Adapted from Rasa Malaysia
Serves 2
Preparation & Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
- A handful of Chinese noodles (200g fresh noodles or dried rice noodles)
- 100-150g of minced chicken or pork (traditionally this dish is made with minced pork, and I use the lowest 3-7% fat content type)
- A handful of frozen vegetables e.g. broccoli florets, carrots, etc. (traditionally this is not part of the dish, but I have added this to enhance the nutritional value of the dish)
- A handful of frozen shrimps
- A handful of mung bean sprouts (optional)
- 1 tsp fish sauce
- 1000ml water (or you can use the water from steaming vegetables or chicken for baby as stock)
- Dash of salt and pepper
Garnish:
- 1 clove garlic chopped and 2 TBS cooking oil
- Chopped spring onions
- Chopped fresh chilli for garnish (optional)
Directions:
1. In 2 separate pots, boil some water for the noodles (about 300ml) and some water for the soup (about 1000ml).
2. Meanwhile, chop garlic, spring onions and chilli.
3. When the water for the noodles boil, throw in noodles and let it boil for 2 minutes. Drain, rinse with cold water (to prevent it from sticking) and set aside in a soup bowl.
4. Meanwhile, to make the garlic oil, in a separate small pot, heat oil and fry garlic until fragrant.
5. When the water for the soup boils, add in the minced meat and boil until it is almost cooked (about 3-5 minutes depending on the type of meat you use). Then add in the frozen vegetables and frozen shrimps. These cook really fast - probably 1-2 minute. Then add the bean sprouts.
6. Add salt, fish sauce and pepper and turn off heat.
7. Scope the noodles into 2 soup bowls, add the soup and top it with 1 tsp of garlic oil each.
8. Garnish with some spring onions and fresh chilli (optional) and serve immediately.
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Additional Information:
This is the famous Singaporean/Malaysian Chinese “Bak Chor Mee” and this modern version is quick and easy to make, because I use frozen vegetables and frozen shrimps. It is also healthier than those served in the food courts in Singapore. It can be served in soup or dry (noodle and soup separately).
You can use any kind of Chinese noodles to your liking. But unless you use home-made noodles, it is healthier to use dried rice noodles. Today, I use a combination of the dried rice noodles and vermicelli and J loves it!
I usually save the water from the vegetables I blanch, steam or cook, when I prepare baby food for J. This water is full of nutrients and I call it the "vegetable stock" water. I will "re-cycle" the "vegetable stock" water when I make soup the next day, etc. In this way, I save water and get the maximum water from vegetables. If you have a baby or a toddler and are making your own baby food like I do, you may like to do the same :-)
If you are not using stock, you can add prawns or frozen shrimps to make it sweet and savoury. You can’t do without the garlic oil. It is the ingredient (and the minced pork) that gives the character (a nice flavour and frangrance) to this dish. To save time, you can make the garlic oil in advance in bulk easily by frying garlic with oil in a small sauce pot as shown below:
Garlic Oil
I made this for dinner this evening and J loves it (even with the chopped chilli on it!) That’s my boy, I am on my way of training him to eat spicy food… ha ha… J ate everything – the rice noodles, the meat, the broccoli (except the carrots).
I must say, I am impressed with this, it is really delicious, thanks to Rasa Malaysia, who brings me "back" to Singapore, right here from Copenhagen, so that I can indulge in this dish and introduce it to J. You can find the link to the original recipe from below reference.
References:
http://rasamalaysia.com/rice-noodle-soup-bee-thai-bak/
