Since this shitty year started, I’ve eaten out four times: we had a November reservation at China Tang, but when that did not happen, rescheduled for the 4th of D: main restaurant was heaving so switched to a quieter table away from the melee where we pretended, clutching our whisky sours, that we were not being idiots too.
Lockdown 2 had me revisiting Chinese favourites whilst stuck at home. No. 1: Singapore Vermicelli, although after a year apart, I’d forgotten what it looked like. From memory, it had turmeric in it. And beansprouts. After a goog, turns out I know nothing about Singapore Vermicelli. And neither does Singapore. Nor my father. As a child I could depend on him ordering it, knowing I’d have some of his to share, but those days are gone. When I asked him today what he thought went in it, he said ‘junk’. And it’s his favourite dish too, so that’s love for you.
Singapore V is actually a Cantonese dish from Hong Kong made with ‘the British invention of curry powder’, a conceit that can go straight in the bin. Further down the hole, variations include peas, carrots, mushrooms, Chinese cabbage and water chestnut… what. the. actual. fuck. What I do know, before I lose my mind, is that I’m not turning this into a dog’s dinner: I’m resurrecting the dish I’m most nostalgic for (think 80’s China Town and Wong Kei before it got a 1-out-of-5-star hygiene rating in the millennium).
My recipe uses kelp noodles and beansprouts because I am on diet and obsessed with beansprouts: they taste fabulous, are low cal. and packed with calcium, vitamin c and iron. A lot of recipes also call for pork Char Sui, but I think it’s too noisy. For me, this has always been about the comfort of slightly dry curried noodles and beansprouts, with highlights of egg and bacon, so have opted for Ibérico instead – the thinly sliced Ibérico you typically get for Shabu Shabu.
This dish should be made with rice vermicelli but despite being fat free, vermicelli has a significantly higher carb content versus kelp noodles (44/100g v. 1/100g respectively). So that’s what I’m going for because I’m getting older and keeping the weight off is getting harder. And then there’s menopause to look forward to, if Covid doesn’t get me first.
If you are not into eating your friends, then tofu is the sub, but to handle all that tossing I’d opt for crispy frying/baking it first so it holds itself.
Ingredients:
- 340g kelp noodles
- 14 king prawns, shelled and deveined
- 1 chicken breast
- 200g Ibérico pork, thin slices
- 4 tbsp. peanut oil
- 3 eggs, beaten
- 1 red pepper, quartered and sliced into strips
- ½ an onion, thinly sliced
- 400g beansprouts
- 2 tbsp. Shaoxing Chinese cooking wine
- ½ tsp white sugar
- 2 tsp Madras curry powder
- 2 tsp chilli powder
- ½tsp turmeric powder
- ½ tsp ground white pepper
- ½ garlic bulb, minced
- 1 inch ginger, grated
- 2 thinly sliced green chilli
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 180C. Cook the chicken and pork for 20 minutes, remove and leave to cool before slicing the chicken into strips and cubing the pork
- Remove the kelp noodles from the pack, place in a bowl and cut in half before soaking in water for 20 mins. Drain and set aside
- Combine the Shaoxing, sugar, spices and white pepper in a bowl
- Heat a tbsp. of the peanut oil in a wok over medium heat, add the king prawns and cook until just done – remove and set aside
- Add 2 tbsp. peanut oil into the wok. Add the beaten egg and keep moving the wok so the egg keeps moving in a broad circular shape – and this takes some arm work. You want to make a thin omelette so once almost all the egg is set, use a spatula to roll it up in the wok and then onto a chopping board. Slice into strips when slightly cooled
- Add another tbsp. of peanut oil to the wok and then add the garlic, then the grated ginger and fry briefly
- Then add the onion and stir fry until the onion begins to soften
- Then add the red pepper and fry for another minute or so
- Add half the kelp noodles, half the beansprouts, half the Shaoxing and spice mixture and toss
- Then add the chicken and pork and toss again
- Add the rest of the Shaoxing mixture, the remainder of noodles, give it a good mix and add the beansprouts, prawns and egg
- Toss again until everything is heated through. Serve immediately
FU2020 