooked then add in the fish cake.  Add kway teow and stir until well mixed.
3. Add beansprouts, chives and seasoning. Mix well.
4. Push kway teow to one side, add 1 tbsp oil and break in eggs. Spread kway teow on top of eggs and fry well.

You may want to garnish with coriander leaves and red chillies.

Bittergourd Bihun Soup

Yes, I cooked tonight and yes again, I took a day off from work. I had such a relaxing day today BUT not entirely stress free because : (1) I did gardening early in the morning and my nostrils detected cat’s poo but I just couldn’t locate where the poo is ; (2) again my internet line failed me. I took off to Midvalley, watched a movie, had coffee in a wifi café, then shopped for tonight’s homecook dinner : Bittergourd Bihun Soup. I hardly order a clear soup dish but I did that over the weekend. It tasted nice and so, I wanna try it out for dinner tonight. The stock was prepared with real anchovies with no added msg or stock cubes. Hubby commented that I've added too much of anchovy in the stock soup, hence a bit salty. Other than that, it was good. Well.. I thought more stock means good stuff…. Anyway, if you’ll like to try out this dish, here’s the recipe. Btw, I am leaving the measurements out. You just estimate it yourself in accordance to your taste and preference. Ingredients : 1. Marinated mince pork (salt, soy sauce and sesame oil) 2. Thin slices of bittergourd 3. Tomatoes, halved or quartered 4. Some wolfberries, soaked 5. Lettuce (I substituted with Xiao Bai Cai) 6. Big anchovies, to boil into stock 7. Some spring onions 8. Shallots 9. Organic Brown Rice Vermicelli (Bihun) – Soak in hot water, then drain Method : 1. Boil anchovies in a pot of water for 20 to 30 mins. Remove anchovies from stock. 2. Heat oil, fry shallots till golden brown and add in the prepared stock. 3. Add in the wolfberries and bitterguord. 4. When soup is about to boil, shape mince pork into ball shape and add it in. When done, stir the soup. 5. Once again when soup boils, add in soften vermicelli, then the lettuce & tomatoes. 6. Stir for 1 – 2 mins and turn off fire. Sprinkle the soup with chopped spring onions and serve it with slices of red chilis.

Last Minute Fried Noodles

Last Saturday, we were lying comfortably on our couch, watching the locally produced movie: Woohoo (Da Re Zi). When it was close to dinner time, we were too lazy drive out aimlessly to look for food. So I came up with the suggestion to fry a super fast noodle for dinner and hubby couldn’t agree more. Since it was a sudden decision, I rummaged my fridge and found sufficient ingredients to start my simple and easy "last minute" Fried Noodles. Here’s the recipe I would like to share for those of you who are in a hurry to fix a quick meal . Enjoy ! Ingredients : Carrot (cut strips) Lettuce Chopped garlic Big onions, sliced Mince pork (or any meat available in your fridge) – marinate with sesame oil, pepper & soy sauce Fishcake (I happen to have some leftover) Tomatoes (quartered) 2 packet Maggi noodles Dried chili Flakes or powder (omit if this dish is meant for kids) Seasonings : 2 tbsp dark soy sauce 1/2 tsp of Maggi Cukup Rasa (or any seasoning cube available in your fridge) 5 tbsp of hot water Method : 1. Boil a pot of water , add in Maggi noodles and turn off the fire immediately. Stir noodles for a while. Drain and soak the noodles with a little cold water to prevent noodles from sticking. 2. Heat oil, fry garlic till fragrant and dish out a portion. With the remaining in the wok, add in mince pork(if any) and fry for another 2 mins. 3. Add in fishcake , stir for another 2 – 3 minutes then add in carrot. Continue to stir fry for 1 minute. 4. Drain water from the noodles and add into the wok. Stir and pour in seasonings. 5. Add in remaining fried garlic and stir fry for another 1 – 2 minutes. Add in chili flakes if desired. You’re done ! Well… it’s simple and fast, isn’t it? And remember, the ingredients can be anything in your fridge which you deem can be added into the noodles.

Pad Thai Recipe

Last Wednesday, I took a day off just to clear my leave and in a way, I could relax and make dinner. Our dinner has been salad for as long as I could remember but since it's a day off for me, I've decided to clear the Pad Thai stocks which has been sitting in my larder for quite a while. It tasted fantastic when I ate it hot but I can't say the same for the next day. I have made some modification to the original recipe which I got from joythaifood.com and importfood.com . Here's the recipe that I would like to share : Ingredients : 8 big prawns (shelled but leave the tail on) 2 handful of rice stick noodles (Pad Thai) 3/4 cup diced firm tofu (tau kwa) 1/4 cup salted minced radish (chai po) 3 tbsp. water 1/4 cup fresh chives, cut into one inch long pieces (cut some 3 inch long for garnishing) 1 cup bean sprouts 1 tbsp. sliced red onion 2 tbsp. minced garlic 1 tsp. dried red chili powder 2 tbsp. roasted peanut (crushed) 1 tsp. sugar Fishcake & chicken or pork (optional) Oil for frying Pad Thai Sauce: 1/2 cup palm sugar/ or castor sugar 1/3 cup good quality fish sauce (nampla sauce) 1/2 cup vinegar 1 cup tamarind juice Method: 1. Rinse minced radish several times under cold water. Drain it. 2. Soak the rice stick noodles in hot water for 10 – 15 minutes. Leave in cold water after that to prevent the noodles from sticking to each other. 3. Heat oil. Fry some garlic, then add in radish. Fry till color change and add in a little sugar. Set aside. 4. Heat oil. Fry some garlic, then add in the prawns and cook till done. Set aside. 5. Heat oil and add in the remaining garlic and onions. Sautee for while. Then add fishcake/meat , sauté for a while and then add in tofu. After a while, add in rice noodles. 6. Stir fry the rice noodles for about 5 – 6 minutes, add in water, then add in the prepared Pad Thai Sauce. Taste it and add additional fish sauce or sugar or tamarind according to your own taste. Sprinkle in the dried red chilli powder . Add more if you prefer spicy. 7. Add in the radish and prawns which you have earlier on set aside. 8. Stir for another 1 – 3 minutes and add a little water if it’s too dry. 9. Just before you dish out the noodles, add in beansprouts (leave some for garnishing) and 1 inch long chives. Stir for a while and you’re done. Turn the fire off, transfer the noodles in a nice plate and garnish it with peanut, the 3 inch long chives, beansprout and slice fresh lime. Here are some pictures of the ingredients I used, plus a packet of Instant Pad Thai noodle boxkit. Million of thanks to Piyanard my Thai colleague, for getting me the shown ingredients and subsequently refused my money after that.