Every year during hubby’s birthday I will cook a special meal for his departmental colleagues which is usually around 15 to 20 people. That is all I can manage as the entire building will have a couple of hundreds personnel! (pre pandemic) Everyone does the same on their birthdays but mostly the food is shop bought so they all looked forward to my hubby’s birthday each year.

I enjoy doing it as I am weird. I actually enjoy the planning and executing more than eating the food itself. I was talking to a friend the other day and she roll her eyes at me. kekekekekeke I enjoy introducing the majority British colleagues with what I like to think a true Malaysian hospitality and cuisines. I also have to plan what I can cook that can travel, easy for hubby to carry in the boot of his car. Luckily his office is just 10 minutes drive away.

When the colleagues come back and tell my husband they went to this and that restaurants and order the same food I have made for them but they tasted totally different, not enough ooooomph….it makes the hubby proud and make my heart sings lah (honestly) That is why I like to plan, execute and give them different food each year; introducing them to our Asian, Malaysian cuisines.

It had been 2 years now that they missed their treats – This was in 2017

Tri-coloured nasi pulut with chicken tikka masala, tomato chachumbar, mango raita, cumin potatoes and spicy vegetarian aubergines with mock chicken for the vegetarian.

Yesterday was not a birthday or anything but the colleagues have missed hubby’s birthday twice due to the pandemic so the boss asked hubby if he could ‘persuade’ me to cook them something for their first “meet & greet”. The only annoying thing is I have 2 days notice!!! Darn it! Hubby forgot to tell me and it cuts down my pleasure of the ‘planning & executing’ process joy!

However I have to plan something the colleagues have not tried from my kitchen before and must be Covid19 friendly. I decided on individual boxes and must be dry not wet food. So I came up with Mee Siam for main. I have not been able to find a vendor to cater to my taste so far outside so I have to cook. I did not plan to write this recipe out as it all agak-agak and I cooked 3 packets of vermicelli noodles yesterday and the last wok I added some egg noodles. However to my surprise a few persons asked for my recipe so I am scaling down this recipe for 1 wok full or 1 packet of rice vermicelli. I also served crispy wantons for starters and cupcakes for desserts.

So please bear in mind to taste and TASTE your sauce before you add in your noodles to suit your taste. Mine is extremely sour and spicy or one of my friend who ate it said ‘zingy’ kekekekekekeke I am very liberal with my lime and tamarind juice. Over the past decade the hubby’s colleagues know that I do not compromise on taste for them. They can have red faces from the spiciness and still they will eat. Very funny.

TIP 1 – Do not boil your vermicelli noodles or over soak them. Just soak in cold tap water. When soft, remove and drain before use. (Ignore what is written in the packet)

TIP 2 – I do not use any soy sauces, dark or otherwise because I do not like the colour too dark and to me it is not necessary.

TIP 3 – Whole grain fermented yellow beans smashed, taste a lot better than the ready mashed ones. Half and half is perfect.

TIP 4 – Place half the eggy strip before the gravy runs dry so they can soak up the taste a bit.

TIP 5 – If serve immediately please gives the vegetables a toss with the hot noodles before serving BUT if you are packing for people aka tapau do not do so. Residue heat will cook the vegetables to crunchy perfection. Overcooked limps beansprouts and vegetables just look so unappetising to me.

COMMON SENSE –

1 – More sauce – wetter Mee Siam so less sauce drier Mee Siam. It is entirely up to your taste!

2 – Making more of the sambal paste and serving some separately is also nice for those who can eat extra spicy. If you are serving sambal please add a pinch of sugar.

As a young teenager growing up in Kuching, Sarawak my father took us out for supper few days a week. I do realized how extremely lucky my siblings and I were now.

One such supper is this Char Koay Kark . This recipe is for the plain Koay Kark aka no fresh radish grated inside, just rice flours mixture. This is the street food version. Not the ones sold in Dim Sum restaurants but it’s oh so nostalgic.

This Char Koay Kar dish brings back memories of us 5 siblings, sometimes laughing, sometimes arguing at the back of my mother’s Volvo 244 in racing green. Those were carefree days and our only worries were our parents not buying for us what we want!

I have extremely fond memories of this street food Char Koay Kark. There was an elderly gentleman with a makeshift stall selling it by an old iron fenced gate near the then Cathay cinema. He used to wrap them into a corn shape with newspaper on the outside and a piece of plastic inside.

If I remembered correctly the plain ones were 50 sen and the added eggs 70 sen. I can’t remember there being prawns but I just wanted to add to mine today.

I have not cook this for years. Hubby reminded me the other day so I decided to cook for him. He loves the preserved sweet radish and will always request for extra! I remembered a few years back when I was first experimenting to make the rice cakes, a lot went into the rubbish bin before I settled on this combo that is not too hard, nor too soft and with just enough ‘chew’

Today I have decided to write out with pics in details. If you made it please post me a pic or tag me and you would have made this post worthwhile.

TIP – Make the koay kark, rice cake at least a day ahead. After storing in the fridge it is easier to cut. Oil your knife.

Stir fry rice vermicelli with dried shrimps. My comfort food. While away for the last 3 weeks this is the dish I wanted to eat most. A simple rice vermicelli stir fry.

Woke up early today and could not get back to sleep. So I was already frying this at 7am this morning.

Luckily my hubby is one that is happy to eat this for breakfast, lunch and dinner. He’s extremely good when it come to food. Every so often I asked him if he is just eating to please me and his answer is always ‘not at all’

He eats with such total enjoyment and gusto that I just have to believe him. In fact a friend’s husband, also an Englishman recently commented that if he had not met and seen my hubby eats he would never have believed it, if told an Englishman loves Asian food so much and can eat so spicy. My friend and her husband visited for a weekend and we ate at mine and at restaurants too.

TIP – Do not add water to your noodles as there will be liquid from your fresh vegetables and beansprouts. I hate soggy noodles.

TIP – Only soak the noodles in hot water quick, do not boil them if frying. Again I hate soggy noodles.

TIP – If you like to eat the bottom burnt bit turn your fire to high for a couple of minute at the very end with a a few drop of oil to the side all round the wok. This will give you the happy crispy bottom. These are the cook’s perk!

TIP – If you have pork lard use it!

Kiam Hue Bihun is a dish i cook a few times a year. The hubby and I both love it. Provided I have ready fried salt fish of course, it is an easy 30 minutes cook and perfect for a quick lunch. I always add extra beansprouts as I love the extra crunch and texture then give.

The last time I fried my salt fish from Kuching, I saved some in a glass container infused with the oil and placed into my fridge for the time when I want to use it like today. They would happily sits in the fridge for a long time, months.

My very British hubby is a weird Mat Salleh who loves salt fish He always wears a happy face when he opens the front door and smell salt fish, udang kering (dried shrimps) and belacan.

Back in the days of my youth my mother said kiam hue (salt fish) was once known to be a poor man’s food. Same goes for beansprouts too but nowadays salt fish is not cheap. Their prices seems to go up and up each year! Nice salt fish in UK is definitely not cheap at all.

TIP – Please add in any other protein you like. Pork belly, chicken etc.

TIP – Do not attempt to overly season the noodles as the taste should come from the salt fish, the omelette and the sambal that is served with it.

TIP – The beansprouts gives it that extra crunchy texture and adding kangkong would be very good idea too. Just make sure you do not overcooked them. They must stay fresh.

TIP – Calamansi lime is is a must too to balance the dish.

Enjoy

Char Keow Teow or fried flat rice noodles is another of my recipe that I have lost with my old blog. So I am now replacing it.

Because I live in the UK and I missed the charcoal taste I am here using a few drop of liquid smoke to give me that special ooooomph…. just like the market stall.

Because I am a greedy (Tham Chiak Kui) I put everything possible into my Char Keow Teow. However I did not have any fish cake in my freezer so have to go without.

I have to admit that losing my old blog is still making me sad. I have to search deep for the inclination to work on this new blog. At times I have messages from friends asking for recipes and asking why my old links don’t work and that give me a boost to continue. today is one of them days that I have the ‘uuuummmph’ to write up a few more recipes. Thanks peeps.

Hope you enjoy this recipe.

Mamak basically means ‘uncle’ in the Tamil language. Dotted all over Malaysia are Indian stalls selling all sorts of Indian cuisines. Among the most favoured is Mamak mee goreng. It is a spicy, sour and pungent tasty noodle dish that really warms up the belly and so moorish. If you live in a foreign land like me and desperate for a good mamak style mee goreng sometimes, you just have to cook it yourself. 

Mamak mee goreng is not something you can order from an Indian restaurant here in the UK. It is as I have discovered a fundamentally Malaysian Indian Muslim dish so there is no pork involve and mostly using seafood and potatoes plus firm  tofu (beancurd). Hence most Indian restaurant do not know what I am talking about when I ask for Mamak Mee Goreng. 

Mamak ‘style’ Mee Goreng for me because I am using a reduced carbohydrate noodles which when cooked spicy taste no different than the ordinary egg noodles and I do not have potatoes in my portion. I have also added spring onions cause I just love the taste.

Updated 29th September 2020 – Pics with potatoes (Yeah) – the REAL mamak mee goreng!

The taste with potatoes bits that stick to each strands of flavoured mee is so good.

However today’s I do not have beansprouts so I have to do without. I have also updated some new pics of the steps by steps.

Update with TIPs 7th November 2022

I like to use the egg noodles from Aldi. In UK there is not much choice. The ones from the Asian/Chinese shops are often too soft and I do not like to eat soggy lumpy sticky mess.