Comfort food for the soul. Nothing beats homemade shaped mee hoon kueh over the flat squarish ones you get out of a machine outside.
PREP TIME Rather long, if you want to make a good broth
COOK IN 30 Min
SERVINGS & SCALING
Original recipe yield: Serves 2 as a main course.
INGREDIENTS
1 bowl of dried shitake mushrooms, washed and soaked for at least an hour
Anchovies, a handful or as much as you wish
Fish balls, around 6
Chicken fillets, 250 gms
Plain or multi purpose flour, 300 gms
Tong Cai (Preserved vegetables), a handful
Green leafy veges, chye sim or spinach, half a packet
Pepper, to taste
Salt, to taste
Ikan bilis stock, 1/2 cube (Optional)
DIRECTIONS
1.To create a really tasty stock, boil dried anchovies in boiling water. Once the water boils, simmer on low fire for at least an hour. Set aside flavourful stock for the actual cooking.
2. Set aside and slice the mushrooms that have been soaked. The water used to soak the anchovies can be added to the flavourful stock created earlier from the boiling of the anchovies. The stock made from boiling anchovies and soaking the mushrooms create a very rich soup.
3. Slice chicken and season with salt and pepper for a short while (10 - 15 mins). Boil the soup and throw the chicken inside to cook.
4. In a bowl, throw in 300gms of multi purpose flour. Add tong cai or preserved vegetables into the flour. Sprinkle some water, bit by bit. Try kneading the dough and mixing with the tong cai thoroughly. If it is too wet, add more flour. If it is too dry, sprinkle a little bit of water. Continue until you knead to get a ball of dough that is of decent consistency (not too sticky). Let the ball of dough settle for a while (say 15 mins).
5. Rub the ball of dough (presumably to be still slightly sticky with some flour so it doesn't stick too much. Put it on a dry chopping board or surface coated with some flour. Either use a rolling pin or your hands to flatten the dough. Use a knife to cut vertically into strips.
6. Using your hands, take a reasonable sizeable piece from each strip and flatten with your finger tips. Throw into the boiling soup, one by one. Stir with a ladle to prevent pieces from sticking together. You can estimate the size of each mee hoon kueh by your own preference. Take just a bit of dough if you prefer small thinner strips, more dough if you prefer thicker bigger pieces of mee hoon kueh.
7. Add vegetables and fishballs. Add stock or salt to taste, if preferred. Add some pepper to taste.
TIPS2. Set aside and slice the mushrooms that have been soaked. The water used to soak the anchovies can be added to the flavourful stock created earlier from the boiling of the anchovies. The stock made from boiling anchovies and soaking the mushrooms create a very rich soup.
3. Slice chicken and season with salt and pepper for a short while (10 - 15 mins). Boil the soup and throw the chicken inside to cook.
4. In a bowl, throw in 300gms of multi purpose flour. Add tong cai or preserved vegetables into the flour. Sprinkle some water, bit by bit. Try kneading the dough and mixing with the tong cai thoroughly. If it is too wet, add more flour. If it is too dry, sprinkle a little bit of water. Continue until you knead to get a ball of dough that is of decent consistency (not too sticky). Let the ball of dough settle for a while (say 15 mins).
5. Rub the ball of dough (presumably to be still slightly sticky with some flour so it doesn't stick too much. Put it on a dry chopping board or surface coated with some flour. Either use a rolling pin or your hands to flatten the dough. Use a knife to cut vertically into strips.
6. Using your hands, take a reasonable sizeable piece from each strip and flatten with your finger tips. Throw into the boiling soup, one by one. Stir with a ladle to prevent pieces from sticking together. You can estimate the size of each mee hoon kueh by your own preference. Take just a bit of dough if you prefer small thinner strips, more dough if you prefer thicker bigger pieces of mee hoon kueh.
7. Add vegetables and fishballs. Add stock or salt to taste, if preferred. Add some pepper to taste.
1. You can make mee hoon kueh without preserved vegetables (tong cai), just that that ingredient makes the mee hoon kueh tastier. The mee hoon kueh served outside is usually w/o this ingredient.
2. Instead of boiling anchovies in water for a natural tasting stock, just add more ikan bilis stock (up to a cube) and salt if you do not have time to make the stock.
3. Instead of using fishballs, some people may prefer to use minced pork which is fine as well. Add the minced pork in towards the end.
4. You can also shallow fry anchovies and serve on top of the mee hoon kueh soup once it is ready.
5. You can also crack an egg over the mee hoon kueh as is the case when you are served this dish outside.
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