BEEF JAPCHAE

I Love Noodle! Who doesn't? 

Noodle is next to our staple food rice. Previously, excess carbo is a non-issue nutritional value, in fact noodle is paired with rice! But this team was broken up recently when people become not just sugar conscious but carbo panic too. This led to a choice of either, or... you take rice or noodle but not both of them. Oh well, sometimes  i tend to live in that past where i still love the good old "pancit canton" with a bowl of rice. 😉

Various culture have different variations of the same dish we used to cook in our very own kitchens and "stir-fry noodle" is one of these dishes. Recently  my niece sent me a photo of a stir-fry noodle, and i drooled😆. It turned out, this was made of sweet potato. A kind of noodle that raised my eyebrows. It's unusual ingredient for a noodle until i saw cassava noodle and how it was made. Shocking it may seem, but i just found out that the "usual" glass noodle which i always buy is made from peas or mung bean. Interesting!

Inspired by my niece photo, I decided to try Japchae, a popular Korean sweet and savoury stir fried noodle with meat and vegetables. Not just any other noodle but sweet potato glass noodle. Here it is, sharing my piece.

BEEF JAPCHAE

Ingredients: 

250 g sweet potato noodle, soaked in water to soften
(or soften in boiling water for 5 mins)

Taiwanese Cabbage or spinach

Poivron (Bellpepper)

Carrots

Chicharo (Snow peas)

Mushroom (Shitake or Swiss Brown)

1 head garlic

1 medium onion

EVOO

2 c Water

2 tbsp Oyster Sauce

2 tbsp LKK Soya Sauce

¼ c Bulgogi marinade

Black bell pepper.

Add oyster and soya sauces according to preference. 

Garnishing:

Egg Omelette, julliene

Sesame seeds

Spring onion

Marinade:

About 400 g tender chuck

3 tbsp Bulgogi Barbecue marinate

>>> mix to marinate about 30 minutes. When ready, dust beef with cornstarch and pan fry in batches, then set aside.

Method:

Sauté garlic and onion.

Add pan fried beef then pour water, oyster sauce, bulgogi and soya sauce and bring to a boil.

Add noodles and simmer until noodle is soft. (You can add water if needed)

When noodle is soft, adjust taste to preference.

Then add peas, mushroom, carrots and bell pepper.

Add cabbage. When vegetables are cooked , remove from heat and transfer japchae to a serving plate.

Garnish with spring onion, egg and sesame seeds.

Serve and enjoy!

MUSHROOM MEE SUA

I haven't been to Japan, but I've seen Taiwan and bedazzled by the beauty of Taipei, probably because of comparison from where I came from.

I'm amazed how Taiwan particularly in Taipei managed to present their highest standard of food packaging. It was the first time I ate McDonald Fried Chicken in a sealed parchment paper, as I tear it open,  it is smoking hot! , literally smoking. The milk tea i loved from 7-Eleven comes in a small carton with paper straw attached to it. The delicious pineapple cakes individually wrapped and packed elegantly in boxes which I have mistaken as a jewelry box, same with their variety of chocolates.

Every time, always, when i enter the mall or a shop, the call of Huānyíng! Huānyíng! 欢迎  is in the air followed by a smiling face in front of you. So in my entire stay, it was never a window shopping but a shopping impulse caused by Huānyíng! 😆

Food? This, i never did miss! I had their famous Ting Kua Kua (TKK) Fried Chicken  just outside SOGO Mall, lucky,  I befriended the cook and gave me extra pieces whenever i grab a pack. Off we went to Shi Lin, the famous and the largest night market in Taipei District where dozens and dozens of street food lined up for a grab. Snack bites like grilled squid, huge fried crispy chicken, the smell of stinky tofu and sausages on the bones are amongst which caught my palate. It's weird taste--more of an authentic Chinese spices in it which i was so ignorant at that time. BUT, they are actually, interestingly aromatic and distinctively flavourful, delicious! An amazing signature taste of Taipei one wouldn't miss.

Another street food to hail while in Taipei is the famous OYSTER MEE SUA. Whenever i had this, i set aside the oysters {sorry not a fan of oysters}. Little did i know one can order mee sua without oysters , ha! ha! ha! 

Today, I'll venture on taiwan mee sua, but with chicken and mushrooms, instead, and I must admit, without the mushrooms, the texture and the taste is almost Shi Lin!!!

CHICKEN MUSHROOM MEE SUA

Shi Lin Market Inspired, Taiwan street food

¼ part chicken breast, boiled, shredded and set aside including the boiled water

2 tbsp EVOO   

1 head garlic

I medium onions

1 punnet mushroom

10 c water

1 ½ knorr chicken cube (or you can use chicken broth)

Salt and pepper

2 tbsp oyster sauce

2 tsbp LKK Superior Light Soy Sauce

1 tbsp dark soya sauce

1 tbsp black vinegar

About 200g mee sua (flour vermicelli noodles)

Spring onions

Coriander (optional)

1 tbsp cornstarch mix with 1 tbsp water to thicken the sauce

Black Vinegar to drizzle before eating

Boil Chicken breast. Save the broth and shred the chicken, set aside.

Pour EVOO in a pot.

Sauté garlic  and onion , then add mushrooms.

Remove from the pot then place it in a blender and blend. Then return back to the pot.

Add the saved broth from chicken and add additional to make 10 c of water.

Drop knorr cubes and mix.

Mix sauces in a bowl and add in the broth.

Boil then add mee sua.

Simmer til noodle is cooked.

Add dissolved cornstarch and mix.

Serve hot with shredded chicken, chopped spring onions and coriander and drizzle some black vinegar.

FRIED PRAWNS

When travelling, one thing you would make sure you haven't missed out is food. Apart from visiting the gorgeous landmarks and capturing the instagramable views, tasting the food and experiencing the culture of the people is a must do!

We venture to Thailand for historical sites and wandering about its magnificent temples which dated back as early as 16th Century are amazing.  Outside its sacred walls are sights that snaps you out of your historical vision--those colourful display of fruits and the aroma of food leads you towards a nook of more hidden treasures... "Foods for the Soul" 😊. I will leave you to do your homework on the bests of Thailand food as i share you one of its.

"Kung (Goong) Sarong" , Kung (Goong) means prawn or shrimp and Sarong means to wrap around of something, is a Thai dish made of deep fried prawn wrapped in egg noodles or rice vermicelli.  This is one of those many entrée you can delight yourself while exploring Thailand and it's easy to make too.

Here's how--

FRIED PRAWNS

Ingredients:

A dozen XL Prawns

Salt

Pepper

Marinate for at least 30 minutes

100g rice vermicelli

Oil for frying


Soak rice vermicelli  noodle in tap water until soft.  Then use it to wrap the shrimps.

Then deep fry prawns in oil.

Serve fried prawns with plum sauce.

Plum Sauce:

2 tbsp plum sauce

1 tbsp Tomato ketchup

1 tsp LKK superior light sauce

Dash of roasted seaame seeds

Heat sauce ingredients above in a pan and ready to use.
Pour in a dipping platter and add sesame seeds.

Enjoy!

Black Pepper Spaghetti

Pasta is one of the traditions in many gatherings and spaghetti is not an exception, usually served on a hot red meat sauce. Today, getting tired of eating red spaghetti, in fact just the thought of it spoils my appetite, I thought of sparing myself from this convention and come up with something new on our table --black and peppery.

BLACK PEPPER BEEF SPAGHETTI

125 g cooked Spaghetti
1/4 g beef sirloin, thinly sliced
2 cups of sliced broccoli
2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1/2 tsp finely ground Black pepper
1 tbsp superior light sauce (Lee Kum Kee) or any light sauce you have =) or more as to your preference
3 tbsp oyster sauce or more as to your preference
3 tbsp or more water
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) or any olive oil or just the regular oil you have =)
4 big cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 big onion bulb

Note: You may add more or less of the sauces and add salt if you like. Otherwise the above mentioned ingredients are just enough.

In case you have not cook the spaghetti yet here it is:

Cook spaghetti in hot water with salt.
Let it boil for 8 minutes or until al dente.
Drain and drizzle with olive oil. This will prevent the pasta from sticking together and it will hold its shiny al dente texture.


Black pepper sauce:

Place pan over a medium heat.
When ready, pour EVOO.
Saute garlic and onions, add beef, finely and coarsely ground black pepper and stir.
Add light sauce, oyster sauce and water. Let it stand for a minute or so.
Add brocolli then the pasta.
Mix until all the pasta is covered with sauce.
Serve hot.

Other variety:  Add 2 tsp roasted sesame seeds for garnishing and 3 tsp sesame oil to go with the sauce.

Bon Appetit! =)

Almondigas

    I can't imagine that this recipe ever existed long enough not knowing that it was called as such. Why I am saying this, because this used to be one of our family  menu (usually misua soup, minus the almondigas of course, need not to elaborate on that) as our day to day survival ;-).   It has been our everyday food but on other days our Mamang has to invent ways to vary it : misua with meatballs, shredded chicken, minced pork with patola or drop egg or spring onions, which were by the way very often occasions as in --"once in a blue moon,"  but on most days, this dish is originally with sardines. Yes! Youngstown sardines (green colour) the one's so popular in its time...there you go, now I revealed one of our family's hidden treasures =D, ssshhhhh, I hope my siblings might not read this post =D.

    Indeed, life is very tough during those times that we need to be contented on what is on our dining table.  Though, you call it so "poor--ish", but we call it a blessing--for we have food for the day! Well, that's how life is, we would never be here now if not for those blessings!... I am starting to be nostalgic so before I may reveal more of our "hidden treasures =) here is the soup of the day...

Pansit Habhab

Craving for pansit, I immediately run to NTUC and look for habhab-- look-a-like noodle and I may say...well, this will do--it's a  dry egg noodle cooked directly on a simmering sauce. 

Pansit habhab is a popular saucy noodle dish from Lucban, Quezon which is traditionally serve on banana leaves, Yes! you read me right.  Your plate is the banana leaves-- no fork, no spoon to go with it.  And  habhab? -- is the manner of devouring the noodle out of banana leaves on your hand. You get the picture? =) Pretty cool! But tonight we had it on banana leaf on the plate using spork (but ....ssshhhh....I taught Paige how to eat it the Lucban way).