KL Hokkien Mee

Hokkien mee is my favourite comfort food. I've loved it since forever. When my mum was pregnant with me, she craved for hokkien mee every single night. Yeah, I know right... It was a sign - I was already such a greedy picky pig even before I was born. Haha! ;)

Today, I'm going to share with you the recipe for this really yummy hokkien noodles. I am not trying to blow my own trumpet here, but it is one of the best that I've had in Melbourne.

Of course, not up to the Malaysian standard yet, neither Jade Kingdom's, but better than any other restaurants that I've tried. Certainly enough to satisfy your cravings if you're too lazy to travel all the way to Heidelberg.

And may I add, surprisingly simple to prepare that you'd be amazed. The key ingredient for this dish, is the pork fat and fried pork lard, which is widely known as 'chu yao cha' in Malaysia.

Let me warn you peeps... This is not a dish you should be eating on a daily basis or you gotta watch your cholesterol level closely! ;)

How to render pork fat?

To prepare the pork lard and to render some pork fat needed for later, you need 200-250g of pork belly, cut into small 1cm pieces. Heat the wok with 2 tbsp of peanut oil, and toss pork belly inside.

Render the fat until the little pork pieces are crispy and golden. Make sure to stir every now and then to ensure that it's not browning too much and then getting burnt. It took me about 15 minutes or so.

You then remove the crispy pork lard and drain. Once it’s completely cooled, store in an airtight jar. Do the same for the pork fat - let it cool a little then store in an airtight glass jar.

Ingredients (Serves 2)

500g of hokkien noodle, blanched & drained

3 cloves of garlic, minced

200g of pork fillet, thinly sliced and marinated with some salt and pepper

200g of prawn meat

fishcakes and fishballs

1/4 of cabbage/chinese cabbage, roughly chopped

1 cups of chicken stock

1.5 tbs of oyster sauce

3 tbs of light soy

5 tbs of dark caramel sauce

salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Heat 2 tbsp of pork lard in a hot wok until smokey.

2. Saute garlic then add in pork.

3. When pork is slightly cooked, add in prawns, fishballs and fishcakes.

4. Add cabbage and cook until slight wilted, then add stock. 

5. Add blanched noodles and seasoning, then mix well and simmer until noodle is tender.

6. Add in some crispy pork crackling, and simmer until sauce thicken.

You may now indulge! *slurpppssssssssss* ;)