Singapore Mei Foon (Rice noodles, Singapore-style)

Hello friends,

Have I told you about New Market located at Esplanade, Kolkata. It is a magical place where you can find the rarest of ingredients that you haven't even heard the names of, for example: a napa.

I know, I too went 'what in God's green earth is that', when I saw the vegetable on display. To me, it looked like a hybrid version of a lettuce head, but it was a won bok or napa or Chinese cabbage. Well, what do I know!

I didn't even know what exactly happened, but after five minutes I found myself carrying a napa, a bok choy (don't ask, just Google it!), a sprig of spring onion (which was obscenely expensive for it was not in season) and a beautiful red carrot.

It must have been some Chinese voodoo.

Anyways, since I had all these ingredients at hand I remembered an excellent meal I had at the Singapore Airport back in 2008, with Singapore mei foon (how I loved the cliché) and naturally I started hunting for rice noodles next (I totally went about it in reverse, didn't I?). Naturally, I found it at New Market, rice noodles that was of excellent quality and imported from...somewhere, for I definitely didn't recognise the language written on the packet when I tried and failed to look for the expiry date. The shop-keeper assured me it was fresh and I believed him for he looked elderly and kind and not the murdering-the-customers-in-their-sleep-or-when-they-unsuspectingly-have-mei-foon-one-fine-day sort.

As usual I tweaked it to suit my taste buds and the availability of ingredients. I used shrimp (fresh ones, not the frozen ones) in stead of meat of any kind and Sunrise Chow Mix in stead of curry powder (it has loads of garlic powder and some other spices including cinnamon and cloves). I didn't have hoisin or oyster sauce either. I used a little bit of Schezuan sauce for I love it hot and spicy.

Ok, enough talking! Here are the pics and the recipe itself:

You see how the noodles have broken into little pieces. Well, it was because I didn't have a Chinese wok which is the best utensil for cooking noodles. If you try to do it in your saucepan like me, you will end up breaking up the noodle threads. A pity, for as it turned out, the noodles were indeed of excellent quality.

Ingredients:

100 gram rice noodles (should feed two people)

1 egg (cracked and beaten)

1/2 a cup of carrot (julienned)

1/2 a cup of napa (julienned)

1/2 a cup of regular cabbage (julienned)

2 sprigs of spring onion

1/4th of a green capsicum (julienned again)

10 shrimps (peeled and de-veined and thoroughly cleaned)

10/12 cloves of garlic (peeled and chopped finely)

1 large onion (cut into long strips)

3/4 teaspoon of white pepper powder

Salt to taste

4 tablespoon of vegetable oil

For the sauce:

Mix 1/2 a teaspoon of Schezuan sauce with 1 teaspoon of dark soy sauce, 1 teaspoon or light soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of white vinegar and 1/2 a teaspoon of sugar. Mix well and keep aside.

Preparation:

Boil water and let simmer. Cook the rice noodles in gentle heat for a couple of minutes and take off the flame. Let it sit in the warm water for another five minutes or until softened. Drain and keep aside.

Cut the white and harder part of spring onions into 1 inch long pieces and finely chop the leaves portion. Keep them separate.

Add one tablespoon of oil in a wok (I used a large saucepan, but I strongly urge you to use a wok instead). Add the beaten egg. Cook on high flame, but don't overcook it. Take the omelette off the wok as soon as it gets cooked. Set aside.

Add oil if necessary and add the shrimp. Stir-fry for one minute in medium heat and remove the moment they turn opaque and pink. 

Now crank up the heat to the highest degree, have all your ingredients ready at hand including salt and pepper. Add oil to the wok and let it smoke. Let the oil coat your entire wok before you start adding the vegetables. Start with chopped garlic, onions and carrots. When the aroma of the garlic comes out, add the white part of spring onions and cabbages (both types) and stir-fry again. After around half a minute add the capsicum and add a tiny pinch of salt. Stir on high-heat for 10 to 12 seconds before adding the drained noodles and shrimps.

Add 1 tablespoon of curry powder or Sunrise Chow Mix, salt, white pepper and mix. After a few seconds add the sauce and stir-fry again. 

The entire process shouldn't take more than five minutes.

Now add the shredded omelette on top after taking off the flame.

Serve hot.

And you have a piece of Singapore on your plate :)

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