Prawn Noodles

Hokkien Prawn Noodles / Har Mee



A mainstay of the street food scene in Singapore and Malaysia. The dish is Hokkien noodles served in a stock that is made with pork bones and prawn heads/shells which gives it its unique flavour. The stock is sweet and savoury at the same time, which leads to lovers of this dish slurping to the bottom of the bowl.

Each family will have their own version of this dish. This is my version of the dish, a variant of my mom's recipe. She didn't really give me a recipe though. This is based of what I remember while watching her cook, plus some tweaks of my own. Being a meat lover, I serve this with braised pork ribs.

Also, when I serve this dish, I don't like shells on my prawns. Many famous stalls that leave the shells on, even after butterflying the prawns. Its a personal preference, I am using chopsticks and I don't really want to be putting them down to shell the prawns or to be spitting shells throughout my meal. I find it very distracting.

What you will need to serve 4 - 6

Stock:
Pork Bones - About half a kilo at least.
Prawns - About 600 grams - Shelled, save the heads and the shells. Store flesh separately.
Pork Ribs - About 600-800 grams - Cut to individual rib bones.
White peppercorns - 1 Tablespoon
Garlic - 1 bulb or a dozen cloves - Lightly crushed.
Oyster Sauce - 3 Tablespoons
Dark Soya Sauce - 1 Tablespoon
Light Soya Sauce - 2 Tablespoons
1 Chicken Stock cube
Sugar - 1 Tablespoon

Noodles and Garnish:
Fried Shallots (Store bought is fine)
Crispy Fried Pork Lard bits (Optional)
KangKong (Water Spinach) - Washed, cut to 4 cm lengths. About a handful per serving,
Beansprouts - About 100 grams. About a handful per serving,
Chilli Powder / Fresh Chillies - Optional
100grams - Egg Noddle or Hokkien Noodle per serving.

Making Lard Cubes. (About .5 Kg of Pork Lard is a good amount)

The Pork Lard is optional. It is my opinion that it just takes the dish to another level. Cut the pork fat into 1 cm cubes or slightly larger. In a pan, slowly heat up the cubed fat. The lard cubes will start to sweat and you will see liquid fat will start to pool in your pan. Keep the heat medium low. Before long, the cubes will be swimming in oil. At this point you can turn up the heat to get a good browning on the cubes. Do not walk away if you can help it - as they can burn very quickly from this point.

Once you get a nice brown colour on the cubes, separate the solids from the liquid fat.

I like to store the crispy cubes in a paper-lined air tight container and the liquid fat in glass container.

The liquid fat stores well in the fridge. Up to weeks. Try using them in your stir fries, its next level stuff. 1 thing to note when using pork fat with stir-frying, us a smaller amount than you would with regular cooking oil, or your dish might get a tad greasy.

Making the stock:

Heat up 2-3 Tablespoons of oil (or Pork Fat - recommended) in a large stock pot or a wok. Add the garlic, white peppercorns, ginger and the prawn heads/shells and roast till the shells turn pink/red and garlic just starts to brown. Add the oyster sauce and continue roasting. You want the oyster sauce to start caramelizing but not burn.

If you are doing the roasting directly in the stockpot, add in 2.5 litres of water.

If using a wok or frying pan - deglaze with some water, about half a litre or so. Bring to a boil and then transfer to a large stockpot then add the rest of the water into the pot.

Add the pork bones, chicken cube, sugar, Light and Dark soya sauce into the pot.

Cover and bring to a boil. Then lower the heat and let simmer for 2 hours.

Tates and adjust as needed with Soya Sauce, pepper and sugar.

Optional Step - Strain the stock. Save the pork ribs and you can discard the rest of the solids.

Or you can just pick out the ribs with and strain the stock as you ladle it into serving bowls.


When Serving:

Have large pot of boiling water ready.

Blanch/cook each serving of noodles according to package instructions and place in the serving bowl.
Blanch/cook each serving of the beansprouts and kangkong and place in the serving bowl.
Blanch each serving of prawns in the stock for 2-3 minutes and place in the serving bowl.(Be careful not to overcook).
Place desired amount of pork ribs in each serving bowl.
Ladle hot stock into the bowl.
Garnish with Shallots, Crispy Lard Cubes and Chillies as desired.

Enjoy....

Noodles in Beef Broth

My first post in a long while. Relocation and adjustments to deal with. Hope to have more posts in the future.

This is comfort food that is very simple to put together. Inspired somewhat by all the beef Pho around near where we live. While not the same thing, its more of a short cut beef noodle soup dish that one can put together with relative ease after work. Especially on a cold day, this is so good. 

The trick to a quick dinner prep is to actually do most of the work while the broth is simmering. Literally can be done in 45 mins or less and way more satisfying than instant noodles.

You can use your own homemade beef stock, which is highly recommended. In a pinch, store bought works fine.

What you will need to serve 4

For the soup / broth

4 pieces of star anise

1 cinnamon quill

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

8 cloves garlic – crushed with the side of a knife

1 bunch Corriander Root – washed clean and crushed with the side of a knife – Reserve leaves for garnish.

4 shallots or half an onion – sliced

3 tablespoons dark soy sauce

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1 tablespoon oyster sauce

¼ cup light soy sauce

1.5 - 2 liters beef or veal stock. (Store bought is fine, just watch the salt content)

  

Garnish

Corriander Leaves (The roots are in the soup) - chopped

2 stalks Spring onion – sliced

Sesame oil

Back/white peeper
Chillies (optional)

The rest of the stuff

320 - 400 grams of noodles. (Egg noodles, ramen and thai stick noodles all work well)

1 cup bean sprouts (Optional)

1 cup spinach or other Asian greens (Bok Choy or Mustard greens are great as well)

400-600 grams Beef Tenderloin (Eye Fillet) – Thinly sliced.

Method

1. Cut the corriander at the stem, about 2 inches above to root. Wash clean, set aside the leaves and root separately. The leaves will be used when serving.
2. Drizzle a little light soy sauce over the beef and mix. Set aside.
3. In a large pot or stockpot, heat some cooking oil (about 2 tablespoons) over a medium heat. When oil is heated up, put in the Garlic, peppercorns, coriander rood, shallots, star anise and cinnamon. Fry until fragrant. About 5 mins. Browning on the garlic and shallots is good, just don’t burn them.
4. Add all the beef stock into the pot. Add the soy sauces and oyster sauce and fish sauce. Stir to mix well. Bring to a boil and then lower heat, allowing to simmer for about 20mins.
5. While the broth is simmering, cook your noodles according to packaging instructions and portion into serving bowls.
6. Blanch vegetables and portion into serving bowls.
7. Portion the beef over the noodles and vegetables in the serving bowls. (yes raw)
8. Turn off the heat in the stockpot. Pour or ladle half of the broth into each serving bowl through a strainer. The heat from the hot broth should cook the sliced beef just right. If you are not comfortable with rare beef, just blanch the beef in small bowl of the broth prior to serving.
9. Garnish and serve. 

Chicken Stock - White and Brown

Stocks are the secret weapon in many kitchens. They help add flavor and texture to dishes and sauces. You can purchase it from the store/supermarket or you can make your own. It is rather hard to come by a pack of pre-made stock no salt or msg (AKA: Yeast extract, yes some food labels use this term). Although I think some speciality stores do carry organic ones without salt or msg in them. I do sometimes use store bought stock out of convenience. Be careful using store bought stock as it can throw off the seasoning process (due to the salt/sodium content), especially if the dish requires a lot of reducing.

Home made stock is awesome and you can freeze it for months, taking it out only when you need to use it. The trick is freezing it in portions. You can use an ice-cub tray or small containers. Just remember to leave room for expansion of the liquid (about 20% space) or it'll break your container.

You will need to prepare what is referred to as Mirepoix (pronouced "meer pwah") in culinary lingo. I believe its a French Term meaning a rough cut of  Onions, Carrot and Celery. Its a base for countless soups, sauces and dishes.

( I adapted these stock recipes from chef Tom Colicchio's recipes)

Salmon Poached in Miso broth

Got this recipe when reading one of Gordon Ramsay's books.

Thought it was nice healthy looking dish, so I decided to give it a try.

Salmon poached in Miso broth

This dish is rather easy to prepare. Results were surprisingly good. The salmon remained moist, the broth was pleasantly savory and the pek chye stems gave the dish a nice crunch. The chilli added another dimension to the miso broth, which was quite good.

This is what used to serve 2.

1 Salmon fillet - about 400grams (preferably with skin on as it helps to hold the flesh together during cooking) and bones removed (if any still remain)
2-3 tbsp Miso paste
1 red chilli, de-seeded and thinly sliced. (cutting the chilli lengthwise is an easy way to de-seed it)
2 bunches of Sio Pek Chye or Bok Choy
3 stalks of spring onions - chopped
150gms of broccoli - chopped
1 small pack of enoki mushrooms - Roots off, washed and roughly separated

1 liter Vegetable or fish stock (Optional)
A few drops of sesame oil