Tag Archives: Singapore food

Char Kway Teow: Another Experiment in Hawker Fare

18 Sunday Aug 2013

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Home-cooked Char Kway Teow

Home-cooked Char Kway Teow

SingTel recently brought into town Chef Gordon Ramsay to pit his culinary skill against three of our local hawkers. The SingTel Hawker Challenge, as it was named, was clearly a publicity exercise to boost the image of local hawkers and our street food in general.  Three hawker dishes and the “hawker heroes” behind them were selected through a public vote.  They included Chicken Rice, Laksa and Chilli Crab.

I was surprised that Char Kway Teow did not make it to the list. Char Kway Teow is a dish of flat rice noodle wok-fried over high heat in sweet dark sauce, with other ingredients including beansprouts, eggs, prawn, Chinese sausage, fish cake and cockles. I realise that various versions of fried rice noodle are available in other parts of Asia (such as paad thai from Thailand or the Malaysian version of fried kway teow), but the Singapore version is different because it includes some yellow noodle, which gives it a little more bite.  This dish, like Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodle, is unique to Singapore and very popular among Singaporeans.  Either this or Hokkien Prawn Noodle ought to have been included in the list. They are among the dishes which Singaporeans overseas dream of while away, and feel the need to get their fix of, when they come home.

So anyway, after each Hawker Hero had given Chef Ramsay a tutorial on how they prepared their dish, he was required to come up with his own version for the final challenge. Not surprisingly, our hawker heroes won the challenge 2-1, with Chef Ramsay winning the Chilli Crab round.  Well, I don’t even consider Chilli Crab to be one of our street-foods.  To begin with, crabs cost way too much to qualify as main-stream hawker fare, and it’s not even something commonly available at hawker centres.  But that is hardly the point, I guess.  The whole event was set up for the sake of publicity and I believe it was a success in that respect.

Since I’m in the mood to ramble this lazy overcast Sunday afternoon, do bear with me as I go off on a tangent (or two, or three).  I haven’t blogged in such a long time anyway, which I attribute to the new(ish) job.  Since returning to the private sector and a faster-paced work environment, I’ve just not been as zen as I’d been during the 3 years before, and hence I haven’t had the inclination to measure quantities for my recipes and then sit down and write about them.  I just go into the kitchen, peel, chop, slice, fry, stir, toss, taste, clang about and what-not, then enjoy the meal and crash.  I’ve done a bit of baking from time to time, but entertaining on weekends or holidays have tended to be simpler affairs.

What I was going to say (and this is completely irrelevant to Char Kway Teow) was that the H and I had the privilege of dining at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay earlier this year.  We were in London for the London Marathon. He was running it. I was there as one-woman cheer-leading squad and crew (having been enticed by the promise that my efforts would be rewarded with a trip to Tuscany the following week). The Marathon was an experience in itself – I was awed by the organisation and the atmosphere.  The races I run in our little sunny island are nothing like that, and to say it was all very inspiring would be an understatement. Now, back to Restaurant Gordon Ramsay (I did warn you there’d be many digressions), aside from the food, what really impressed me about it was the precision with which the restaurant floor was run. Really something for all restaurants to aspire to.  And we even got to visit the kitchen after our meal, and received a nod and smile from Chef Clare Smyth!

Noodles cooked Char Kway Teow Style

Noodles cooked Char Kway Teow Style

One day in June this year, I needed to clear out of my fridge some unused ingredients which had been originally prepared for the Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodles I’d cooked for a lunch with friends over the weekend.  I started with some cooking oil and chopped garlic in the wok on high heat, then threw in yellow noodles, bean sprouts, eggs, Chinese sausage and squid, tossed it all about, followed by drizzling in from the sides of the wok dark soya sauce and sweet dark sauce, and some prawn stock. Thus was born in my kitchen, fried noodles done Char Kway Teow-style.  It turned out pretty good.  An old classmate CL, who now lives in Germany with her family, asked me for the recipe when she saw a picture of the dish which I’d posted.

ckt wok (wm)

5 servings of Char Kway Teow in a wok

I decided I’d make a proper Char Kway Teow, actually using kway teow and some yellow noodle, before posting a recipe.  So finally I got down to doing that a couple of weeks ago. I really enjoy frying up these hawker dishes in a wok at high heat (cze char style).  Usually the stove-top looks like it’s been through a tornado after I’m done cooking because the whole exercise involves a lot of vigorous tossing and all which results in much spillage. Yes, it does make a bit of a mess.  But it’s such fun to do!

I’m sharing the recipe here, for those who are interested, and especially for CL. The quantities are estimates and based on taste, so do experiment, do some taste-testing and make adjustments as you go along.  I didn’t have any cockles, which was a real pity, but if you do have some cockles (which you would’ve no doubt had to rinse like 100 times in order to get them clean), just put put them into the wok after everything is cooked and cover momentarily with the piping-hot noodles right before serving.

ckt ingredients (wm)

Ingredients

500g kway teow
200g yellow noodles
500g bean sprouts
A bunch of Chye Sim, cut to 2 inch lengths
4 eggs
3 whole garlics, chopped
12 large prawns, poached and shelled (shells used to make stock)
1 bowl prawn stock
1-2 Chinese sausages, skinned and sliced
2 pieces fish cake, sliced
Top quality dark soya sauce
Sweet Sauce (this is available at supermarkets. Ingredients are molasses, sugar, caramel and water)

Method

Heat a few tbs cooking oil in a wok over medium-high heat.  Add chopped garlic and stir-fry for a minute or so, then add yellow noodle, turn up heat to high and toss until coated evenly in oil.  Add kway teow, and toss, mixing with yellow noodle.  Add a little prawn stock.

Add beansprouts, chye sim, Chinese sausage, and fish cake, then toss together with noodle to cook, and push all contents of wok to a side.

Add a little oil onto the space created, allow to heat for a while, and add eggs and stir them as you would when making scrambled eggs. When eggs are half-cooked, toss the other ingredients over them so the eggs are buried.  Leave for about half a minute or less, then start to stir and mix everything together. Eggs should resemble scrambled eggs, bits of which should adhere to the noodles and other ingredients somewhat.

Add about 2-3 tbs dark soya to the wok by drizzling it down the sides of the wok, followed by a few tbs of sweet sauce and more prawn stock.  Mix well with noodles and other ingredients.  Add the cooked prawns and toss. Then serve hot.

(The amount of the sauces and stock to add depends on your personal preference – how sweet or salty you like it.  The dish should taste sweet and salty, with a seafood-based flavour.  This dish should be served immediately after cooking.)

Serves 4-5.

Lovesick for Ipoh Hor Fun

08 Thursday Mar 2012

Posted by in hawker fare, Lovesick for Ipoh Hor Fun

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Ipoh Hor Fun with Soya Braised Chicken

For a number of years through my late teens to early adulthood, one of my comfort foods had been the Shredded Chicken and Mushroom Ipoh Hor Fun from the coffee shop at the corner of River Valley Road and Kellock Road. To me, that was how Ipoh Hor Fun was supposed to taste, and I could never satisfy a craving for the dish until I got my fix of it there. Sadly, the elderly man who used to cook at the stall eventually stopped doing so, and now the coffee shop premises itself has been taken over by some other F&B establishment.

So for some years now, I feel like I’ve not had a proper plate of Ipoh Hor Fun. I hardly even order it these days as chances are I’d just be disappointed.  Finally I figured I should try to make my own version of Ipoh Hor Fun.

Today I took my first stab at it. The dish is really about the hor fun gravy at the end of the day. And the flavour I was trying to achieve for it was something akin to the gravy which comes with the soya braised chicken from Lee Fun Nam Kee at Block 94 Toa Payoh Lorong 4 (which I get a craving for every once in awhile – it’s so good!). Basically I cooked a braised soya chicken (garlic, ginger, spring onion, dark soya sauce, sugar, salt, sesame oil, five spice), then used the sauce as a base for the gravy, adding to it kecap manis, more sugar, salt, pepper and corn starch to thicken it. Taste-wise, I dare say it wasn’t too far off, but there is much room for improvement since it was a first attempt. As this recipe is a work-in-progress, I shan’t post it for now.

Now come to think of it, when I was a little girl living at Marine Parade, there used to be a stall at the hawker centre close to the building which housed Metro Department Store and Yamaha Music School, from which I would order Shredded Chicken Ipoh Hor Fun as well. It was the only thing I would eat at that hawker centre. But now I don’t even remember how it tasted.  Speaking of this reminds me that recently, the idea came to me that I should try to recreate all the dishes I used to enjoy in my childhood. After all it would mean all of 3 dishes or something, including Chicken Maryland from the then Cappuccino Coffee House at Plaza Singapura and Open-faced Roast Beef Sandwich from Silver Spoon at Supreme House. I used to be a scrawny little creature with huge teeth, and my mom constantly agonised over how I was so hard to please when it came to food.

Nonya Laksa Recipe

07 Tuesday Feb 2012

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So here I am with the recipe for Nonya Laksa.  This is an extremely tasty and addictive dish, and although it may sound daunting to make since a number of steps are involved, you will find the result well worth it.  It is one of those dishes you shouldn’t rush, and it will definitely taste better with some TLC.  I cooked it in fairly large quantities, so the recipe here is based on a reduced portion. It would make 5 servings.  I really hope you will enjoy making and eating this as much as I did!

Ingredients

620g thick rice noodles (chu mee fen or chor bee hoon)
500ml coconut milk
1.8L water
400g prawns (medium) (approx 4 prawns per person)
2 fish cakes (each of approx 12cm in length), sliced
3 pieces tau pok (about 6cm x 6cm)
150g beansprouts
10 quail’s eggs or 3 chicken eggs, hard boiled and shelled
200g fresh blood cockles (with shells) (optional)
10 stalks laksa leaves
Rock sugar to taste
Salt to taste

For the Rempah (paste)

40g hei bee (dried shrimp)
1 whole garlic
8 shallots
1 small piece turmeric (approx 1cm x 1.5cm)
1 piece galangal (approx 3cm x 3cm)
3 candlenuts, finely pounded
1 stalk lemongrass
1 + 1/4 tbs belacan
10 dried chillies
Cooking oil

Method

Grind rempah ingredients in a food processor into a fine paste. Add about 2 tsp of finely chopped laksa leaves (from about 2 stalks) into food processor and whizz for a few seconds together with the paste.
In a wok, heat up 2-3 tbs of cooking oil, and fry paste until its colour darkens.  If it gets too dry before this happens, add a little oil.  Set aside rempah once it is done.
In a large stock pot, bring 1.8L of water to a boil and add the prawns, with shells on, then simmer till the prawns are cooked, remove quickly and refresh with cool water.  Once cooled, shell prawns and return shells and heads into stock pot. Set aside the prawns.  Bring pot to a boil, then lower heat and simmer about 1.5 hours.  Add a handful of laksa leaves to the stock pot (from approximately 3 stalks), and allow to simmer for another half hour.
While stock is simmering, prepare the other ingredients:
Slice fish cakes.
De-vein cooked prawns.
Hard boil the eggs, then shell them, and if using chicken eggs, slice them (quail’s eggs may be served whole).
Blanche the tau pok in a pot of boiling to remove some oil, then drain and slice them.
Rinse cockles thoroughly in a basin of cool water, changing the water until the water turns clear.  Drain.  Place cockles in a basin or small pot and pour boiling water over them and leave for a minute before draining them.  Refresh with cool water to prevent the cockle flesh from continuing to cook and becoming too tough.  Remove the flesh and set aside. Discard shells.
Blanche beansprouts quickly and drain.
Finely chop the remaining laksa leaves (you should have about 5 tsp)*.
Cook rice noodles in a pot of boiling water, refresh and drain.
Strain stock after it has been allowed to simmer for 2 hours, and return to stock pot.
Add rempah to the stock and bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer till oil surfaces. Skim. Lower heat.
Add coconut milk (a little at a time), bring to a boil, the lower heat to simmer for a few minutes.
Add rock sugar and salt to taste.
If necessary, add more coconut milk.
Place a portion of the cooked rice noodle into a bowl. Arrange prawns, tau pok, beansprouts, cockles and eggs over the noodles and then pour some gravy over it. Sprinkle with 1 tsp of chopped laksa leaves and serve with sambal if available.
* If you are not able to get the amount of laksa leaves required in this recipe, try to ensure that you have at least 4-5 tsp of chopped laksa leaves for sprinkling over the individual bowls, and omit the laksa leaves in the rempah and stock if you have to.
(Edited 8/02/12)

Chicken Rice: For the Culinarily-Homesick Singaporean

09 Monday Jan 2012

Posted by in chicken, Chicken Rice, hawker fare, recipe

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We were originally intending to have dinner this evening at some cze char place nearby, but after lunch I decided I would cook instead.  So I ended up making Chicken Rice, Spinach Soup, Sambal Eggplant, and Tau Yew Bak, which helped beat the Sunday Evening Blues.  (Look out for my post on Tau Yew Bak!)

Chicken Rice is probably our national dish.  And it’s often one of the first dishes which a Singaporean living abroad will miss. So this post is dedicated to all my culinarily-homesick Singaporean friends abroad.

The Chicken Rice we cook at home is based on a fairly simple recipe.  The chicken is boiled, and there’s none of the hassle of frying uncooked rice in sesame oil before cooking it. As a consequence, the rice is actually less oily, and feels a lot healthier.  I don’t think much is lost from omitting the frying, and in fact, I prefer this less-oily version of the rice.  Even without that step, you end up with very fragrant steamed rice, thanks to lots of garlic and pandan leaves.  Try it and let us know what you think!Ingredients1 whole chicken (about 1.6-1.8kg)
2 cups uncooked white rice
1 whole garlic, with last layer of skin left on and top sliced off
25 cloves garlic (segments), cracked, last layer of skin left on
2 pcs of fresh ginger, each approx 2 x 2 inches in size, peeled and cracked
7 pandan leaves, tied together into 2 knots

8 cups water
4 tbs sesame oil
3 tbs soya sauce
SaltMethodClean chicken, pat dry and rub with 1 tbs salt.
Boil water in a pot big enough to fit the chicken.
Put ginger, pandan leaves and 1 whole garlic inside cavity and place chicken into the pot, add 1 tsp salt, and cook chicken for 45 minutes.  Remove chicken from pot and set aside on a platter. Remove pandan leaves and set aside.  Remove ginger and garlic and discard. (If using a smaller chicken, reduce the cooking time, as overcooking will cause it to lose flavour).
Put rice into rice-cooker. Add 3 cups of the chicken stock into the rice-cooker.  Also add into the rice-cooker the pandan leaves, and 25 cloves garlic.  Turn on rice-cooker to cook.
Mix 2 tbs sesame oil with 3 tbs soya sauce into a bowl, and then drizzle mixture over the chicken, and inside cavity. Turn chicken over after 10 minutes and again after another 5 minutes to allow the mixture to coat the chicken thoroughly.
Once rice-cooker indicates rice is cooked, open the lid. The liquid would have dried up by now.  Toss rice with a spoon, sprinkle 1-2 tbs sesame oil and 1-2 tsp salt over it, and toss it again. (Add sesame oil and salt 1 tbs/tsp at a time, toss, then taste rice and add more if necessary, and toss again).  Ensure pandan leaves are buried in the rice and garlic segments are evenly distributed under the rice as well. If rice looks too dry, add a little more stock.  Replace lid of rice-cooker and set to cook again.  Once it is done, toss rice to fluff it, and cover rice-cooker for 15 minutes or until ready to serve.
Chop chicken into pieces, arrange over a bed of sliced cucumber on a platter, then garnish with fresh Chinese parsley (cilantro).
Serve chicken and rice with garlic chilli, or minced ginger and spring onion seasoned with salt and sesame oil.
The rest of the chicken stock can be used as a base for a wanton dumpling soup or vegetable soup. We usually add Chinese Spinach (round leaves) to make a healthy and delicious soup.

Serves 5.