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

  1. 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.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, mix flour and salt.
  3. Create a well in the middle of the flour mix, crack in 2 eggs and add the oil and mix.
  4. Add half the water and knead away.
  5. Add the other half of the water little by little, kneading to bring the dough together.
  6. The dough is ready when it comes together into a rough ball, you may not need all the water.
  7. 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.
  8. Place the ready dough into a bowl, cling foil and rest in fridge until you are ready to cook.

For the soup base

  1. Take the dough out of the fridge.
  2. Soak dried mushroom and wash the vegetables. Set aside while you prepare other ingredients.
  3. Mince garlic and onions.
  4. Pour excess water from the soaked mushrooms and cut into slices.
  5. Heat up oil in a deep pot.
  6. Fry the ikan bilis until fragrant and crisp and add the mushrooms.
  7. Add the minced garlic and onions and fry till the garlic is lightly browned and the onions translucent.
  8. Add water to fill 3/4 of the pot and bring to boil.
  9. Add balls of minced meat and bring to boil.
  10. 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.
  11. Drop the dough into the boiling soup and continue until all the dough is used up.
  12. Leave to boil for a few minutes.
  13. Add the vegetables and season with scallop stock and salt.
  14. 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.