Hokkien Mee

When I think of Hokkien Mee, I think of the big sizzling wok it is usually cooked in, the giant stove spewing with fire like a dragon's mouth, and the chef who is almost always a man - skinny, wrinkled and weathered from spending too much time close to the immense heat. Out from his skilled hands come this fragrant and glistening noodle dish. It derives it's aroma from the two most important ingredients - caramel dark soy sauce and pork lard. This is the delicious Hokkien Mee that I know, but of course, for health purposes we cannot all eat pork lard as and when we like. But I've discovered a simple recipe for a great Hokkien Mee without pork lard. 

This recipe is so simple that I like to think of it as my 1-2-3 recipe. Why? Because if you remember to put 1 tablespoon of minced garlic, 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce and 3 tablespoons of dark caramel sauce then you are almost already there. Can you smell it?

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
500g thick hokkien noodles, blanched
100g choy sum or chinese cabbage
100g prawns, deshelled and deveined
50g pork, sliced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
3 tablespoons of dark caramel sauce
dash of white pepper powder
1 teaspoon dried sole fish powder (optional)
water

Fry the minced garlic in oil till fragrant. Fry the pork and prawns until semi cooked. Add the noodles and vegetables to the pan, oyster sauce and dark caramel sauce and stir till combined and vegetables semi softened.

Add just enough water to cover  the noodles, close the lid and braise until sauce has thickened, around 10 minutes. There should still be a little bit of sauce left so don't be too worried if the sauce has not fully evaporated. If too wet, then open the lid and cook to the preferred slurpiness factor.

Shujinko Ramen, Flinders St

In Japan, noodles are slurped and eaten as noisily as you can manage, to show your appreciation for the cook's work and the deliciousness of the food. In the western culture, it is customary to eat quietly because it is considered polite. So, to slurp, or not to slurp? If I slurped, the broth might get onto my shirt. So we ordered two types of noodle dish at Shujinko Ramen. 

The first is Tsukemen ($16.50), which is a dry noodle with a dipping sauce. So if I slurped on dry noodles, my shirt will be protected from stains! The noodles come with the same broth as usual, only more concentrated because there is nothing else in the broth to dilute it. The noodles's texture was harder than normal so I didn't really like this. I think I will stick to the usual ramen in soup next time. There is also an onsen egg and two pieces of chashu and a piece of seaweed.

Gaz ordered the Black Ramen ($16.50) which is ramen in pork broth and black (seafood based) seasoning. The broth tastes better than mine, I suppose because of the added sweetness from the seafood seasoning. Also, there is black fungus slivers for added crunchiness.

Staying at Home - Weeks 7 & 8

Wow, has it been 2 months since we have been staying and working from home? I have almost lost the memories of what it felt like to cram into public transport before sun up to get to work and I can't say that I miss it. There are moments in the day especially around dinner time when I get flashbacks of dining in restaurants, but these are fleeting thoughts as either Gaz or I cook another dish for our meal. With so many routines interrupted, lives changed, how will it look like in another 2, 6, 12 months after Covid19? Here are some of my predictions:

1. I think there will be a population increase in about 9 months' time, not driven by immigration. Businesses in the baby product industry should take advantage of the lead time, and the times to create new products and strengthen their online sales capability. Astronaut suits for babies perhaps?

2. Demand for IT services and personnel will only increase as businesses shift online. Covid19 has provided the impetus to conduct more business transactions online. Much to the dismay of 5G naysayers, the bandwagon for faster internet is only rolling earlier into town and will be here to stay.

3. You'll finally get a seat on public transport. As public transport operators are forced to reduce capacity to safely provide for adequate space on the trains, bus or trams, those of of us who take public transport will no longer have to cram into a people's armpits in a tram in peak hour anymore. Unfortunately, it would also mean more cars on the road because people who have to get to the office will need to, one way or another. Also, public transport is not appealing to people who have high risk family members.

4. Death of the open plan office may look possible. Anyone who has tried to have a phone conversation in an open plan office will rejoice at this prospect. Keeping your voice low does not work, everyone else is also trying to keep their noise levels down so they can listen in. And how can anyone appear professional or normal when they're whispering?

5. For those who are able to, working from home for more days a week will no longer be something to frown on. The employers have proof that it works, the employees have more flexibility so it will be a win-win situation right? This is debatable, because I think it will eventually morph to working more hours in a day because work=home=work, and it's easier to be left out.

So, what are your predictions?

Happy Mothers Day

Here is my very amateur attempt at decorating a cake for Mother's Day. But what you just need to know is that the golden kiwis were very sweet, and so were the red seedless grapes. This is a chestnut cake, the chestnut paste was very delicious too. What I'm getting is that it may look bad but it does taste good! Substance matters more than looks! And certainly the thought matters a lot too...

So Mom, Happy Mother's Day to you. I remember we had the chance to celebrate the day together last year but it feels like a century ago. We can't go out as freely anymore, so I will make you more homemade things to celebrate. And although they would have looked amateurish or even taste different than those in the restaurants or shops, you would have oohed and aahed over it just like you normally do to show your appreciation.

I remember reading a famous Malay story called Batu Belah Batu Bertangkup at school. In the story, the mom abandoned her two young kids because they ate the fish roe she so craved. I thought to myself how selfish can this mom be that she would begrudge her kids from eating her food? Because I have never known my mom for withholding anything from me, much less food. My mom would rather go hungry than seeing us kids without food. Mom's really the best.

Staying at Home - Week 6

This week one of my more noteworthy dishes is a home made pizza. I made the dough from scratch and chose my own toppings. No, nothing zany like anchovies and brown sugar. I had a little bit of leftover sausages which I carefully socially distanced on the pizza, cracked an egg over it, shaped the pizza into a square (I used a cookie sheet pan to bake) and called it Quarantini.

For the second pizza, I made a seafood variation with supermarket marinara mix over the same tomato sauce base topped with grated cheese. I also sprinkled some mixed herbs which imparted some freshness and called it Marona. 

The base turned out fluffy and crispy on the edges which is not bad for a first attempt. I also like how easy it was actually to make, but there is a skill involved in shaping the pizza and that's why our local pizza store will still be in business!

Lai Good Taste, Boronia

We found a new joint that serves a Malaysian hawker style yin yong noodles! For those who love yin yong - so called because there is the contrast in texture and colour between the deep fried rice vermicelli (white in colour) and stir fried flat rice noodles seasoned with soy sauce (dark in colour), you will know that it is not a common noodle dish among the Malaysian restaurants in Melbourne. I am not sure why, but it makes the finding of this restaurant extra special. 

We ordered the yin yong of course, for me ($13.50). The balance of portion between the rice vermicelli and flat rice noodles was just nice, and there were lots of chicken pieces and gravy in the dish. I do find that the flat rice noodles were missing some wok hei (breath of the wok) but I finished the dish to the last bit of gravy anyway.

Gaz ordered a lunch special - dry egg noodles with braised pork belly and black fungus (I think it was $12.50). This is also dry egg noodles with chicken feet and mushrooms, which is a more common Malaysian hawker dish but we didn't feel like eating chicken feet that day. The noodles were springy and the braised pork was tasty. I still liked my yin yong better.

The restaurant takes up two shop lots but there was only 1 waitperson and 1 chef in the kitchen. I'm not sure if it is normally quiet or because of Covid-19 but there were only two tables of customers that day including us. Service was quick and the waitperson was very obliging and friendly.

I really hope that this restaurant will make it through the current crisis, because there are still so many dishes I want to try in this restaurant, for example - Fried Hokkien Mee (full of lard, black soy goodness that is so difficult to find in Melbourne) and Bean Curd on Sizzling Plate (ahh... the memories, I wonder if it will taste the same as the restaurant near my childhood home?). It is no doubt a very difficult time, let us hope that everyone will pull through alright soon.

Update: This restaurant has now closed.