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.

Besil pesto sauce was first introduced to me by my late father-in-law. Tears welled up my eyes as I type this. It’s been a year since we lost him but it still hurts. I missed his daily phone call to ask me ‘What’s for lunch, Julie?’ He might not be here but his teaching/recipes lives on. Therefore I also have no time for people who are selfish enough not to share recipe. Utmost annoying are those who lies and boast that they do not measure and those those who tell you to search the internet. Benci! Experiences and TIPs are the yardsticks I measure how kind, helpful and generous a person is.

My father-in-law might not eat all of my food but he loved asking me what’s I am serving his son. Often he is shocked at the palate his son has cultivated.

Anyway basil pesto sauce is another of them recipe lost in my old blog. As of today it is not lost anymore. This blog is now triple saved.

Basil pesto sauce or any sort of pesto sauce is so easy to make. I promised you that once you have made your own you will never ever eat shop bought one.

Pesto, or to refer to the original dish pesto alla genovese, is a sauce originating in Genoa, the capital city of Liguria, Italy. It traditionally consists of crushed garlic, European pine nuts, coarse salt, basil leaves, and hard cheese such as Parmigiano-Reggiano and it is with these original ingredients that I was taught to make from. The only different from my father-in-law’s is I add a lot more garlic and I also use a more generous amount of freshly ground Sarawak’s pepper.

Of course we can make pesto with any other herbs but for me, my favourite is still basil. It is so versatile a sauce and today I dribble it liberally with Haddock en papillote and both hubby and I enjoyed our lunch very much. As it is so easy to make, I hope with this lock down you will try.

TIP – You can ‘wash’ your basil by watering them the day before using and let them dry thoroughly.

TIP – Olive oil must cover the top of your jar if you intend to keep for awhile.

TIP – Always toast your own pine nuts.

TIP – Use the hard bits of your parmesan so as no waste.

KamPua Mee, Mee Pok, Kolok Mee, Hakka Mee, Kon Loh Mee, Mi Kolok, by any other names, in any other dialects are all basically dry flavoured noodles.

There is something about dried flavoured noodles that is so comforting to an Asian and especially to one who grew up in Kuching, Sarawak you just find it difficult not to have a deep desire to eat it when you are feeling a bit under the weather.

When I was working this is my weekend work. Making the ‘readies’ shallots crisps and oil, garlic oil, ginger crisps and oil, char sui for the freezer etc etc. In my house I always have ready mince even though I am not working now. Hubby will get very excited when he sees me frying this mince pork.

I remembered when we first moved from Kuching to Ipoh, Gunung Rapat area, there was a new Kedai Kopi with a stall serving Kon Loh Mee (Cantonese for dry noodles). The noodles were rather plain and wanting. My mother made friend with the lady seller and told her how in Kuching the Kolok Mee stall we frequent always have nicely flavoured minced pork toppings. That was the start of a great relationships! Mother then started to explain to her how she should have flavoured oil and flavoured minced pork.

The next time we ate there again, there were well fried and flavoured minced pork dotting here and there on the bowls of noodles and business for the lady improved! My mother was happy and I have always remembered this incident. Not sure why.

I can still remember the Kedai Kopi in my mind’s eye as it was next door to my Uncle’s the then Sundry Shop. Hmmm……a case of with age comes reminiscences? 😀 Certainly a sign of old age.

These noodles were from my old classmate. I must be not too bad a person to have good friends from school days who still loves me <3 At first I was rather sceptical about these dry noodles. I was thinking, nah they will never taste as good as the real ones ……. BUT I stand corrected! These were good! The dried KamPua Mee taste different to other dried noodles! I must get my hands on more! The hubby said they have a special springy bounce and I agrees wholeheartedly.

Sometime the hubby will just ask for kolok mee kosong. That means nothing added just the noodles, oils and mince! In his opinion simple is the best!

Updated 23rd September 2020. Added a few more pics and simple explanation of just making Kon Lo (dry noodles) kosong (with just mince pork, sauces and flavoured oils)

TIP – Fried mince pork can be kept outside (room temperature in a clean receptacle in UK) use a clean spoon when taking out for a week or if you have fridge space just put in your fridge. If you store in fridge please micro your prepared bowl before adding noodles to mix.

TIP – If you have any leftover by the end of the week you can fry rice with them, put on top of steamed toufo, fry mince with potatoes and many more.