BIRTHDAY MEE!

This is a Hokkein / Nyonya / Peranakan noodle dish traditionally served on one's birthday. The yellow noodle strands have to be carefully cooked so that it remains long. The 'Birthday girl/boy' will have to slurp & eat it without breaking the strands=sign of longevity (long life)!!

The dish is purposely colourful to symbolise happiness & rosy future. Egg omelettes are tinged red & yellow& cut in thin strips. The sauce is in two parts: a thick gravy & a clear soup.

Over the years, we have made some slight changes to the ingredients to suit current tastes & religious preferences. No problem - if we have Muslim relatives & friends over, then we will substitute the pork for 'halal' chicken (ie. chicken, slaughtered according to Muslim rites). But for vegans like me, well ... any ideas ?

Some ingredients are also hard to find. There is one delicacy which is integral to the dish but rarely found. You'd probably find it only in Pulau Pangkor or Penang's Chowrasta (main) market. It is called the 'Pea Hu' (literally translated - flat fish). There is a legend behind the physical characteristic of the fish, which has both eyes on one side of the fish (a bit like the sting-ray but no long tail) but I'm not too sure about it. My mom says it is very tasty and the bones are used to boil the clear soup, whereas the flesh is added into the thick gravy.

Hope some readers can give me some info. or one day I'll have to do a 'pilgrimage' back to Penang just to find this fish! ha ha..

Please excuse the approximation of ingredients. Its like in the old days, where the matriarch 'chefs' will just grab a fistful or rice bowl full of ingredients.

Thick Gravy
1 medium piece - Streaky pork with skin ('sam chan bak') or chicken meat (if you don't eat pork)
10 small/medium size- Prawns de-vein by partly slicing the back of each prawn & removing the dark greenish vein. This will make the prawn roll into a ball when cooked.
1/2 bowl - Crab meat / squids (optional)
1 packet Fish ball & Fish cake (optional)
1-2 tablespoons of Cornflour mixed with 1/2 cup water
Prawn stock made from washed, discarded prawn head & shell boiled in water (to add more flavour!)

Clear Soup
200 gm Pork / chicken bones - washed
1 small Turnip - cut into large chunks

Body of the dish
300 gm Taugeh/mung bean sprouts (50 sen)
1 small bunch of Kucai/flat-leaved chives (50 sen)
500 gm Yellow fresh noodle (mee)

Garnish
Chopped garlic in oil ('ken phang', in Hokkien)
Red egg omelette
Red chilli strips, chopped spring onions, coriander leaves, or Chinese celery leaves
Sambal belacan

Making the clear soup = In a large pot, bring to boil a half pot of water. Add the pork bones & turnip. Boil till turnips are slightly soft. Cook fishball for a few minutes, until it floats. Remove & set aside. Season soup with some white pepper & salt.

Making the thick gravy & garlic oil = Put streaky pork whole piece in the clear soup until just cooked (don't over cook or it will be tough). Slice into strips (across the grain). Set aside. In a large wok, heat some oil on slow heat to lightly fry chopped garlic for making 'ken phang'. Once the garlic is slightly brown, turn off the heat. The oil will continue to brown the garlic. (If done correctly, it should turn a golden brown & crispy. When it is cooled, you can keep it in a bottle and use as flavoured oil in any soupy dish). Remove part of the garlic oil.

Turn on the heat. Pan fry the fish cake and remove. Slice it when cooled.

Then use the remaining oil to fry the prawns, then add streaky pork. Spoon 2 scoops of clear soup into the wok. Add a dash of dark soy sauce & light soy sauce to make the gravy brown. Add crab meat & squid. Add prawn stock. When boiling, slowly stir in the cornflour mixture, stirring continuously until the gravy thickens. Don't pour all the cornflour mixture, if the gravy is already thick.

To make the body = Heat another half pot of water to boil. Add taugeh (bean sprouts / mung bean sprouts) & kucai (chives). Stir 1 min & remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add in the yellow noodles carefully so the strands are intact. Cook for 2 mins while lightly separating the strands. Drain & set aside in a large bowl.

To make the sambal belacan : (can be made a few days ahead but store in a dry jar & refrigerate)
1 small 1" piece of toasted belacan (or Maggi belachan powder)
4 long red chillies (with or without seeds - more seeds, hotter it will be)
A dash of Salt, sugar, Ajinomoto
3-4 Limau kesturi (calamansi / lime) - cut into 1/2 & remove seeds

Lots of people are afraid to pound the chillies as it tends to splatter! So, use a towel to dry the red chillies. Line the area with newspaper. Break/cut chillies into 1" pieces. Start by lightly pounding to flatten the chillies. Then pound section by section at the edge of the chillie pieces not straight into the centre which will send the seeds & bits & pieces flying. Try and get the chillies shiny side up so the juicy parts will be facing down. Use one hand to steady the stone bowl. Use the other hand to pound with even pressure and partly use a grinding motion.

Once chillies are quite fine, add the toasted belacan or dry belacan powder and continue to grind/pound until well blended. Scoop into a dish/glass bottle & squeeze the limes. Adjust to taste. Belacan is usually salty. Just add a little sugar or Ajinomoto to bring out the taste (yeah, that's traditionally the seasoning used).

How to toast belacan (processed prawn paste) ? - You can do this a day before. Heat a small dry pan (non-stick if possible) on low fire and toast one side of a thin slice of belachan. Then turn over. Take care that it does not burn. When almost dry, turn off fire. Break into small pieces and let the latent heat of the pan dry/toast the bits. Let cool. Reminder: the smell IS, according to each other's opinion-either 'heavenly' or 'stinky'.

To make : Red egg omelette slices

Beat two eggs with 2 half-egg shells of water (traditional measurement). Add a little salt & a drop of red cochineal food colouring. Be careful. To avoid over-colouring, use a toothpick to trnasfer the colour. Heat a small non-stick pan. Add a ladle of egg mixture, swirl into a smooth thin crepe-like omelette. The thinner the highly skilled your are! Roll it and remove into the cutting board. Slice as fine as possible. The pink omelette below was done in haste, hence is not fine enough!

Serving:

In a deep bowl, line with a little taugeh & kucai. Top with some yellow noodles. This should fill half the bowl. Spoon on the thick gravy & its meat/seafood. Garnish with red eggs, fish ball/cake slices, leaves - coriander/celery/spring onions & red chillie strips. Top it with a fews scoops of clear, hot soup and sambal belacan on the side.

Then, DIG IN!!