2 plates of Hokkien Mee

The Wife often complains that I hog the kitchen and to be honest, I do like to cook (whether palatable is another issue). It takes my mind off things and I can concentrate on controlling the processes right in front of me. The Wife is sometimes critical about my rather chop-suey adaptive form of cooking. Admittedly it lacked finesse as very seldom are grocery shopping done based on recipes, but rather based on how much I am spending for the week. Choice cuts are expensive and chicken is more 'generic' to handle. As all wonderful relationships go, compromises are made and The Wife's input in the kitchen is much appreciated by yours truly.

The Wife had found recipes of Hokkien Mee online some time back and she had cooked her favourite 'black gravy' version last week. So this week, I decided to usurp the kitchen hob and cook my favourite 'white' version with her help of cos. The recipe is simple and the end result surprisingly similar to the hawkerfare back home (ok, it didn't have the 'wok味', no thick beehoon cos didnt find any here....and we certainly didn't have any lime in the fridge)

So here's today's recipe adapted from the one she found on the web (for 2 - 3 servings):

1) Deshell the prawns (must use prawn's head. we bought paradise prawns..i believe any medium sized prawns will do) and fry the shell with chopped garlic. After you see red pastey stuff oozing in the pan & smell the 'prawny' fragrance. If the stock is really rich, then the noodles should taste really good.

2) Add 4 cups of stock (can use chicken stock powder, or if you have time pork bones stock shld be better). Let it boil to a reddish brown stock and let it simmer.

3) Cook yellow noodles in boiling water for no more than 2 minutes, drain and rinse with cold water and set aside.

4) In a clean wok, fry some scrambled eggs (well, depends on your cholestrol meter...) and set it aside.

5) Now the noodles: Fry chopped garlic till brown, then stir in the noodles. Add no less than 3 tablespoon of Fish Sauce and cover the wok for half a minute once you see steam coming out.

6) Add raw slices of pork and some prawn stock. When the pork is about 70% cooked, add the raw prawns, squid and more stock into the noodle. The eggs (you can add some chopped spring onion or towgay if u have) should go in last (add in fried pork lard chips if u have). Stir fry the mixture and cover the wok. Make sure that you pour sufficient stock to allow you to reduce it into a sort of gravy. Open the wok and stirfry a minute or 2 later and then cover it again. Wait for it to steam up.

7) Once you open the cover and see it steam up and the stock is reduced to a gravy, turn off the hob and serve (add more crispy lard chips as toppings!!). It should smell more prawny than fishy (if it's the latter than your fish sauce add too much alredi).