This dish is something I would order whenever I am in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. Although Singapore has the same version which is lovingly known as Hokkien noodles, the taste and the color is however somewhat different. The KL version is slightly darker and much more fragrant due to the use of pork lard and also non existence of alkaline taste from the alkaline salts used in producing most Singapore noodles. We have been craving this quite badly and decided to try making it on our own which is to my surprise not too much of a task
Ingredients required:
– 500 grams of round or flat yellow noodles ( flat one is preferred as round ones are more salty which needs to be washed before use)
-150 grams shelled prawns
-100 grams sliced fish cake
-200 grams sliced lean pork
200 grams chinese caixin
( you can also add in 150 grams sliced squid which I did not manage to buy on the day I made this)
-4 tablespoons of minced garlic
-2 tablespoon of oyster sauce
-Cooking oil
-100 to 150 ml of chicken stock ( not in picture)
-100 ml of boiled water ( not in picture )
-1 to 2 tablespoons of dark soy sauce
-1 tablespoon of honey or sugar ( not in pictures)
-2 teaspoons of mushroom seasoning
-3 tablespoons of starch water
Start by frying 2 tablespoons of minced garlic with 1 tablespoon of oil until fragrant, add 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce and add in the prawn, pork meat, fish cake ( squid if you have ) and fry them till 80% cooked. You can cover the pan to let them cook in the meantime. Add in the vegetables and give it a quick stir fry and remove all ingredients from the wok for use later.
Fry another 2 tablespoons of garlic to a dry pan and add the noodles to the pan and give it a quick stir fry before adding the chicken stock and boiled water. Add the 2 tablespoons of dark soy sauce and mix the noodles so that all the liquid is evenly colored. Cover the pan and let it simmer for 2 mins on high heat. You can do a taste test to see if the gravy is salty enough, if not you can add 1 tablespoon of light soy sauce. Add 1 tablespoon of honey while continuing to stir the noodles. At this point, if you have fried pork lard, you can add them to the noodles and let it cooked for 1 min. Add all the fried ingredients back to the noodles and stir to mix the ingredients well with the noodles on high heat.
Add 2 teaspoons of mushroom seasoning as the final touches to the taste. Bring the pan to a high heat boil and add in the corn starch water to thicken the gravy while continuously stirring and the noodles is done.
You can find the full instructions of cooking the dish in the video. I did not add pork lard in this video but did in another session and the flavours were totally different with the one with pork lard having a more flavourful depth to the taste.
Do try this simple enough dish for lunch or dinner which is loved by both young and old.
Bear Travels . Bear Eats . Bear Cooks 