October 17, 2009

Mee Hoon Kueh (Anchovy Flat Noodle Soup)

Recipe: Mee Hoon Kueh (Anchovy Flat Noodle Soup)(面粉粿)
Serves: 2 - 4




Ingredients
  • 250g all purpose flour
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 large egg
  • 75g - 85g water
  • 1½ tsp oil
Side Ingredients
  • mani cai / choy sum / spinach / lettuce / kale
  • 150g ground pork / sliced pork (marinated with 1 tsp light soy sauce, ⅛ tsp salt, ⅛ tsp sugar, pepper & ½ tsp tapioca starch)
Soup Ingredients
  • 150g dried anchovies
  • 2.2L water
  • salt to taste
  • sugar to taste
  • pepper
  • 2 - 3 tsp shallot oil
Garnishing Dipping Sauce
  • chopped bird's eye chilies + light soy sauce
Measurements: tsp = teaspoon | TBSP = tablespoon

Preparation
Soup
  • 1. Gently rinse the dried anchovies for 2-3 times. Put the anchovies and water in a pot and bring to a boil.
  • 2. Strain the soup. Reserve the anchovies to make anchovy crisps. Return soup to simmer for a while then add seasoning to taste. Turn off the heat and set soup aside.
  • Flat Noodles
  • 1. Mix the flour & salt in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the center, break the egg into the well, pour in the water & oil. Stir with a fork until crumbs form.
  • 2. Knead dough using hand until smooth. Cover the dough with a damp cloth or cling wrap. Let the dough rest for about 30 minutes before use.
  • 3. Simply knead the dough couple of times. Divide dough into 2 to 4 portions for easier handling.
  • 4. Take a portion of the dough and roll out on a lightly floured surface to your desire thickness using a rolling pin. Dust off any excess flour.
  • 5. Ladle some soup into a small pot to reheat if you are making mee hoon kueh bowl by bowl. Add in some marinated meat and simmer until meat is cooked. Continue to simmer over medium or medium low heat. ** Fish out meat once cooked to prevent overcooking if you are going to tear a large batch of flatten dough into the soup. **
  • 6. Tear mee hoon kueh and drop directly into the soup. Stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Once you have done tearing, add in some veggies then turn heat to high and let soup bring to a boil again, uncovered. Mee hoon kueh will float on the surface once cooked. Continue to simmer for about a minute or longer (for thicker noodles) over medium heat. Turn off the heat and pour mee hoon kueh into a serving bowl. Repeat step 4 to 6 for the remaining dough.
  • 7. Garnish mee hoon kueh with shallot crisps and anchovy crisps.If you prefer you can drizzle a little bit more of shallot oil over your mee hoon kueh and add a sprinkle of pepper on it. Serve hot with bird's eye chilies in soy sauce.
  • Dipping Sauce
  • Mix chopped bird's eye chilies with enough light soy sauce to use as dipping sauce.
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  • Notes
  • Proportion of flat noodle dough => flour : water + egg is approximately 1 : ½.
  • Dough should be pliable like play-doh or slightly harder. Add a little more water if dough is too dry. Add a little more flour if it is too moist.
  • You may replace each egg with 60ml water. But egg does give the dough more elasticity.
  • 1 large egg can use for upto 500g flour.
  • Alternatively you can use a pizza cutter to cut the dough instead of tearing using hand.