Category: Noodles and Pasta

Asian Dishes, Noodles and Pasta

Mee Goreng (Fried Noodles, Malay-style)

7shasha7

Rather than continue to be fuming mad at 4 graduating class students who didn’t hand in their class work, posting one more of my culinary experiences will make me remember that there is no point in getting angry with students. Life goes on, and I hope after posting this, I’d have a restful sleep and hope to have a pleasant day tomorrow.

Fried noodles is a very simple all-in-one meal which a lot of Malay families whip up when guests come knocking on the door. It’s quick to cook and tasty. You can also find this in many Malay stalls, especially the school canteen. I mean, all Singapore school canteens will have a Malay stall selling mee goreng every single day. Sigh. But it always tastes better when you cook it yourself. This way, you can add all your favourite ingredients into the dish.

Fry chilli paste (blended onions, garlic and dried chillies) in oil till cooked. Add meat (chicken, sliced beef, prawns, squid). That day, I only used sliced beef courtesy of Mum.

 

When meat of choice is cooked, add fresh yellow noodles and chye sim.

 

Add tomatoes last. Before adding in the chye sim, season the noodles with tomato ketchup and a teeny weeny bit of soya sauce.

 

Eat with lots of kalamansi lime juice, freshly squeezed.

 

One may think it’s such a simple dish to make that it doesn’t even warrant a place here but this blog is also meant for my daughter when she grows up. And I’ve tried cooking this before and have failed rather miserably. Here are my tips for cooking the perfect mee goreng:

#1 DO NOT add salt. Yellow noodles are already salty so adding more salt will just make the dish, well, more salty. Furthermore, the ketchup added will add enough flavour to the noodles.

#2 If cooking for the first time, do not add eggs. Reason being that the noodles might dry up very fast since you are not experienced enough to work quickly with the eggs. When adding that one egg, the trick is to crack one in before adding in the noodles and let it cook first. Do not break the eggs into tiny particles. It can get too messy.

#3 If the noodle dish seem dry and you really want a ‘wetter’ dish, DO NOT in any circumstances add water. I have added water before thinking it will save my dish from being dry but all it did was make my noodles soggy and awful. 

#4 Do not add too much soya sauce. Too much and your noodles will turn blackish. 

Shasha's Mee Goreng

 

And while I was cooking this dish, I had completely forgotten about the baby. I knew he was somewhere in the kitchen but when I turned around after my dish was near done, I saw him…

More mess to clean up.

 

For how to cook fried noodles bee hoon style, click here.

Noodles and Pasta, Seafood

Prawn Linguini in Cream Sauce

7shasha7

Today I came back late and wanted to cook a simple dish. I had bought some thick cream and I already had a packet of cleaned, headless (?) prawns. 

I boiled linguini in a pasta pot filled with salted water. While that was cooking, I cooked the prawns in olive oil and garlic. The correct way is to use butter, but as you may guess already, I am rather conscious of my fat, salt and sugar intake. After the prawns were nicely browned, I sprinkled some paprika over and then added the 200g of cream and about half a cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese. Add salt. By now, the linguini would have been al dente, so pour in the pasta into the pan. Stir and cook till desired thickness/consistency.

A good criticism is that the pictures posted do not look appealing. I really am bad at taking photographs and so I would like to assure that even though the pictures may look unappealing, the dish themselves do taste good (or as depicted in my commentary in the post).

Noodles and Pasta

Penne Goreng – My comfort food

7shasha7

 

One of my favourite dishes is fried macaroni. Or pasta. With lots of minced beef. And it must be spicy – very spicy –  so that I can eat it with sour green olives. Mmmmm… This is how I usually make my pasta goreng dish, and I always cook this when I have nothing much at hand. That is why, in my kitchen pantry, I must always have pasta, tomato (diced or pureed or even in paste form) and my ‘$4.90 for 500g NTUC’ minced beef. 

Fry in olive oil about 6 heaped tablespoons of *chilli paste.

 

When the oil separates, add in the minced beef and cook till the beef is cooked. Add in a bottle of ready made pasta sauce or tomato paste/puree/Italian plum tomatoes

 

Add in boiled pasta of choice. My favourite is penne.

 

Make sure not to fry till the mixture is too dry. For the chilli paste, I always have a container ready so when I need to fry some noodles or make a sambal dish, I don’t have to waste time grinding all the ingredients to make the paste.

* Chilli Paste

1. about 20 or so dried chillies, soaked or boiled in hot water

2. 3-4 large Bombay onions

3. 4-5 garlic cloves

4. belacan 

Blend all the above ingredients into a fine paste.

Topped with green olives and fried onions and you’re all set to enjoy a plate in front of the telly. If you have never cooked this before, try this dish. It takes only fifteen minutes tops. 

Noodles and Pasta

Indonesian Instant Noodles

7shasha7

A few days ago, I had to take leave in order to take care of my ill daughter. What that meant was that I had to also be responsible for lunch. And dinner. 😦

I raided my cupboard and I saw packets and packets of instant noodles. Before I hired the help of a domestic worker, the usual type of instant noodles I’d consume at home was from Myojo – their Ramen Char Mee. My Indonesian domestic helper loves her instant noodles. Her favourite brand – 


I was a convert after tasting these noodles. For lunch, I decided to make myself a plate of noodles  my helper’s way. However, I didn’t have any green vegetables. 

There is something about fried chilli padi that just makes me salivate just thinking about it...Mmmmm

 

Crack an egg in

 

Stir in the noodles, add the seasoning and top it with the given 'kriuk-kriuk' - a mixture of fried onions and batter bits

 

For The Hubby, I made the soup version. When my helper first bought it, I thought it was normal chicken flavour noodles so once a couple of months ago, I innocently told her she could finish up the Maggi chicken flavoured noodles. She literally shuddered and refused, saying that it was a ‘childish dish’. I was puzzled. 

So that day, I used her noodles. The flavour – Chicken Soto. Apparently, there is a difference. It’s tangy and very flavourful. Possibly full of MSG too but who cares when one is pressed for time. The favoured brand for a soup based instant noodles – 

So if you want to try something different, go get these two brands. From Geylang. Yes, because that’s where they sell the ‘Made in Indonesia’ noodles. The Mie Sedap comes with the ‘kriuk-kriuk’ whereas those that come from Malaysia or elsewhere does not include this crispy condiment. 

Sedaaaaappp…. ;p