Yes, Probably the most requested recipe ever from stranded Singaporeans who read my blog.
Soft egg noodles, slippery with aromatic lard and fried shallot oil and coated having a crack sauce created using sweet black vinegar, soy sauce and also the mother of chilli sauces, bak chor mee is among individuals stuff that cause me to feel proud to become a Singaporean (comes just in front of our award-winning airport terminal out there). It is a dish which our migrant Teochew forefathers introduced over, however they gave it their very own South-east Asian twist with dried-shrimp chilli and many types of goodness, which makes it quite unique to Singapore. You will find loads of comparable dry-thrown noodles throughout Asia, but I am not entirely convinced anyone could match up with bak chor mee though I might be biased obviously.
I can not pinpoint just what it is all about a bowl of noodles which makes me go weak within the knees it's a mix of exactly what adopts it.
1. Noodles
The noodles need to be cooked perfect so there's still a pleasant quantity of bite. They need to be thrown using the oily sauce immediately after it's cooked, when it is still warm, so that they don't clump and stick together. There's two types of 'egg' noodles you should use, the skinny one mee kia or even the thicker flat one mee pok. but both of them are noodles created using alkaline water so that they are wonderfully soft.
It's obviously simple to get these fresh within Singapore in the markets, however when I chose to make this dish working in london, I needed to make my very own alkaline noodles fresh. Thanks Charlene again for that pasta machine.
2. Sauce
This sauce isn't hard to make if you have all things in your fridge/ larder. Those that require a little bit of work would be the sambal, fried shallot oil and lard, however these are kitchen staples for me personally and that i make an additional large batch each time. Don't skip out just one factor within this sauce.
The sambal
After I was more youthful, and did not fancy chilli much (ha ha ha), my mother would order this dish for me personally and my siblings using the chilli exchanged for ketchup. That stated, ketchup bak chor mee is really quite good. But different. Slow-fried with shallots and fermented shrimp paste (some hawkers add dried shrimps towards the usual sambal too), this chilli adds not only heat however a hit of umami towards the sauce.
The lard
Lots of hawkers nowadays skip the lard to obtain a 'healthier choice' sticker plastered around the front of the stall. Pfft. The aromatic lard is the reason why the sauce glide within the noodles. The fried shallot oil alone continues to be great, but do your and yourself grandmother proud and employ the damn lard. Lard from the happy pig is among the healthiest (and many scrumptious) fats you can eat. My pal Uyen swears it's why she still appears like a teen. From the chefy perspective, the pork fat also ties together the components with this dish minced pork, pork liver and crackling.
The vinegar
The quantity of vinegar you utilize can be adjusted for your preference. I usually request extra vinegar after i order in the hawker stalls. It features a wonderful musky sharpness to chop through everything richness.
3. The toppings
The only real essentials (Personally i think) are minced pork and braised mushrooms.
Minced pork
Bak chor mee literally means minced pork noodles in the end. The minced pork is just blanched, however in a wealthy pork stock so there's no lack of porky flavour as you can get with only using warm water.
Mushrooms
The braised shiitake mushrooms are da explosive device and price making extra. They add an additional juicy sweet savoury something to the plain grain/ noodle dish.
Liver
Anything else
You will get a lot of variations of the. With prawns, fishballs, sliced fishcakes, etc. I'd no fishballs working in london and wasn't about to ensure they are too .
BAK CHOR MEE
feeds 2
Ingredients
2 bundles of fresh flat egg noodles, mee pok
100g minced pork*
(opt) 70g thinly sliced fresh pork liver *
2 tablespoons of fish sauce
1 teaspoon white-colored pepper
1 cup 'Asian' pork stock *, seasoned with salt and white-colored pepper, to taste
For that sauce
2 tablespoons of good, typically made soy sauce
2 tablespoons of Chinese black vinegar
2 tablespoons of sambal tumis
1 tablespoons of fried shallot oil
2 teaspoon lard *
chopped spring onions
sliced braised mushrooms (make extra)
6 dried shiitake mushrooms
1 tablespoons of good soy sauce
2 tablespoons of good oyster sauce
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon unrefined sugar
(opt) slice of lettuce, for many greenery
*from happy pigs please
Method
1. I love to do that step yesterday and so i tight on to bother with. Mix the pork using the fish sauce and white-colored pepper. Measure out enough water to pay for the mushrooms, adding all of the seasonings and blend well. Leave in the fridge overnight to marinate.
2. The following day, slice the mushrooms into fat slithers. Bring the mushrooms towards the boil within the soaking liquid and simmer lightly until the majority of the liquid continues to be absorbed and also the mushrooms are actually plump with sexy juices.
3. Combine the components for that sauce and divide into bowls.
4. Blanch the noodles in boiling water until cooked but nonetheless al dente. Get it done portion by portion for the best results. They ought to still retain a rather toothy, springy bite. Drain well by tossing hard inside a sieve to get rid of excess water, then turn the noodles out in to the bowls. Dry add in the sauce to ensure that each strand is well-coated in deliciousness.
5. The pork stock ought to be in a moving boil. Blanch the minced pork within the stock for any minute, or until cooked. Make use of a fine sieve to get rid of the pork, adding within the noodles. Repeat using the liver if using.
6. To complete, top the noodles using the braised mushrooms, crackling, and fried shallots. Ladle the new pork broth into smaller sized bowls and finished by having an added dash of white-colored pepper and spring onions, then serve using the bowls of noodles.
It appears like lots of work, particularly if you are earning from scratch, but things are prepped ahead of time and also the actual set up takes minutes. It's also incredible therefore it is worthwhile anyway. I believe I have written enough already. I did not plan to be so pedantic and lengthy-winded but when I began I could not stop. As if you would having a bowl of bak chor mee.
This recipe is featured within the Plusixfive Cook book. as well as other kickass (not biased whatsoever. ) recipes for Singaporean favourites.
My goodness that appears so damn good much better than several hawker centres! I swear your kitchen area would prolly be the greatest spot to eat within the whole of Singapore. I friggin love BCM so damn much. The combo of spicy, salty, sour noodles with the pig parts. YEOW. I'm saving this recipe to create the next time.
Haha not a way winston I doubt my noob cooking skills can match up with the two decades experience most hawkers have!
This sounds too good. Exactly what a fantastic mixture of flavours and textures!
cheers caroline! It's completely brilliant- I take my hats off and away to the forefathers who considered tossing these togeher!
I eat an excessive amount of this since relocating to Singapore. Love this publish!
Hee hee hee I understand how hard it's to face up to bak chor mee! Thanks :)
I would like noodles thrown in crack! I'll need to make from scratch however it's worthwhile. Side note -- since visiting the united states, I'm almost entirely meat-free (I still eat sea food) since it is so so difficult to find happy pigs, happy cows, happy chickens. you receive my drift. The greater sad and angry I recieve concerning the revolting factory farming practices in america, the greater particular I become concerning the creatures I eat, and also the more empathy Personally i think on their behalf. The Way I miss Nathan the butcher, where I understood the creatures had happy lives before slaughter. -/
I understand! It's exactly the same way within Singapore- I eat a lot more sea food since i can't acquire good meat that simply. There willl function as the costly non-local ones imported from Nz, but there's without any good local meat. Are you aware the opportunity chickens are really illegal in Singapore because of anxiety about bird flu or something like that. Sea food is okay, and really very fresh because in Asia, how fresh your fish it's a vital consideration. I'd have believed that the united states is extremely worried about happy creatures given each one of these hippie LA types touting eco-friendly smoothies as well as an organic lifestyle. Are you currently destined to be in London.
p.s. we do hope you get round to creating this. I made from scratch too working in london but all of the sauces/ ingredients can be used as greater than this dish therefore it's def worthwhile.
If you're able to finf good quality happy pigs obviously.