#FerrisKangKitchen- Chicken Mee Sua / Birthday Mee Su

#FerrisKangKitchen- Chicken Mee Sua / Birthday Mee Su

I can’t believe I finally mastered my grandmother’s chicken mee sua! It smell and taste so familiar I almost cried. This was one of my favorite dishes that I often request my grandma to prepare for me whenever I visit her after I move out from her place (I was brought up by my paternal grandma from 6-12 years old). Since young, I was super spoiled by my grandmother's immaculate culinary skills. Hence, I became someone who is very intrigued with flavors. I think I became a major foodie/food snob because of her.

I often say that one of my biggest regret in life is that I didn’t get to learn cooking from my grandmother before she passed away. I got so used to just calling a day ahead to just place order for food and show up at her place on time for a lovely dish/meal ready to be served on the table. I do cook from time to time after moving in with Bernard but they are pretty much all western/European dishes. Many times when I'm in the lobby at home, I can smell my Chinese neighbor’s cooking and wished I know how to cook Chinese food. More so now that I am pregnant, I really wish I can cook Chinese food for my future child. I want to be able to make the warm  comfort food that my grandmother used to prepare for me. Those foods genuinely make me happy and I want to be able to impart that kind of love through culinary to my children too.

Today, I am sick with a cold. I decided to walk to the market after the doctor visit to cook myself something nutritious. Maybe because I am sick, I really want to eat the chicken mee sua my grandma used to make for me. I know she usually manages to whip them up even with 1-2 hours notice so I have some time to figure it out before I get hungry for lunch. I tried to guess and recollect the flavors in the dish.

Many years back, I did ask her how she made it and she briefly said to just fry the chicken a bit, add sesame oil , soy sauce and a few things to make it flavorful. When I was super young, I used to watch her cook. She almost ALWAYS uses garlic and shallots in her cooking. I tried to piece the ingredients together like a treasure hunt and I manage to piece them together (and had 2 servings on my own)!

Now, with a happy belly I’m frantically typing the recipe down so that I wont forget how to cook this again when my baby turns ONE! You lucky little one, now mom knows how to make you birthday mee sua on your birthday like a true Hokkien!

Grandma’s Chicken (Birthday) Mee Sua Recipe (serves 2)

Stock:

1 x chicken carcasse

1 x chicken leg

1 x chicken thigh

3 x shallots (sliced thinly)

2 x shallots (whole, just skin removed)

1 x garlic (sliced)

1 x garlic (smashed)

1.5 inch x ginger (skin removed)

1 dash fish sauce

2 dash of soy sauce

2 dash of pepper

2.5 tablespoon cooking oil

1 dash of sesame oil

1 liter of boiling water

1 x chicken stock cube (optional)

1. Preheat non-stick wok, add oil and deep fry sliced shallots till crispy (try not to char them or else they get kinda bitter).

2. Transfer shallots from wok onto a a plate with two pieces of kitchen towel to absorb the oil so that it stay crispy.

3. Using shallot oil in the wok, lightly brown the chicken, all the garlic and ginger. Add a dash of pepper, sesame oil and soy sauce.

4. Add boiling water (if you want it to be more flavorful, add 1 chicken stock cube for the extra oomph)

5. Add the 2 whole shallots

6. Add a dash of fish sauce and a dash of pepper

7. Simmer until the chicken is cooked.

Mee Sua ingredient:

2 servings of mee sua

2 eggs (For birthday mee sua, use boiled eggs rather than raw eggs)

6-8 bunch of bak choy (cut into half, throw the root/ base away)

1. Transfer just the hot stock (without ingredients from stock) to a small pot. Turn up the heat to boil.

2. Once boiling, add bak choy then mee sua. Cooked till mee sua almost soft.

3. Stir in egg. If chicken from the stock pot is not hot, you can transfer them into the hot to heat it up now.

4. Serve and enjoy!

 

Tadah! The bowl of yummy goodness! 

Tadah! The bowl of yummy goodness! 

#notetobaby Grandpa will give you the moon

Nobody warned me that pregnancy was gonna be that tough

Nobody warned me that pregnancy was gonna be that tough