Yong Chow or Yang Chow fried rice originated in the city of Yangzhou in the Jiangsu province of China. It does not matter what you call it; yong chow fried rice, yang chow fried rice, yeung chow fried rice, or Yangzhou fried rice – there’s no denying that this Chinese egg fried rice is delicious. It is a special fried rice and not your typical fridge cleaning fried rice dish.

There is actually a basic rule in this Yang Chow fried rice. The ingredients must consist of at least 3 types of proteins and one of them must be prawns followed closely by char sui or roast pork. I have eaten in restaurant that uses lap cheong (Chinese sausage) too. Also you must have a liberal drizzle of rice wine. It is the original surf and turf. Surf and turf is definitely not a new Western invention.

One of my favourite of all fried rice is this Yang Chow fried rice. I was first introduced to this in Singapore many many moons ago when I was still an impressionable teenager but my opinion has not changed in these decades gone.

Then of course there is the must have eggs. Remember though Yang Chow fried rice is not proper without rice wine!

Note – It is most important to take the time to properly fry the rice till dry.

Nowadays I only blog dishes that I love to eat. My daughter has also taken an interest in cooking simple food recently. Praise the Lord! I think of ideas and simplified them but yet hope to maintain ‘tasty’ so she can try and make it her own one day. She loves seafood and prawns above all else.

Today’s dish is very simple. I bought a block of raw shrimps the other day and made some prawns paste. It is very easy to make if you have a blender. I prefer to make my own because I have a suspicious mind. I always think others are not ‘clean’ especially those doing it in bulk for business.

Please refer to the pics for inspirations.

TIP – You can add in a beaten egg or two just before serving to thicken the sauce instead of using corn-starch.

TIP – You can also make any sauce you like using chicken stock or mushroom stock.

I do love a good bowl of prawn noodles. Especially when the weather is 7˚C outside. Inside my house though the heating has not even come on as I live in a new build eco-friendly house. After a bowl of my extra spicy Hae Mee noodles, I do not feel any cold at all.

Peeling 5 minutes eggs is not a joke. I have to be gentle and do it slowly. Should have boiled it yesterday and put them in the fridge. TIP – doing this makes them easier to peel.

Having a bowl of spicy prawn noodles that you made from scratch and not from a packet of shop bought paste feels like singing …..I’m walking in the air….. I have been planning this cook for a week. Last week I fried my collection of prawn heads and made into a small pot of sambal ready in the fridge and prawn oil for my chicken rice noodles (Hor Fun) https://www.julieolive.co.uk/2019/03/05/kai-see-hor-fun-%e9%b8%a1%e4%b8%9d%e6%b2%b3%e7%b2%89/

This makes life a lot easier. I have also made some prawn stock and freeze. I defrosted the stock last night as I decided to cook today because I saw some amazingly fresh Kangkong at the Asian supermarket during the weekend. To me a good bowl of prawn noodles must come with its partner, the Kangkong, morning glory vegetables.

Today I am making it with pork ribs. Lately it is very difficult to buy raw pork ribs in the normal supermarket. Most of them have been boiled and marinated, prepared for the masses to oven bake. As I am not a fan of BBQ sauce or sticky sweet sauce myself, I hardly buy, cook or eat those. Nowadays if I want nice raw pork ribs, I find I have to go and get them from Costco. Luckily Costco is nearby and not too far away. The accompanying pics below are the stages and TIPs of my way of cooking this dish in the UK. Enjoy.

p/s Of course, you can make more of the prawn head paste aka otak udang sambal and keep it in the fridge for adding to other dishes like I did with my Asam curry fish dish. The possibilities are endless, and it is not wasted – https://www.julieolive.co.uk/2022/11/24/asam-curry-fish-asam-hue-%e4%ba%9a%e5%8f%81%e5%92%96%e5%93%a9%e9%b1%bc/

My daughter is interested to learning to make another one of her favourite, beancurd prawns rolls. She did learned how to make roast pork her mum’s style last year – Traditional Cantonese Crispy Roast pork belly – Siu Yuk, 脆皮烧肉. – Just Julie (julieolive.co.uk) and I am happy she asked to be taught. Slowly slowly lah.

I have decided to teach her the simplest ‘BASIC’ fillings with what we have on hand and letting her take notes on what other ingredients she can add in. Upon tasting she lazily said she preferred this basic recipe! Alamak but I guess it is better than nothing. Else if I have the privilege to grow old no one will make for me my kinda taste – kekekeke However I did inform her this way is the most expensive way as we only used prawns and nothing else to bulk up! She told me she ‘got it’ So next time she ask to make again I can ask her to pay for the prawns.

However I much prefer adding fish paste, jicama, carrot, spring onions or coriander and even fresh red chilli as I love colourful food. It is entirely up to you. This time I used chicken powder so I did not add salt as it is salty enough for me. I did add a lot of freshly ground Sarawak pepper because my family just love pepper. I am out of ginger so I did not add ginger juice. Instead I added sesame oil. As I often say, find your taste and make it your own. Enjoy. This is another one of my signatory beancurd wraps – Fu Pei Guen – 腐皮卷 (虾 & 鸡); prawns and chicken beancurd wraps – Just Julie (julieolive.co.uk)

NOTE – I have also found out that if you wait for them to cool and soften a bit, takes hours as they stay crispy a long time (at least 4 to 5o hours) then you can store them in ziplock bags and freeze. Just use the air fryer to heat up.

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.

Last weekend a friend told me she has been hankering for cucuk udang. She asked me for my recipe and I realised that I have not made these for years. I am not sure if she meant just these crispy prawns ones which I love or the ones with beansprouts and kuchai. These are my first choice and those are my second loves.

However she got me thinking where did I put my recipe. One day many years ago I experimented with different combination of flours; with and without egg to find the combination I wanted. I have even fried with prawn stock, not water, the bit softer type and the crunchier types etc etc……… The MAD housewife – kekekekekeke

The final recipe I uploaded to my old blog which I have since lost. In my cooking I am often a bit like a ‘bee in the bonnet’ type of person. I will try and try and try and experiment and experiment BUT once I made it to my satisfaction I will lose all interest and only cook once in a blue moon. In this case it has been a few years. I have to dig around to find my recipe and Facebook recorded my mad moment was on 25th June 2011!!! Luckily I found it! Thus this is an old recipe revived with TIPs.

My husband do not like big prawns so I distributed to other families near me when I made yesterday for the pics taking. Luckily I have willing guinea pigs – hahahaha

IMPORTANT TO NOTE – If you want a crispier outcome then make the batter slightly thinner, ummmmm….like pouring custard consistency and if you want crispy sides and softer middle then make it thicker consistency like thick custard.

If you make very thin batter it is very good to eat with rojak sauce!

Of course if you want to add in beansprouts and beans or Chinese chives then you need the thick custard consistency.

Experiment and enjoy.

p/s I used left over batter + a bit more rice flour and batter chicken strips for my son who also like his Dad don’t eat big prawns. Sigh……… I just have to share my prawns fritters out when I make them.

The pipa ( Chinese: 琵琶) pronounced as ‘pee-pah’ is a four-stringed Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments. Sometimes called the Chinese lute, the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets ranging from 12 to 26. Pipa toufo should resemble the shape of a pipa.

Every time I go outside to have food, admittedly not that often, I always order pipa toufo if it’s in the menu list. I love this dish a lot but I have always shy away from making it as I don’t like the frying bit. However as my old recipe was in the old blog which is lost, it is time to update into this new blog but with hopefully a new look. I wanted to make for some weeks now as I have not been in any eatery places barred once this entire year! (Covid19)

For the past few weeks I was really looking forward to cooking and eating this. Needless to say as you can see from these pics, today I am wearing a huge smile on my face. Recently I have been challenging myself to try and plate Asian food nicely, I am quite happy today with my amateurish attempt. One needs to try in order to learn right?

Actually with age come wisdom? Experiences of cooking thus far enable me to fry these babies with NO SPITTING at all. I tried my ideas today and it worked! So I will share my TIPs

TIP 1 – Steaming the pipa toufo the night before and allowing them to ‘dry’ overnight is helpful in the no spitting department.

TIP – Coating the pipa toufo and letting them rest for 30 minutes before a quick frying is double happiness to NO SPITTING

TIP – I always thought pipa toufo can look better. More like a pipa (琵琶) so I have decided to use a mushroom stalk and some chives. I am wearing a happy smile because it works. Well I think in my eyes my pipa toufo looks more like a pipa

TIP – You may and can change the protein but remember not to liquefied them or your pipa toufo will taste tough. Likewise you can add water chestnuts, spring onions and others. using celery is good too as it gives that extra crunch.

TIP – I used a shimeji mushroom for the pipa look and chives for the pipa strings.

Again use my recipe as a guide, mind my TIPS and own this recipe yourself. Good luck and enjoy cooking.

Disclaimer – Written quickly, if you find any mistakes please poke me as I am lazy to check now.

Some friends have been poking/nagging me to update my blog as it is still missing a lot of recipes from the old blog. I have also not updated this blog for a while. However, though I have been cooking, I just don’t think my daily cooks deserved or needed to be blogged.

Update : TIP – Not only must you not mince your protein and toufo too much you must also DRAIN your toufo well before mixing so your paste is easier to handle and not liquidly.