Indonesian Mee Soto Ayam

 

When i was working with a Government Board in Malaysia, I have many friends who were of Javanese descent and they have introduced me to their favorite Mee Soto Ayam. Although they called it Mee, it was actually Chicken soup with glass noodles(suon) and i have been served the alternative to glass noodle(suon) which was with rice cake(nasi impit).

The soup is very fragrant from the spices used and tumeric is responsible for the beautiful yellow hue of the chicken soup. Besides remembering the fragrant chicken soup, the begedil served together was to die for, my friends will always repeat this like a broken record - no begedil, no mee soto ayam.

Square Balls, Siew Cheong a.k.a. Roasted Sausages Sar Hor Fun

What i really missed eating is a bowl of silky soft kway teow/sar hor fun with Square Pork Balls and Siew Cheong a.k.a. Roasted Sausages.  For all the years that i have been here, i have not been able to get hold of these silky, soft kway teow/sar hor fun, fresh or dried.  The closest to this would be a packet of instant rice noodle/pho with artificial chicken or beef by OH RICEY or Pho Bo/Ga by VIFUN..  Strangely this noodles are not available in large packets with no seasonings and i have bought so many packets hoping that the next packet would be the one i prefer but to no success so far.  The ones that are available are not as silky and they are thicker but it has to be it when there is a craving for a good bowl of hot soup noodle.  If anyone reading this post, find these large packets of thin, silky rice noodles please do share.

Square Pork Balls

If you are older or as old as i am, it is better not to make promises, either you forget to keep it or multi-tasking is harder and chores are taking too much time to complete.  Anyway, i did try posting it sometime back and somehow it was so frustrating as the whole post just vanished without a trace, all my effort for nothing but frustration.  This is not an excuse, a promise is a promise and it has to be kept however or whatever and here is how to make these Square Pork Balls.  I do not mean to confuse the name of this recipe, it is so strange, balls are always round or olive-shaped but these are square, so, since these are to eaten and not to play with, it is fine to be square, agreed?????

Siew Cheong a.k.a. Roasted Sausages

Ah posting!!!!!, I am sure that you all realsied that my postings are crawling, I know, you know.  I need to feel passionate about what I post but i am in a bit of a slump.   It is easy to post a slumpy one but who wants to read it.  Well slumpy or not, this posting might not be worth the reading but the recipes that follow have been in my mind to share for the longest ever. 

I have been wanting to eat these Siew Cheong/Roasted Sausages and not being able to get them here in the States, have to copycat and make some.  It has been so long that i have tasted these sausages and can only recall that they are delicious.  Strangely, i have not eaten these sausages on its own but always come as an accompliment to a large bowl of soup sa hor fun with pork square balls.  Craving for this bowl of soup sa hor fun can only be satisfied by first, making some siew cheong, second, is to make The Square Pork Balls, of which i will share 'How To' in my next posting, then lastly will share how to put them all together, for the most craved bowl of soup sa hor fun.  The siew cheong turned out pretty similar to the real mccoy in taste but no so in size, the sausage casings that i have are for chinese lap cheong, so they are very much thinner.

Beef Stroganoff

Renee, my grand-daughter, loves pasta in any shapes or form and she loves eating beef like in slices or in a piece of steak, but she will not eat a beef burger.  I thought that she does not like ground beef but she will eat ground beef in the Bolognese Sauce.  So, it must be the burger that is not appealing to her cos she will not have a chicken burger too. 

I know that she will enjoy this dish, Beef Stroganoff and it did.

According to  Wiki, Beef Stroganoff or Beef Stroganov (in Russian: Бефстроганов Befstróganov) is a Russian dish of sautéed pieces of beef served in a sauce with smetana or sour cream. From its origins in 19th-century Russia, it has become popular around the world, with considerable variation from the original recipe.

Loh See Fun From Scratch

This has been my quest, to make loh see fun from scratch.  Many hours have been spent trying to get the right texture - one that is chewy, slippery and firm to the tooth without using any chemicals.  Getting the texture  to what i wanted it to be was not that difficult as i know that with a ratio of 3 : 1,  - 3 of rice flour and 1 of tapioca starch should be correct.  How much of liquid is the difficult part of the whole process as the dough has to be of the correct consistency to be able to press out of the cendol press or a potato riser with ease.  Looking for  the utensil with the correct size holes has been a long search, until today, am not able to find any..  I have tried using a large perforated ladle and even found a perforated flat plate which i thought would be it.  No, they were  not, the holes were too big and a good practice of how to push the dough through these holes was needed.  What a mess i made??????

The final play was the return of the cendol maker and it did make loh see fun with pointed tails.  What actually happened was, i have learned to recognized the consistency of the dough - water should be added in, a little at a time so the the dough turned into whipped cream/ or buttercream like, then it will be pushed out of the cendal maker with ease.

I have tried with 2 types of rice flour,  one is the Erawan 3 elephant rice flour from Thailand and the other is a rough textured rice flour from Vietnam.  Both of them make pretty good textured loh see fun, only the rice flour from thailand needed to be dry steamed for an hour before using while the rice flour from Vietnam, i used it straight from the packet.

Homemade UDON Noodles

I don't know if you have noticed that the prices for frozen udon noodles have gone more than double and it is time that i have to replicate it by making them at home.  I have been using udon to fry my Kuala Lumpur Black Hokkien Mee and I am feeling homesick for this comfort food.  

In fact i have many times failed to get the texture of Udon to be like the store bought ones, which is bouncy and chewy.  Following the authentic Japanese recipes on making udon, which use only flour, salt and water, does not help, blame it all on the flour and everything else except my own lack of 'khoong fu'.  I have kneaded, banged, smashed and even stepped on the dough but the result of the udon, has always tasted like 'mein fun koh'.  I want bouncy and chewy,  so i am going to use more,  much more than expected , TAPIOCA STARCH and the ratio of 1:1 to all-purpose flour.  Why????, all purpose flour and not bread flour?  I have read that it was impossible to achieve a good Udon using American flours(no wonder) and that the Japanese Flour has a lower protein/gluten that will have a better result.  So I used bleached all-purpose flour and alot of tapioca starch to further reduce the protein/gluten content. 

With the flours issue off my mind, i have to think of an easier way to knead the dough mixture to death, to obtain as smooth a dough as possible.  I am definitely not sacrificing my KitchenAid Mixer and know that the Breadmachine will do the work.  But, with the Breadmachine, the blade was so short that it was not able to draw together the dough to make into a ball for kneading.  I had to help by pushing the dry dough and this is too tedious.  So, for the next batch of dough, i changed the procedure.  First, i put in the water, salt and then the bleached all-purpose flour, start the dough function and let the machine churn it into a batter, then i added the tapioca starch, oh yes, this is so much easier.  The machine can now knead the dough like it would for a bread dough.  My breadmachine does not have a only kneading function, so i have to remove the kneaded dough just before it starts to proof.


I have also found that the water i used to cook the Udon has to be salted and that makes alot of difference to the taste, the udon does not taste doughy at all and this is how i like the udon to be.  I do not care if this is not authentic Japanese Udon or perhaps i should rename this noodle to 'Fat noodle'. 


Lets make some 'Fat Noodle':

Mee Rebus

Mee Rebus which is of Indian origin and a spin off from Indian Rojak.  It does not need any introduction to Malaysians or Singaporeans who are not Indian. Ask them about Mee Rebus or Indian Rojak and you get a smile in their faces and a thumb-up - sedap, hojiak and yummy.  The Singaporean version of Mee Rebus differ slightly from the Malaysian, the gravy is sweeter and does not have the work which includes coconut fingers, shrimp fritters etc.