I’m not much of a cook, but this circuit breaker saw me pushing the limits and attempting to break into the savoury culinary world. I did spanish eggs. which I later found out that the name of the dish I made has an official name, ‘Shakshuka’. It sounds complicated, but it’s an easy dish, really. I’ll leave that for another post. This post will be mee hoon kueh. I remember mum making it when we were really young and I remember that I didn’t like the dough to thick, so I made sure to pull the dough thinly when I first attempted it. I also made a mental note to cook it for mum should I get the chance to, now that she is in nursing home. I missed her dearly. I don’t do this ‘adulting thing’ very well, given how old I am now. Oh well… back to the recipe. I have to make portions big enough to feed 7 people, so half the recipe if you don’t need to feed so many people.
Ingredients
For the dough
- 600g all purpose flour
- 240g water
- 2 tbsp oil
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
For the soup base
- 300g minced meat
- 15 dried mushrooms
- a bunch of vegetables (mani vegetables or the scientific name ‘Sauropus androgynus’, ok, forget the scientific name)
- handful ikan bilis
- 1 large onion
- 1 cluster garlic
- 1 tbsp oil
- a few eggs (dependent on the no of people you are feeding)
- salt and pepper to taste
- stock base (I used scallop stock)
Method
For the dough
- This can be done the day before and left to chill in the fridge. I did mine in the morning and use the dough only for dinner.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix flour and salt.
- Create a well in the middle of the flour mix, crack in 2 eggs and add the oil and mix.
- Add half the water and knead away.
- Add the other half of the water little by little, kneading to bring the dough together.
- The dough is ready when it comes together into a rough ball, you may not need all the water.
- Tip the dough onto a work surface knead with the heel of your palms until the dough feels smooth and elastic. I took about 8 to 10 minutes.
- Place the ready dough into a bowl, cling foil and rest in fridge until you are ready to cook.
For the soup base
- Take the dough out of the fridge.
- Soak dried mushroom and wash the vegetables. Set aside while you prepare other ingredients.
- Mince garlic and onions.
- Pour excess water from the soaked mushrooms and cut into slices.
- Heat up oil in a deep pot.
- Fry the ikan bilis until fragrant and crisp and add the mushrooms.
- Add the minced garlic and onions and fry till the garlic is lightly browned and the onions translucent.
- Add water to fill 3/4 of the pot and bring to boil.
- Add balls of minced meat and bring to boil.
- Give the dough a gentle knead, pull dough using your finger until you get the thickness you desire. I pull them out thin because I don’t like the dough too thick.
- Drop the dough into the boiling soup and continue until all the dough is used up.
- Leave to boil for a few minutes.
- Add the vegetables and season with scallop stock and salt.
- Before serving, crack in the eggs and off the heat, allowing the residual heat to cook just cook the eggs.
There, it’s quite easy even for a noob cook like me.