Mee Hoon Kuay Making Session

If you know me well enough, you will know that homemade noodles is one of my favourite food. It doesn't matter if it's Qiu Lian or any stall from food court, as long as it's homemade noodles, I will definitely try it. But what many of you don't know is

I KNOW HOW TO MAKE MEE HOON KUAY!

Yes, in fact, this is recipe passed down from my father. He loved to make MMK when we were young. Sundays, he would asked us what we would like to eat. Then, my brother will immediately answered MMK! It was a family kind of thing. He would prepare the dough and then for the rest of the afternoon, I would help him pinch the dough into bite-sized MMK (sometimes bro did help a little but not now anymore)! It was so much fun!

So, last Sunday, Mum and I decided to cook MMK since we had nothing much to do. I prepared the dough while Mum prepared the ingredients. We cooked, fried and blanched. The end result? Read on to find out!

1. Add 1 full egg to flour (amount of flour depends on how much you are preparing). Add water slowly. Mix them until it's even. You can add a teaspoon of salt to the mixture as well. Remember, don't add too much water first. Do that bit by bit. You should mix them until the dough no longer sticked to the side of the basin. That will be one good dough.

2. While you mix and knead, you can dump the dough on the basin to make it more bouncy (like making fish balls). If you do that, the MMK will have better texture and taste "Q".

3. Chop some garlic and prepare some ikan bilis. To prepare the stock for MMK, fried them until golden brown. Remember, it must be golden brown, if not your stock will taste a little fishy.

4. Once it's ready, transfer the fried ikan bilis and garlic to a pot of boiling water. Let it simmer for 10 min to bring out the flavour of the ikan bilis. Alternatively, you may add those maggi cubes (chicken or ikan bilis flavours) to the water if you find preparing the stock from scratch too tedious.

5. Slice the dried mushrooms. Since it's dried, it should be soaked in hot water for some time before slicing. Then, fried the mushrooms. Add soy sauce to them and it will taste better.

6. Mushrooms will soak up oil and water very quickly. Thus, if you find the mushrooms too dry, you may add some of the stock which you are preparing.

7. This is the part that I really hate. Shallots are not easy to slice. It will make me tear uncontrollably. So, with my mum around, she did the job. Fried the shallots until golden brown over low heat as they can get burnt very quickly. Fried shallots will be used as garnishes.

8. You have to constantly stir them evenly. If no, some will be darker and more cooked than the others. This also applies to ikan bilis which will be also be used for garnishes. I forgot to take the pictures for the ikan bilis part. For people who are professional like my mum, they know that they are not allowed to wash the ikan bilis before frying as it will not be crispy. My mum even went to sun the ikan bilis, ensuring that they were not even a single hint of moisture in the ikan bilis.

9. Once you are ready to eat, you can start kneading your dough into bite-sized MMK. The fun began. The difference between homemade MMK and those sold outside is you can knead them in any shapes you want. I liked them to be irregular.

10. You just have to pull and twist. Too thick? Just knead it thinner using your fingers. It's best not to knead too thin because you still have to soak them in the soup and it will turn out overcooked.

11. Get ready a pot of boiling water. You need to cook the MMK. How do you know when it is cooked? Once the MMK floats on the water, take them out and place them in cold water. Apparently, it will make the MMK more "Q".

12. This is the highlight of the dish. Meatballs! While you are waiting for the MMK to float, prepare the meatballs. Buy $4 worth of minced 五花肉. Marinate it with sesame oil, salt, pepper, a little Ajinomoto. Oh! Not to forget minced prawns! Yes, you have to buy prawns, remove the shells and then chop finely. Mix them with the minced meat and refrigerate. When you are ready to eat, make into balls and cook it in the soup.

13. See how fast my mum's hand moves. She made so many within 5 mins.

14. Do you niotice how the soup change colour and look milkier? That's because of the ikan bilis. You can add salt to taste.

15. The MMK have floated and are now ready!

16. This is the cold water I'm refering to.

17. Ooh, the meatball is so tasty and so "Q"!

18. Depending on your taste, you can add in other ingredients as well. Meatballs, crabsticks... Boil the soup, add in the MMK. Let it soak for a while and VOILA!

19. Garnish with chili, coriander, fried shallots and ikan bilis.

YUMMY!

It's not too difficult to cook and if you want to cook something for your family, this is the most appropriate dish. You don't have to worry about buying too many ingredients. It's fun and easy!