Contrary to the word Mee Hoon being rice vermicelli, the Mee Hoon here is actually a Hokkien word which means flour. This is a soupy dish made using flour dough which has been flatten pancaked-style to small pieces. Some may even identify it as Pan Mee, but this is a home-cooked version and the flour cake is torn into pieces rather than machine-rolled to noodle form.

It is actually quite a healthy dish combining carbohydrates (flour), protein (pork) and fat (little oil is used), fibre (vegetables) and calcium (ikan bilis / dried anchovies). The most important part of this dish is the ikan bilis stock as it gives much flavour to the overall dish. I like to have this for lunch.

This is my recipe for Mee Hoon Kueh (Flour Cake Soup)


Ingredients

• 200 grammes of flour (add some water and knead into a dough, allow dough to stand for 30 minutes and then separate them into balls about half the size of an egg)
• 3/4 bowls of ikan bilis (boil in 5 soup bowls of water for 30 minutes to make ikan bilis stock. Discard ikan bilis thereafter)
• 1/2 bowls of ikan bilis (rinsed)
• 50 to 100 grammes of sliced pork tenderloin (marinate with 2 teaspoons light soya sauce)
  
• 200 grammes or more of chinese mustard leaves (choy sum / sawi) (washed and cut to bite sizes)
• 5 pieces dried chinese mushrooms (pre-soaked in 1 bowl of water till soft and cut into strips discarding the stalk / stem. Retain water for cooking)
• 5 cloves of shallots (sliced thinly)
• Oil for frying (preferably palm oil)
• 2 pinches of chinese salted vegetable (tung choy)

Seasoning

• Light soya sauce
  
• Salt to taste

Method

Fry the 1/2 bowls of rinsed ikan bilis in sufficient oil till crispy. Remove and set aside. Discard oil.

Heat up wok and fry the shallots in about 3 tablespoons of oil till golden brown. Remove fried shallots and set aside. With remaining oil, saute pre-soaked mushrooms for 1 minute (add 1 teaspoon of light soya sauce whilst you saute the mushrooms). Add sliced pork tenderloins and stir-fry till almost cooked.

Add ikan bilis stock and water (used to soak mushrooms) and bring to boil. Meanwhile, using a rolling pin or bare hands, flatten the balls of dough invidually to make flour cake.

When soup is boiling (and keep it boiling throughout), tear flour cake to bite sizes (say approximately 5cm x 3cm) and throw them into the soup. Stir occasionally. Once you've finished with the flour cakes and with soup boiling, chuck in the chinese mustard leaves and stir for about 30 seconds whilst adding seasoning and salted chinese vegetables to taste.

Dish up in bowls (you'll get about 4 bowls here) and sprinkle fried shallots and fried ikan bilis over the soup prior to serving.


Technorati Tags : Recipe , Chinese Food , Flour , Soup , Pan Mee