Mum had a sudden craving for handmade noodles and decided to “persuade” me into making them for her. Game for the challenge, I decided to give it a try since I have never made fresh noodles from a scratch.
For the toppings, we decided to make fresh meatballs so here are the ingredients.
200 grams of minced pork meat
2 tablespoons of cornflour
1 tablespoon of fine sugar
2 tablespoon of oyster sauce
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
1 tablespoon of light soy sauce
2 teaspoon of mushroom flavouring
1 whole egg
Put all the condiments into the minced meat and mix them thoroughly to make sure the meatball is seasoned well. Cover this and leave it in the fridge to marinate until you are ready to cook.
Next, soak Ikan Bilis in water for about 10 mins to remove any impurities. Ikan Bilis is dried anchovies. This will be the stock base for the soup. Clean in water after 10mins and drain the water so the anchovy is dry enough for frying. You can use about 250 grams of anchovies.
The next item needed for the soup stock is soybeans. Clean the beans by washing them in water and drain the water and the beans are ready for use. This is about 100 grams of soybean.
Start the preparation of the broth by stir-frying the anchovy in 2 tablespoons of cooking oil in mid-high heat. Stir fry the anchovies until the fish turn slightly golden brown and you can smell the fragrance. In the meantime, make sure you have a pot of boiling water on standby.
Once the anchovies are fried till very fragrant and dry, add in the boiling water till the pot is almost full. I have used almost 1.7 litres for my pot.
As the broth boils, add in the soybean for deeper flavours in the broth and you can leave the broth to boil for another 1.5 hrs on low heat.
Now for the noodles, you will need the following:
250 grams of top flour
2 tablespoon of cornflour
pinch of salt for taste
1 cup of warm water
1 whole egg
Start with both the flour and the egg in a large mixing bowl or plate. Mix in the warm water slowly as you start to combine the liquid and the flour. It is important not to add the water all at one go as it might be too watery and you will not be able to save the dough.
It will reach a point when the dough is dry and flaky. If the dough is too dry, add bits of water and knead it patiently. If the dough is too sticky, do add in bits of flour so it is the right consistency.
It takes a while for the dough to form and look like this. Knead till the dough is smooth and not too watery or flakey. The dough should also be able to bounce back slightly if you press a finger into it.
Leave it to rest for 10 mins under a slightly wet cloth.
Traditional Mee Hoon Kueh is irregular shaped flatten dough which is made by stretching and pulling the dough by hand. It kind of resembles the Korean Sujebi. I cook the noodles in a separate soup pot so that I do not cloud my broth. For those who like long noodles, you can choose to roll out the dough with a rolling pin and cut the dough into thin strips to make them into long noodles.
The noodles take about 5 mins to cook for a slightly chewy and al dente bite. For those who prefer really soft noodles, you can cook them up to 10 mins.
Meanwhile, I have added the meatballs to the broth by scooping the marinated minced meat into irregular meatballs shapes. I have also added frozen fishballs and fishcakes to the soup to make the dish more plentiful. Before serving, you can add 1 tablespoon of light soy sauce to the soup for flavour.
This is the end result where I added vegetables, mushrooms, fish balls, sliced pork and the meatballs.
The broth is light and flavourful and the dough pulled noodles are chewy and light. You can also add spring onions or fried red onions as a garnish to the dish.
Bear Travels . Bear Eats . Bear Cooks 