Sunday, April 25, 2010

Home-made noodles (Ban Mian)

I've been craving my favourite noodles from Singapore but have never felt brave enough to attempt it, since the term "hand-made" automatically fell into the "difficult" category of my brain, even without any research on how to do it. However, upon seeing some photos of this noodles that a Facebook friend of mine made, I suddenly had the urge and courage to attempt it.

It's one of those dishes that I expected to fail for a first attempt, but was pleasantly surprised at how easy, fuss-free and delicious it tasted! There's room for improvement in the texture of the hand-made noodles, but the stock definitely tasted authentic! I could possibly get myself a noodle machine and that would save me the effort of rolling out the dough thinly and cutting it myself!
That me looking all glamorous in my apron (not) and slaving in my kitchen. Oh boy, my face looks a bit covered by flour on the left photo! As the Bible verse goes, "If you don't work, you don't eat". That's my exact predicament here! If I crave for something, I got to get my hands dirty to D.I.M- Do It Myself!

Home-made Noodles
- 2 cups flour

- 1 egg

- Some water

- Some additional flour



Pris' version of Ban Mian

- A packet of Ikan Bilis (Anchovies, medium-sized about 200grams)

- Chinese Vegetables (I used Chinese broccoli)

- Handful of Chinese Mushrooms (pre-soaked till soft and sliced, retain water)

- 2 Shallots / Onions, chopped

- 2 Eggs

- 500 grams of minced meat


Wa.lah! My authentic home-made Ban Mian! What a lovely taste of home! And you know what the best part is? The hubby lurved it!!! I had never dreamt in a million years that hubby would like something so "local". I really had cooked it for both of us with the mentality of, "If he doesn't like it, then there's more for me!!!" But he finished up his portion happily and claimed that the noodles tasted like his grandma's home-made noodles. How cool is that?

1) Season the minced meat in a bag with light soya sauce, pepper, sesame oil and some oyster sauce for a few hours in the fridge.

2) Do the noodles. Its very try-and-error. Add the flour, egg and water. Knead until you get a smooth dough. My dough became a bit watery, so I added more flour. Some recipes, didn't call for an egg, so I figured if you want to save on eggs, you don't need them either.

3)Let the dough stand for 15mins before rolling it out and cutting it into small pieces

4) Fry the Ikan Bilis in hot oil until crispy and put aside. Leave a little bit uncooked.

5) Fry the shallots and mushrooms in some hot oil and set aside.

6) Boil some water and mushroom stock in a pot. Once boiling, add the Ikan Bilis (both fried and uncooked), shallots and mushrooms into the stock. Save some fried Ikan Bilis for garnish.

7) Roll the minced meat into balls and throw them into the stock. Add prawns if you like.

8) Let the stock simmer on low heat for a few minutes. Taste it and add some light soya sauce / pepper if necessary.

9) Increase the heat so that stock boils again.

10) Add the hand-made noodles. Stir. Add the Chinese vegetables and an egg to complete the dish.

11) Garnish with Fried Ikan Bilis. Serve with Thai Chilli and light soya sauce in a separate saucer to complete this wholesome meal.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

goodness!!! good one..looks so lecker! i wish u r living next door babe;(

Pris said...

Dear Manis! :) Yeah sure! Wish you were my neighbour too! Can definitely invite you over for some Singaporean home-cooked goodness!

Steph said...

wow, am so impressed ! can u come over and make for me please !

Pris said...

Hey Steph! Sure thing! I'll practise it a few more times before visiting you again ok?

Its way easier than I had feared it to be. But my noodles are still a bit tough...I think I might have to cook it longer next time...or get a noodle maker.

Steph said...

Get Stephane to get u the noodle maker for your birthday ! ;)

letti said...

That looks amazing! Gotta try for sure :)

Pris said...

Dear Steph! I would want something nicer and more expensive for my birthday!!! Wahahah! Think I can get the Noodle Maker by myself...shouldn't be too expensive. :)

Pris said...

Hey Letti! Sure thing! Its quite fool proof really! :) Let me know how yours went!

NicoleRobin said...

See you did it gal! Good job! *Ps: the soup is very yummy right!!? Minus the MSG* ;D

Pris said...

Chrish - Thanks! :) The soup was VERY yummy! Did you do things any differently with your soup?

NicoleRobin said...

almost similar lar, i just was lazy to boil mushroom stock so i just used ikan bilis only lol..and i just used soya sauce and sesame oil to season, didn't add oyster sauce to meat :)

Rebecca said...

my goodness i have to try this when i go over to D in jul. praying that my masters application will be accepted! anyway its a shame my bf isnt really into chinese food and ive no idea how to do a fusion dish! any ideas? haha

Pris said...

Dear Rebecca,
This dish is pretty easy to make. :) And oh so homely! Well, my hubby was very picky about food before he met me. That was one of my concerns when we got married - that he wouldn't like Chinese food.

But I prayed that God would change his taste buds so that he would like / love whatever I cook. And this prayer worked! Stephan eats 99% of whatever I cook and he loves most of it. If he doesn't, he says I can wait for a while before I cook it again. And food that he used to dislike when he was young, he likes it when I cook. So its such a blessing!

Yeah! Hope your Masters come through too!

Rebecca said...

thanks! it's nice to know tht Stephan has adjustd to chi food and even likes most of it. andreas doesnt eat seafood, mushrooms and soya sauce though. hmm, i wonder what other chinese dishes are there left? haha

Pris said...

Rebecca - Fact that Andreas doesn't eat seafood isn't too bad. Cos Germany (Stuttgart) isn't known for its seafood...though Göttingen is further north, so perhaps you have better seafood.

Soya sauce?? But soya sauce is like a must-have in most chinese dishes. You sure he tastes that in the food? If he takes salt, soya sauce isn't much different.

Mushrooms, you mean Chinese mushrooms or mushrooms in general? Fresh mushrooms here are an easy substitute for Chinese mushrooms.

Loader said...

Great Piece!
Your photo and its’ source have been featured on the World Food Guide website:
http://worldfood.guide/photo/banmian_1384/

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