 |
| It's hard not to start eating at this step.... |
Families, Friends and Fans, today I'll will show you how to make Singapore Mei Fun (or some place called it Singapore Chow Mei which is the same dish!) This dish is about preparation,timing and the right brand of Mei Fun/Rice Sticks. Some are either too big or too small (the brand in the picture is one I personally like to use for making Singapore Mei Fun). The cooking and the seasoning parts are pretty easy and simple, but lots of restaurants screw up on this dish. Either the wok is too hot (taste burnt), broken Mei Fun(cook to long in the wok and looks ugly), too much curry (so too overpowering), the curry is added too early(taste burnt/bitter and looks brownish-yellow), shrimp and chicken are way over cooked( too chewy), or they added too much oil(too greasy) etc.
So my recommendations are-
- pay attention when precooking the chicken and shrimp! Don't over cooked it bcz the chicken and the shrimp will cook again with the Mei Fun.
- Cook the egg with the right amount of oil. Don't put in too much oil at once(3 tbs of oil is plenty).
- Don't add in the curry seasoning too early, add it in towards the end or last. Shorter the time in the hot pan/wok would help the curry powder stay bright yellow and won't taste bitter...
Ok, let's cook some Singapore Mei Fun!! (and I hope you saved some pork from the last recipe as it will greatly enhance this dish!)
Ingredients
- 2 patties dry Mei Fun(Rice Stick)(soaked with "cold" water at least 30 minutes)
- 10 slices bbq pork(strips) **FROM LAST RECIPE! :)
- 10 pcs shrimp(cleaned and cooked)
- 2 oz chicken thigh meat/ chicken breast(cleaned and strips and marinated)
- 2 large egg
- 1/4 red pepper(strips)
- 1/4 yellow onion(strips
- 5 slices carrots(strips)
- 1 green onion(cut an inch length)
- 3 pcs of cabbage(strips)
 |
| This is the brand that I prefer but you may use any similar brand. |
 |
| One of my favorite (and more common) curry powders in cooking Cantonese style curry dishes. |
 |
| Sooo colorful :) |
Preparation
On a cutting board, cut up all the vegetables and set it aside. Wash the cutting board and cut the bbq pork into slice and then strip it.Then place the bbq pork with the veggies and set it aside. Now wipe the cutting with a cloth/paper towel.
Do the same with the chicken, skinned it and cut it into slices and strips. Then marinate the chicken with 1/2 ts of salt and 1/2 ts of sesame oil for 10 mins.
 |
| Chicken should be cut to this size. Seasoned and marinated for just a few minutes. |
Boiling the Shrimp
In small pot, bring half pot of water to boiling and throw the shrimp into the pot. Let it cook for about a minute,( we don't need to fully cook the shrimp, bcz we will cook it again with the Mei Fun)Take it out and drain it. You may place it with the veggies and BBQ pork for later use (as we will cook all of it together when the time comes).
Cooking the Chicken
Heat up a non stick pan with 1/2 tbs oil in high heat, add in the chicken. Stir it a few times and it will only take about 2-4 minutes to be fully cooked. Then you may add it with the rest of the previous ingredients we have been preparing.
 |
| Thigh meat of the chicken doesn't dry up when cooked for too long like the breast meat. So don't worry too much about over cooking it. BUT it is better to have cooked chicken than raw chicken.... |
 |
| Here you can see all the meats have been par cooked and ready to go into the stir fry. |
Boiling the Mei Fun
**Remember to have your Mei Fun soaked for 30 mins in COLD water before hand. This will rehydrate the noodles but not cook them. It makes it easier to cook. I would suggest getting these noodles soaked as you prepare the rest of the ingredients for this dish. Then by the time you get to this step, the noodles will be ready. |
| 30 minutes in cold water while you prep the rest of the ingredients. |
Bring the water to a boil (pot should be perhaps half way filled), and then add in the softened/soaked Mei Fun. Let it cook for a minute! Taste a piece to see if it needs to cook a little more. An "al dente" texture is what we want, and it usually doesn't take long to cook the mei fun noodles because they are so thin.
 |
| Drain it from the hot water and then rinse with cold water. This will stop the cooking process. Drain it well again. |
Drain it and set aside.(tip: Rinse the noodles in cold water to stop the Mei fun from cooking from the hot steam and residual heat from the boiling water. Then drain it again once it feels cool to the touch, and then add a little oil to keep it from sticking together.) **Your dish will cook better if the noodles are properly drained. The dryer the noodles, the less they will stick to the pan when cooking them.
Seasoning
- 3 1/2 ts yellow curry powder
- 2 ts salt(add more if you like a bit saltier)
- 1 ts chicken bouillon
- 1 ts sugar
- 1 ts sesame oil
- 4 tbs water
In small bowl mix up the seasonings evenly and set it aside.
|
| Bottom bowl is the seasoning consistency you are looking for. |
Tips:
Essentially, cooking on a wok in a restaurant is a bit of yin and yang. You have to mix patience and speed because you are dealing with a wok that burns hotter than an oven. You wait for the wok to get hot...and then strike with speed and grace! We can emulate this process at home as well (but our stove tops are more forgiving than a 600 degree wok flame). So when you stir fry this dish, here are some tips to ensure your food is cooking properly in a hot pan-
- Turn on high heat with a dry pan. Add in the oil as you normally would.
- Wait for the oil to glide across the pan when you move it. It will look almost like water at this point.
- When adding the egg, it should cook almost immediately. DON'T touch it right away! Let it cook underneath till it turns white. This will happen in just moments.
- Once this happens, break the egg and scramble it about. Try to evenly get it across the pan until it fully cooks.
We essentially are creating 2 barriers that prevent the food from sticking to the pan- one with the hot oil and second with the cooked egg. It's a little bit of Chinese magic...not really. BUT remember these tips the next time you cook fried rice, and try doing it WITHOUT the egg...I can guarantee you it will not taste the same and more than likely will stick to your pan like a burnt pancake.
 |
| Wait till it looks like this before touching it...... |
 |
| ....and then give it a QUICK STIR! You will see the egg make bubbles in the oil. This prevents the food and noodles from sticking to the pan. |
OK- back to the Mei Fun....
After you have cooked the egg, add in the yellow onion first, stir it for a few seconds, then add the rest of the ingredients.
Let it cook for a couple minutes.
Now add the Mei Fun and stir it evenly with the ingredients by using a pair of chopsticks or tongs.
 |
| The idea for cooking this is for it to be a quick process. If we waited to cook the shrimp and chicken at this stage instead of par cooking it, our vegetables will be wilted and overcooked. The thigh meat of the chick will also lend to an excess of grease in the dish which is not what we want. |
|
| Add a little more of the curry powder at the end of the cooking cycle to give it a bit more taste and color. |
Once all the ingredients have been incorporated, they should be near finished cooking. Then we add the curry seasoning. Mix and stir fry the Mei Fun noodles frequently for few more minutes till the curry has evenly covered the dish. Try a taste test with a few bites to see if it's good or not. Sometimes I like to add a little more curry and sometimes the noodles need a little more time to cook (which is better than them being overcooked).
That's it, Singapore Mei Fun! Enjoy it!!
Next up:
Fish Fillet in Black Bean Sauce
豉汁魚片
1 Peter 1:8-9
"Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls."
彼得前書 1:8-9
"你們雖然沒有見過他，卻愛他；現在雖然不能看見他，卻信他。因此，你們就有無法形容、滿有榮耀的大喜樂， 得到你們信心的效果，就是靈魂得救。"
No comments:
Post a Comment