RECIPE: FRIED NOODLES - WET STYLE (MEE GORENG BASAH)

Whilst surfing through my favourite food blogs, I came across this recipe on Mr Mat Gebu’s site. Immediately my senses were tingling and I knew I had to make this dish. I have always been partial to fried noodles but I have never used stock or tomato sauce before and I was not disappointed with the finished result. As usual, I changed the recipe to suit my taste and whatever ingredients I had handy. As I made this with a one kg packet of noodles, I have also changed the measurements. Being a chilli lover, I have put extra chilli in this dish. Please adjust according to you taste.

This is how I made this dish.


Ingredients


1 kg packet Hokkien/Yellow noodles
1 small packet of bean sprouts – tailed and rinsed
1 bunch of Chinese/garlic chives – cut into 4 cm lengths (see post on Garlic Chives)
Meat of choice – I used chicken, prawns and fish cake
4 cloves garlic – minced
Sufficient veg oil for cooking
Large handful of dried chillies – deseeded and softened in hot water and then ground to a paste with minimal water. Use according to your taste. Any extra can be frozen for later use. Just defrost in a microwave for a min or two. FYI, I used 4 heaped tbsp.
Fresh chillies – sliced finely for garnishing
1 large tomato – sliced in wedges for garnishing
1 lime - sliced in wedges for garnishing
Fried shallots – for garnishing (you can find this at most Asian grocers or the Asian food aisle in Coles or Woolworths)

Sauce ingredients – mixed together in a bowl or small jug the following ingredients:

3 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp tomato sauce
2 tbsp chilli sauce – I used Yeos Chilli Sauce
2 level tbsp thick/caramel soy sauce
3 tbsp or to taste, light soy sauce
1 tbsp white vinegar
¾ to 1 cup Stock – I used the heads and tails of the prawns, boiled in 3 cups of water for 5 mins and strained.

Method

Rinse the noodles well to get rid of the excess oil, soak in hot water (I used the hot water from the tap) for a min; drain and set aside.

Heat oil in a large wok and fry half of the garlic until aromatic and slightly golden. Add in the chicken (thinly sliced) and when nearly cooked, add in the prawns and fish cake. Cook until done. Remove to a plate and set aside.

Without washing out your wok, heat more oil, add in the remainder garlic and fry till aromatic. Add in the chilli paste and cook until the oil separates in the paste. Now add in the combined sauce ingredients, bring to the boil and add in the meat.

Next add in the noodles. Combine well and add in the chives and sprouts. Mix well. Add extra stock and light soy sauce if your noodles are too dry. Cook for 2 to 3 mins. Make sure you don’t over cook here as you want your sprouts to remain crunchy. Lift and serve with the garnishing ingredients and make sure you squeeze the lime on the noodles before eating.

NB: You can use Chinese greens such as buk choy or choy sum in this dish too. Add the vegetables to the sauce just before you add the noodles to the dish. Cook for one min and follow the rest of the process. Bon Appetite!