Since I don’t eat pork, I’ve never actually eaten it. I’m not exactly going in blind however; I grew up seeing what it looks like and how it smells etc.

Here’s my Twitch broadcast where I used chicken mince and also made the noodles from scratch >>

Hakka Noodle Mince

INGREDIENTS:

500g chicken mince

5 cloves garlic, minced

½ cup mushrooms, diced (preferably reconstituted dried Chinese mushrooms)

⅓ cup oil

2 Tbsps sesame oil

1 Tbsp chicken powder

½ Tbsp fish sauce

2 Tbsps oyster sauce

1 tsp white pepper

⅔ cup water

METHOD:

1. Heat oil in pan, then add garlic and saute until aromatic.
2. Add chicken mince and diced mushrooms; break up the chicken mince while stirring.
3. Add seasoning ingredients and mix well.
4. Add water and simmer until chicken is cooked through.
5. Mix with separately-blanched noodles and serve hot with sliced preserved green chillies & soya sauce.

Hakka Noodles

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups strong flour

1 tsp lye water

1 tsp salt

⅔ cup water

METHOD:

1. Combine ingredients in a dough mixer and knead well. You may need to transfer onto a flat surface and finish kneading if the dough doesn’t come together in the dough mixer.
2. Rest for 1 hour, covered.
3. Cut into small pieces then roll into thin sheets using pasta roller, starting with the largest setting and gradually working to the thinnest.
4. Cut into ⅔ cm wide strips and cook in salted boiling water until they float to the surface.
5. Remove with sieve and serve with the chicken mince.

The post How to Make Seremban Hakka Noodles (Non-Pork Version) first appeared on Jackie M..

Hakka Pan Mee

DOUGH

1kg strong (bread) flour
1/2 tsp lye water (optional)
2 cups water
1 Tbsp salt

METHOD:

1. Combine ingredients in a dough mixer and knead until smooth.
2. Cover and allow to rest while making the chicken mince.
3. Bring some water to boil in a separate saucepan.
4. Cut dough into small chunks and flatten by hand.
5. With pasta roller on widest setting roll each piece then place them apart on cutting board.
6. Change setting to desired thickness – I use the second thinnest – and roll again.
7. Cut pasta sheets into fettucine-wide strips and cook in boiling water.
8. They’re done once they float to the surface; remove with sieve and place in bowls.
9. Toss lightly with some sesame oil to prevent sticking.

CHICKEN MINCE

INGREDIENTS:

300g chicken mince
1 Tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp light soya sauce
1 tsp thick soya sauce (aka cooking caramel)
½ Tbsp chicken powder
Dash of pepper
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsps oil
½ cup water
1 tsp tapioca starch + 2 tsps water

METHOD:

1. Heat oil in saucepan, then add garlic and lightly saute.
2. Add chicken mince and break up any clumps.
3. Add oyster sauce, soya sauce, cooking caramel and chicken powder.
4. Mix well and cook until chicken is done. Add water and bring to a simmer.
5. Add tapioca starch + water mixture to thicken.
6. Remove from heat and spoon over noodles.

DRIED SHRIMP SAMBAL

INGREDIENTS:

1 onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup chilli flakes
¼ cup dried shrimp, soaked in warm water, drained and minced
½ tsp chicken powder (optional)
½ tsp sugar
1 tsp fish sauce or light soya sauce
4 Tbsps oil

METHOD:

1. Combine onion, garlic, chilli flakes and dried shrimp in saucepan. Saute lightly until most of the moisture has evaporated.
2. Add oil and fry until onion is browned and oil separates. Add chicken powder, sugar and fish sauce. Adjust seasoning before removing from heat.
3. Allow to cool, then store in jar, refrigerated, for up to 4 weeks. Serve with Hakka Pan Mee noodles.

IKAN BILIS (DRIED ANCHOVY) BROTH

INGREDIENTS:

1 ½ cup ikan bilis, rinsed
1L water
1 Tbsp chicken powder
½ tsp pepper
3 cloves garlic, lightly crushed
2 Tbsps oil
1 cup Chinese greens (eg. choy sum) – optional

METHOD:

1. In this broadcast I fried the ikan bilis in the Optimum HealthyFry air fryer at 180°C for about 10 minutes after tossing it in a small amount of oil.
2. Alternatively you can deep-fry it until crispy – about 2-3 minutes.
3. Set aside ½ cup of ikan bilis as topping for the noodles.
4. Heat oil and fry garlic until fragrant.
5. Add remaining ikan bilis, water, chicken powder and pepper and simmer for 20 minutes.
6. Add Chinese greens if using and cook for no more than 5 seconds.
7. Remove and serve soup as a side to go with the Hakka noodles.

How To Cook Butter Prawns

INGREDIENTS:

8 large prawns, peeled & deveined, heads and tails intact
2 Tbsps butter
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 cup evaporated milk
2 stalks curry leaves
1 tsp chicken powder
1 tsp sugar
1 bird’s eye chilli, sliced (optional)
Dash of pepper

METHOD:

1. Heat butter in saucepan, then add garlic and saute until lightly browned.
2. Add prawns and fry for about 30 seconds, then add all other ingredients.
3. Simmer until prawns are cooked through and the sauce has thickened.
4. Add water and/or evaporated if it dries out too quickly.
5. Adjust seasoning, remove from heat and serve.

Visit www.prestigehomeappliances.com.au for more information about the Optimum HealthyFry used in this broadcast

The post How to Make Chilli Pan Mee and Butter Prawns first appeared on Jackie M..

At 15, I’d had a personality transplant; from a mild, soft-spoken and obedient kid, I’d turned into a  take-no-prisoners Hakka warrior overnight.

I was ready to pick a fight with anyone, anywhere, and thanks to spending most of my time working at the Odeon, it generally meant the hodge-podge group of cinema ushers recruited, I was sure, based on their talent to piss me off.

I’d had an uneasy relationship with the cinema staff almost from Day One.  I remember early on at the ripe old age of eight, taking an instant dislike to one of the guys there – he seemed a bit too friendly and it gave me bad vibes.

One day I spotted some graffiti on one of the posters on the outside wall next to our canteen – it looked like something one of the other ushers had scribbled for a laugh. It mentioned a name, which I forget, but let’s say – Bob – and the message said –

‘Bob is sexy’.

I was disgusted and horrified at the same time – at that young age, having only started to learn English at school, I was convinced it wasn’t a good thing.  After all, ‘sexy’ came from the word ‘sex’ – and ‘sex’ was ‘bad’ – therefore, whoever ‘Bob’ was, must be some sort of sexual deviant.

So I asked one of the ushers – ‘Who’s this Bob? Is it him?’, pointing at bad-vibes boy.  He laughed and said yes.

That did it for me.  It confirmed all my suspicions about ‘Bob’.  I made it a point to be blunt and rude to him, and made sure he couldn’t get anywhere near me.

I even took pains to explain it to my younger sister and warn her about him.  It wasn’t until years later that I found out he wasn’t ‘Bob’ at all – it was actually the guy I’d asked the question to – so, not only had I maligned someone due to my lack of English comprehension, I’d done it to the wrong person.

I wonder if he ever puzzled over why I was so hostile towards him all those years.

One of the veteran staff there was nicknamed ‘Bengali’ by everyone – I never knew why – he was Chinese and bald and didn’t have any Indian blood in him as far as I could tell.  He even lived onsite, in a little storeroom upstairs plastered with old movie posters.

He was fond of me to the point of obsession, for some inexplicable reason.  Every time he saw me, he would sing out my name loudly – ‘Nyok! Nyoooook! Ah Nyooook’ – and just keep doing so all hours of the day.  I was pretty sure he was a bit crazy.

He would sit on the 6-inch ledge in front of our canteen during his breaks, enjoying his cigarettes . Every now and then, he would sneak me a movie poster pulled down from the billboards.

This was highly illegal, since they were meant to be shipped back to the film distributors at the end of the movie run.  I’ve often wondered what happened to him after we moved to Australia.

Back to Mr. forgot-to-say-please for his change, he was at the top of my list of ushers I despised.  I’d had a few verbal altercations with him in the past.  This time though, I felt he’d gone too far.

Thanks, I guess, to my family’s survival instinct to avoid having our canteen lease terminated (a constant implied threat by what I saw as the tyrannical management) I never witnessed anyone else confront him about his behaviour.  I had no such compunction about doing so.

‘Mahu tukar (Want change)?’  Here’s your bloody change, I thought – and I flung the coins hard on the stainless steel counter.  As predicted, they went flying everywhere – some hitting him on the face and others bouncing on to the floor.  He totally lost it.

He tried to grab me over the counter, and failing that, dashed around it to enter our canteen, procuring a sharp knife on his way (on top of candy and drinks, we used to sell cut fruit, hence the presence of knives).  He pinned me against the wall and held the knife to my neck, completely out of control.

I groped around for something to fight back with, but the only thing within reach was a sad little bottle opener suspended on a string.  I clutched it and held it against his neck in return – resulting in a knife vs bottle opener standoff, if you can picture it.

Everyone was freaking out (except me – I was all in despite my obviously inferior weapon).

It ended when he got dragged away by some of the bystanders.

Invariably, the General Manager heard about the commotion and summoned my poor stepmom into his office for what I presumed would be a dressing down plus more threats about kicking us out.

Apparently all he told her was to let us know not to fight with his staff.

Or maybe that’s just what my stepmom told me in case I decided to go all Hakka warrior on the GM as well.

This particular usher never bothered me again after that incident.

The post Bob is Sexy first appeared on Jackie M..

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As featured in my Hangout On Air – Noodles: Introduction

First off, and I’m sure I’ve mentioned this in the early days with this blog – I write my recipes and post them on the fly; there’s no “massaging” involved, so they’re invariably going to be a bit rough.  Also, I cook based on the principle of “agak-agak” (Malay for “guesstimate”), so do adjust seasonings and other ingredients to taste and texture.  (ps. my business manager JJ sometimes develops/rewrites recipes for me – you’ll know them from their polished presentation). This is a dish I grew up watching my Dad make; it was, for want of a better expression, a poor man’s meal, I guess.

Ingredients – 

For noodle dough –

1kg plain flour

2 cups water

1 egg

pinch of salt

For soup – 

1 cup ikan bilis, rinsed & patted dry

6 cloves garlic, smashed

2L water

2 Tbsp chicken stock granules

Pinch of pepper

1/4 cup oil (I use Carotino)

To serve – 

Some Chinese greens, eg. Choy Sum

Fried shallots

Chilli & garlic relish

Crispy fried ikan bilis

To make Dough – 

1. Combine all ingredients in a dough mixer with dough hook attachment; mix on low-med speed until a smooth, non-tacky dough is formed. Cover and set aside to rest for 30 minutes.

2. Cut dough into small oblong chunks about the size of cocktail sausages.

3.  Set pasta machine to widest setting for initial roll of dough pieces.

4. Change setting to smallest or to personal preference and roll through the dough again. Drench with flour to help with handling if required.

5. Bring water to boil in a deep saucepan. Tear noodle strips into manageable but longish pieces and cook for about a minute or until they float to the surface. Remove with slotted spoon and transfer into bowls.

6. Blanch vegies in water used to cook noodles for no more than 10 seconds or so; remove and transfer to noodle bowls.

To Make Soup –

1. Heat up oil in saucepan.  Add garlic and ikan bilis (dried anchovies) and fry until lightly crisp.

2. Add 2L water and all other seasoning ingredients. Bring to a boil, then allow to simmer for 30 minutes.

3. Serve noodles with strained soup and top with garnishings.

Garnishings – 

1. Separately soak, pat dry, then deep-fry some ikan bilis until crispy. Remove and allow to cool, then store in airtight container.

2. To make garlic chilli, use 1:1 ratio of large red chillies (deseeded and cut into chunks) to bird’s eye chillies. Combine in food processor, add a healthy amount of garlic and some salt, top up with water, then process until smooth. This will keep in fridge for about a week or in freezer for months.

3. To make fried shallots/onions, use a vegetable slicer to cut them thinly and evenly.  Heat up at least 2 cups oil, then fry in SMALL batches until light brown (a couple of shades BEFORE the final outcome as they’ll continue to cook after they’re taken out). Remove with slotted spoon and transfer onto tray lined with paper towels.  Store in airtight container.

The post How to Make Hakka Pan Mee first appeared on Jackie M..