Noodles: Hor Fun Wet and Dry

My mum told me that she was going to cook Wat Tan Hor 滑蛋河 (Hor Fun swimming in smooth egg gravy) for dinner that day and she bought 2 packets of thick rice noodles. Suddenly an idea struck me!

Jess thinking to herself: "AHA! Maybe I can do something with one of the packets of rice noodles. Since I have been craving for **Swa Garden's fried Chye Poh Kway Teow, I shall try to recreate my version of that. "

So I went ahead to fry my version of the Chye Poh Kway Teow without any experience in frying Kway Teow and some advice from mum here and there.

End result----> It definitely didn't look any bit similar to the Swa Garden's version except that I added Chye Poh (Preserved radish) and I fried it over high heat to make it dry. The colour was totally different as I added dark soya sauce and I didn't have kailan to bring out the flavour of the dish. I also added alot of other ingredients as you see later.

So it was a marriage between Swa Garden's Chye Poh Kway Teow and Dry Hor Fun and Char Kway Teow. Although 3 is a crowd, my version didn't taste as disastrous as I thought it would be. It actually tasted not bad!

But dad, upon hearing me say that I was recreating Swa Garden's Chai Poh Kway Teow, had an impression that my fried hor fun will taste like Swa Garden's. So his first remark was "都不象!" （It didn't even taste the same!）ZZZzzz...

**Swa Garden is a Teochew Restaurant at MacPherson Rd. I'll try to give a review on it soon! Can't wait to eat their Chye Poh Kway Teow

Wat Tan Hor 滑蛋河 (Hor Fun swimming in smooth egg gravy)

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Ingredients:
1 packet thick rice noodles
Cooking oil
Light and dark soya sauce
Fish sauce (Optional)
Garlic, minced
Prawns
Pork slices (Mum didn't added pork)
Water (Depending on how much gravy you want)
Cornstarch mixed with a little water (For thickening the gravy)
2 Eggs, beaten
Bean sprouts
Fish cake, pan fried and sliced
Spring onions, chopped as per below

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Method:

Hor Fun
1) Heat wok at high heat and add cooking oil.
2) When oil is heated up, add rice noodles to fry.
3) Add light soya sauce (to taste) and dark soya sauce (for the colour) to the rice noodles. (We realised that the hor fun tastes better with more dark sauce)
4) Stir fry to mix the sauce and let the rice noodles sit for a while before flipping them. (Do the sitting and flipping a few times. It enhances the taste.)
5) Dish up the rice noodles and set aside.

Egg gravy and other ingredients
1) Fry the garlic till fragrant (Just a little brown)
2) Add prawns and pork immediately to stir fry.
3) Pour approximately a cup of water into the wok for the gravy. (Depending on how much gravy you prefer)
4) Add fish sauce (Alternatively, light soya sauce) to taste and some dark soya sauce if you like some colour in your gravy.
5) Pour some cornstarch water in to thicken the gravy.
6) Add beaten eggs slowly as you stir gently.
7) Finally, add hor fun first, then the bean sprouts and spring onions. Stir a little and you can serve now.

Jess' version of Fried Chai Poh Hor Fun

Ingredients:
Cooking oil
Garlic, minced
4 tbsp Chye Poh (soaked in water for a while to remove saltiness then empty the water)
Spring onions, chopped
1 packet thick rice noodles
Light and dark soya sauce
Bean sprouts
1 Egg, beaten (Optional)
Prawns, stir fried with garlic beforehand
Fish cake, pan fried and sliced

Method:
1) Heat wok at high heat and add cooking oil.
2) When oil is heated up, add chye poh and fry for ard 2 minutes till colour turns paler and it looks crisp.
3) Add garlic and spring onions to the chye poh and fry till fragrant. (Just a little brown)
4) Add rice noodles to the garlic and chye poh to stir fry for a minute.
5) Add light soya sauce (to taste) and dark soya sauce (for the colour) to the rice noodles. (Add more dark sauce)
6) Stir fry to mix the sauce and let the rice noodles sit for a while before flipping them. (Do the sitting and flipping a few times. It enhances the taste and makes it drier.)
7) Next, add bean sprouts and stir fry for a minute.
8)Then add beaten eggs over the rice noodles. Let it sit for a while before frying.
9) Lastly, add the cooked prawns and fish cake. Stir them around a little.
10) Serve.

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鸳鸯河
Consists of wet hor fun and dry hor fun.
Proudly brought to you by Mum and I.

Interruption to my foodblog: Wedding Bells are ringing, Ang Pao box for SALE!

Wedding bells are indeed ringing soon. But it is not my turn to say "I do.." yet. Hehe..I will be attending my sister's customary dinner in October and here I have a hand-made Ang Pao box for her.

Actually I'm taking this chance to do some advertising too. This is my 3rd attempt and I am pretty pleased with the outcome. Do leave a message for me if you are interested in my ang pao boxes. Prices are dependent on materials used. =)

What I started with...

My finished product...

Seafood: Bo Hur Hei Ma Ho (But I have both.. hehe)

Bo Hur Hei Ma Ho (Loosely translated from Hokkien as: If there's no fish, prawns will do as well)

I've recently cook up this seafood dish with Pearl and it took us eons to just think of what to cook for dinner. It was such a headache and we just walked up and down the aisles of NTUC trying to find what to buy.

Finally, we settled for salmon and prawns. It was a good choice but the cleaning of the prawns was torturous. My dear friend who hates the small, wriggly legs of the prawns, left the important task of trimming to me. And poor me, not having lunch earlier, felt nauseous after being exposed to the smell of the uncooked prawns for a prolong period of time. (YUCKS) But all these were worth it. We had a wonderfully delicious and (overly) filling meal! (Death by the salad!!).

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Surf N Turf (Serves 2)

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Pan Fried Salmon
Ingredients:
1 portion of salmon fillet cut into half (We got it at around $7 at NTUC)
Salt
Black pepper and black pepper corns
Olive oil

Method:
1) Sprinkle salt, generous amount of black pepper and some black pepper corn over both sides of salmon. Spread evenly.
2) Leave in the fridge for 15 - 30 mins.
3) Heat a frying pan with olive oil. Place salmon pieces on the pan and fry each side for 2-3mins till brown. You may leave the middle part a little raw for better texture.
4) Squeeze a little lime for better taste when digging in.

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Oven Baked Mayo Prawns II

Ingredients:

12 prawns (Cut a slit at the top of the prawns and de-vein it)

Mayonnaise
Tomato ketchup
Chilli sauce
Chopped parsley (Good to have)
Black pepper

Lime

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Method (Done in an almost similar way as the mayo prawns in earlier posts):

1) Mix mayonnaise, tomato ketchup, chilli sauce, black pepper together. Add a squeeze of lime.
2) Preheat oven to 220°C.
3) Lightly oil the tray and line the prawns with the slits up on the tray.

4) Use a teaspoon to pour the sauce onto the slits of the prawns. Bake until cooked.

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Sauteed mushrooms

Ingredients:
1 packet of brown button mushrooms, sliced into thick pieces
1 tablespoon of butter

Salt
Pepper

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Method:

1) Melt butter in a frying pan.

2) Add mushrooms. Fry for a minute or two.
3) Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste. Serve.

What we think...

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The natural taste of salmon was enhanced by a touch of salt and black pepper. It had just the right amount of firmness on the outside and I left the inside slightly raw. I think that this is the best way to eat salmon as I hate overcooked salmon!

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The brown button mushrooms that were sauteed by Pearl were very tasty and goes well with everything, but it will be better if she can hold back on the salt a little. (I know you have a 'salty' tooth, Pearl)

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As for the prawns, they were slightly overdone but the taste was not affected -- Still yummy

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The most important side dish --- Salad! Lightly dressed with mayonnaise (Not the healthiest choice but there weren't any other dressings at Pearl's house), black pepper and lots of lime juice for the tangy effect.

We then topped with raisins for added sweetness and toasted sunflower seeds for extra crunch!