Pardon the less than satisfactory image quality in this post as the pictures were taken with my mobile phone. I have no plans to blog about this dish, but since it turned out really good, I thought I should capture my moment of glory and leave a trace in this humble blog ;)
During this one week school holidays, I decided to try my hands at preparing this tze-char style or Chinese style Mee Goreng as it is one of my children's favourite. Although I can prepare stir fried bee hoon (rice vermicelli) with ease, I have big problems when it comes to stir frying noodles...be it egg noodles or those thick yellow noodles. My stir fried noodles usually end up tasting very dry and over cooked.
Thanks to the video from makansutra, I am able to pin down the mistake I made when I cooked yellow noodles. The trick is to add splashes of stock or water while tossing and stir frying the noodles. In the past, I would stir fry the ingredients first then add the noodles followed by lots of water to prevent the noodles from getting dry. Allowing the noodles to 'boil' in the liquid and also the longer cooking time for the liquid to dry up could probably be the reasons why the noodles became too soft and over cooked.
This is the first time I could prepare a nice plate of mee goreng which is not dry and tastes so delicious. The noodles is not too soft and doesn't clump or stick together in lumps. I have included the recipe below for my own reference. If you feel like giving this a try do note that it may not suit everyone's taste buds, do adjust the ingredients especially the seasoning sauce according to individual preference.
Chinese style Mee Goreng
Ingredients:
(serves 3~4)
300g prawns
1 small yellow onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
6~8 leaves of cabbage, chopped
300g yellow noodles
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups bean sprouts
1 big fish cake, sliced
1 tomato, cut into wedges
1 cup prawn stock or water
2 tablespoons cooking oil
a few calamansi lime for garnish
seasoning sauce:
5 tablespoons tomato ketchup sauce
2 teaspoons sambal chili or chili sauce (I used Huy Fong brand Sambal Oelek )
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon light soya sauce
1 teaspoon dark soya sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
Method:
- Remove heads, shells and devein the prawns. Rinse and set aside.
- Rinse the prawn heads and shells. Place in a saucepan and add enough water to just cover the shells. Bring to a boil and leave to simmer for about 15 mins. Strain and reserve 1 cup of the stock, set aside.
- Mix all ingredients of the seasoning sauce in a bowl, set aside.
- In a wok on medium-high heat, sauté the sliced onions and chopped garlic with 1 tablespoon of oil till fragrant. Add the cabbage and stir fry till softened. Dish up and set aside.
- Add 1 tablespoon of oil in the wok and add in the noodles. Toss and stir, then add a few tablespoons of the prawn stocks at a time to the noodles and continue to toss and stir over medium-high heat. (Note: I used about 1/2 cup of the stock)
- Push noodles to the side of the wok and add the eggs, scramble the eggs and toss with the noodles.
- Add in the bean sprouts, toss well.
- Add in the the cooked cabbage, fish cake slices, prawns and tomato wedges.
- Add the seasoning sauce, stir fry till the prawns are cooked through. Add more stock, a few tablespoons at a time, if the noodles dry up.
- Dish up and garnish with lime or calamansi.