I am a great believer in sharing recipes because otherwise I wouldn’t have started this blog. 

How many times have we heard someone (or even ourselves) talking about a certain dish that his/her grandmother or aunt or mom used to cook and how good that tasted, and that it is now all but impossible to find something that even comes close to tasting like that particular dish?

My late maternal grandmother cooked a mean pot of pig stomach soup. She passed away when I was about 11 – that was about 30 years ago – yet till today, I can still recall how that soup tasted. I would give an arm and a leg to have a bowl of that soup again. But the recipe is lost because it was simply never passed on.

When Karen approached me to ask if I would like to share a dish on My Singapore Food, a food revolution movement to save precious heritage recipes that we have grown up with, I was more than happy to say yes. 

Here (to start), 50 home cooks and chefs have come together to each share a recipe that has been passed down in their families. By doing this, these recipes are preserved for the generations to come. 

As My Singapore Food is a non-profit organisation, funds are always needed to produce the videos and other work that go into producing the site. It would be awesome if you can help out by making a donation in support of this movement by clicking on this link.

The recipe I am sharing today has a lovely little story behind it. Called Hokkien “Chiu Gang Mee” (hand made yellow noodles), this was a dish that my maternal grandfather used to cook. It is a really special dish because I have never been able to find it on the menus of any restaurants (and believe me, I have looked). A little like the KL Hokkien mee, the noodles are braised in dark soy sauce. 

As with all my recipes, I will share the step-by-step instructions on how to cook this dish in this post but a video of (ahem) me cooking this dish can be see on this link. 😀

Here are the instructions on how to cook this dish.

Season the sliced pork with light soy sauce, oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, sesame oil and white pepper. Cover the bowl with cling film and let this marinate in the fridge for at least 4 hours, preferably over night.

Take the pork out of the fridge 30 minutes before cooking so that it comes to room temperature. Use some kitchen towels to soak up the extra marinade. Add sweet potato flour to coat the pork. The pork must be very dry so adjust the amount of sweet potato flour added until you right the right consistency.

Drop the pork, one slice a time, into hot oil. Deep fry until cooked through and crispy. You may have to cook the pork in batches if you are cooking quite a bit.

Drain the pork on kitchen towels and set aside.

In a hot wok. saute shallots and garlic until soft and fragrant, about a minute. 

Add the cai xin stems and stir for a minute.

Add the noodles. 

Drizzle dark soy sauce and add the water. Stir to mix. 

Add the cai xin leaves and return the pork to the wok.

Cover the wok and allow the noodles to braise for about 5 minutes, or until the liquid has almost completely evaporated. Stir occasionally.

Add chicken powder (if using) and white pepper. Give everything a good stir and turn the heat off.

To serve, sprinkle on fried shallots and fried lardon (if using).

This is a really delicious dish, and it is somewhat different from the other noodle dishes you can find. While braising noodles in a dark soy sauce is a pretty common method of cooking in Hokkien cuisine, the pork in this dish have been coated with sweet potato and fried and when they are subsequently braised, they turn really smooth and silky.

I hope that by sharing this recipe, my grandfather’s recipe will be preserved and more people will get to know a dish from a recipe that would otherwise cease to exist when I, too, pass on.

Hokkien Chiu Kang Mee

2015-08-14 06:07:41

Serves 4

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Ingredients

1. 500g Hokkien flat yellow noodles
2. 300g lean pork, thinly sliced
3. 1 packet cai xin, cut and wash (separate the stems from leaves)
4. 200g sweet potato flour (may need more as required)
5. 4-5 shallots, thinly sliced
6. 4 cloves garlic, minced
7. 3-4 tablespoons dark soy sauce
8. 1 tablespoon chicken powder (optional)
9. 1-2 teaspoons light soy sauce (if not using chicken powder)
10. 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
11. 2-3 cups water
12. Lard/Vegetable oil

Marinade for the pork

1. 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
2. 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
3. 1/2 tablespoon dark soy sauce
4. 1 teaspoon sesame oil
5. 1/2 teaspoon white pepper

Instructions

1. Season the sliced pork with light soy sauce, oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, sesame oil and white pepper. Cover the bowl with cling film and let this marinate in the fridge for at least 4 hours, preferably over night.
2. Take the pork out of the fridge 30 minutes before cooking so that it comes to room temperature. Use some kitchen towels to soak up the extra marinade. Add sweet potato flour to coat the pork. The pork must be very dry so adjust the amount of sweet potato flour added until you right the right consistency.
3. Drop the pork, one slice a time, into hot oil. Deep fry until cooked through and crispy. You may have to cook the pork in batches.
4. Drain the pork on kitchen towels and set aside.
5. In a hot wok. saute shallots and garlic until soft and fragrant, about a minute.
6. Add the cai xin stems and stir for a minute.
7. Add the noodles.
8. Drizzle dark soy sauce and add the water. Stir to mix.
9. Add the cai xin leaves and return the pork to the wok.
10. Cover the wok and allow the noodles to braise for about 5 minutes, or until the liquid has almost completely evaporated. Stir occasionally.
11. Add chicken powder (if using) and white pepper. Give everything a good stir and turn the heat off.
12. To serve, sprinkle on fried shallots and fried lardon (if using).

The Domestic Goddess Wannabe https://thedomesticgoddesswannabe.com/