Food felt Thanks!

I finally got to taste the true Shanghai noodles today. I am writing this post to thank Sonia of Nasi Lemak for generously giving me the noodles. She brought them back all the way from Shanghai. Sonia, you are always so thoughtful. Thank you so much for thinking of me. I really appreciate it and I value our friendship. Food blogging RAWKS!! I've made so many new friends, some I have not even met yet,  but they are all awesome people!

I used them to make a scrumptious lunch today - fish soup Shanghai noodles. My Quay Lo and I love it to bits. When he was eating the bowl of noodles, he kept on saying this to me, "Honey, this is fantastic!" He not only finished the noodles, he drank up the soup!  The texture of these noodles is different from the ones we buy locally.  They are very smooth but give a good firm feel to the teeth.  Since we enjoyed our meal so much, I reckoned I should share the recipe with you all. I do not know if we can get the same type of noodles anywhere in Kuala Lumpur but if they're not available you may replace them with the noodles that are available here. Maybe the texture and the mouth feel will not be the same but I do not think there will be much difference to the flavours. The piece of pork croquette I added goes very well with the noodles buta chicken chop will work nicely as well. The fish stock is not only good for the noodles, it is also good for rice and meehoon. For those who have missed the two posts where I have used fish stock, just click on the pictures to get the recipes. To make the fish stock is very easy. Just deep fry the fish bones. Fry a few pieces of ginger till fragrant. Add water and Chinese cabbage, salt, white peppercorns and bring to boil for about 10 minutes and let it simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Then sift away the bones, cabbage and peppercorns and retain the stock. You may deep freeze the stock for future use. Fish stock has a deph of flavor that simply should not be missed in many of Southeast Asia's recipes. Many home cooks I've chatted with tend to use chicken stock as a shortcut for those recipes, and certainly it works to the extent that a good, hearty dish is the result. But home made fish stock takes the targeted dish into a higher level.  

Fish bone soup rice

Fish bone soup vermicilli 

Fish soup Shanghai noodles

Ingredient:

300 gm Shanghai noodle

300 ml water to cook the noodle

1 tbs vegetable oil

300 ml fish stock

1 cup julienned “Char Choy” (Chinese pickled mustard root)

4 medium shitake mushroom, soaked, squeezed dry and sliced

3 florets of wood ear fungus, soaked and thinly sliced
some deep fried lardons (optional)

1 tsp chopped garlic

1 tsp fish sauce

½ tsp sesame oil

4 cloves of shallots, thinly sliced

Ingredient for pork croquette:

200 gm minced pork

2 tbs crispy fry flour, (I use the brand Nona, see notes if you want to make your own)

2 tsp oil

2 tbs water

1 tsp oysters sauce

½ tsp sugar

1 tbs soya sauce

1 tbs corn starch

Ingredient for garnishing:

½ cup chopped Chinese parsley

1 tbs chopped spring onion

Method:

To make the pork croquette (may sub with chopped chicken):

In a bowl, mix minced pork, oysters sauce, sugar, soya sauce, sesame oil and corn starch together and let it marinate for 1 hour or more. Prepare the crispy flour by adding the water and oil. Form the minced pork into two croquettes and coat them with the crispy flour mixture. Heat oil till very hot and then deep fry the croquetts till golden brown. Place them on kitchen paper towel to have all the oil absorbed before placing them into the bowl of soup noodles.

To prepare the soup noodles:

Heat oil vegetable oil in wok and sauté garlic and shallots till fragrance. Add woodear and mushroom. Stir fry for 2 to 3 minutes and add fish sauce. Mix well and then set aside.

Bring water to boil and cook noodles for about 9 mins and drain off the water and divide into two bowls. Divide the mushroom and woodear mixture into two portion and put them on top of the noodles. Bring fish stock to boil and add “Char Choy”and let it boil for 2 to 3 minutes. Pour soup over noodles. Add a few pieces of deep fried lardons (optional). Garnish with parsley and spring onion. Serve hot.


Note: To make your own crispy fry flour; use equal portions of all purpose flour, corn flour and rice flour. You may want to add your own seasoning like, salt, pepper and your favorite spices and herbs. Get creative!

My Wanton noodles selected for FOODBUZZ TOP9 today!!

This dish is selected for FOODBUZZ TOP9 on 5th April 2011
A big THANK YOU to all my friends in FOODBUZZ who voted for me. 

Before I went on my trip to Singapore, I bought a packet of wanton noodles. It sat in my fridge till I came home from the trip.  When I was at the Changi Airport terminal 1, I had a bowl of wanton noodle soup and liked it very much. So I am replicating that for lunch today. This bowl of noodle soup is most suitable if you want a light lunch. The used of preserved mustard roots give a slightly spicy, pleasantly crunchy texture to the dish. My Quaylo added Tabasco sauce to his bowl of noodles and put his two thumbs up!  My mum finished hers and said it is very tasty and said I should make it again. I am very pleased that I successfully recreated what I had and better. I can't help feeling I am floating in the air today. Someone, please pinch me! LOL!

Ingredients:

300gms wanton noodles

100gms pork tendeloin, thinly sliced

80gms preserved mustard roots, cut into thin strips

100gms choy sum, (wash, cooked and drained)

2 tbs chopped garlic

4 shallots, thinly sliced

¼ cup diced spring onion

¼ cup roughly chopped parsley

1 tsp thick black sauce

1 tsp pork fat (optional)

5 ½ tbs Maggie chicken stock

1200ml water

Marinate for pork slices:

(A)

1 tbs oysters sauce

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp corn starch

½ tsp ground white pepper

1 tsp light soya sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

Method:

Marinate sliced pork with (A) for 20 mins.  Wash mushroom, soak in water water for 20 mins.  Squeezed dry and set aside. Wash mustard roots and cut into thin strips and soak in warm water for 20 mins. Squeezed dry and set aside. Deep fry sliced shallots till golden brown, drained oil and set aside. With the same oil, fry 1 tbs of chopped garlic till golden brown and set aside.  Add pork fat in the pan and sauté the balance of 1 tbs chopped garlic till fragrance.  Ad marinated pork to the pan and stir fry till pork is cooked, add mushroom and mustard roots and stir fry for a minute. Add black sauce and mix well and continue to stir fry for 2 minutes and set aside.  In a pot, mix Maggie chicken stock and 1200ml water.  Bring soup to boil and lower heat to keep the soup warm. In another pot, boil enough water to cook the wanton noodle.  Cook for about 3 mins before giving it a cold bath. Drained water and dip noodles into the soup to get them warmed. Divide them into 4 servings. Top noodles with cooked choy sum, fried shallots, fried garlic, chopped parsley, diced spring onions and cooked pork with mushroom and mustard roots before adding the chicken soup. Serve hot.