The little boy recently surprised me with a new set of skills that he had acquired for himself – his colouring skills. He seemed to have taken on a new hobby in school, colouring a new picture everyday during his free period at the end of class. These pictures that he colours look amazing. The strokes were all kept within the outlines and he was able to fill in all the white spaces as well. When he suggested to do some colouring activities together at home, I couldn’t help but stare at him while he colours, feeling amazed at the humongous step that he has made for himself. When did he reach this milestone in his life? Did I miss out on something again?
This boy is growing up way too fast…
Anyway, so as the boy grows, the both of us grow too, perhaps in an undesirably more horizontal way and with hair that becomes paler and whiter. The guy is having his birthday approach soon so I thought to chime in with a recipe that calls for the same mood and purpose.
This is an Eurasian take on a stir-fry with yellow noodles with seafood, pork belly and a mixture of vegetables. They call it Birthday Mee (or mee serani which means Eurasian mee), and so I am guessing it is something that they cook and eat to celebrate their birthdays with. One is supposed to keep the noodles at their original lengths and not have them cut off as the noodles’ length symbolises longevity.
The recipe is actually very similar to Hokkien Mee because there are pork bellies added to give that extra taste and crunch. I personally like that this dish includes a bit of everything – seafood, vegetables, egg etc – making it an easy to prepare and well-nutritious one-pot dish to have for a small family like ours.
Ingredients:
- Oil: 2 tbsp + 3 tbsp
- Egg: 2, beaten
- Garlic: 3 cloves, finely chopped
- Fermented soy bean: 3 tbsp, mashed with a spoon
- Roast pork belly: 100g, thinly sliced
- Squid: 150g, heads removed, cleaned out, sliced into strips
- Prawn: 150g, shelled with tails intact
- Salt: a pinch
- Fish sauce: 1/2 tbsp
- Water: 50ml
- Yellow noodles: 500g
- Chye sim: 100g, roughly chopped
- Beanspouts: 100g
- Coriander: 1 stalk, chopped
- Red chilli: 2, sliced
Method:
- Heat 2 tbsp oil in frying pan.
- Pour eggs into pan and tilt the pan to form a circle.
- Leave to cook for 30 sec on low heat.
- Flip omelette around to cook the other side for 20sec.
- Remove from heat. Cool, then slice into strips. Set aside.
- Heat 3 tbsp oil in wok. Stir in garlic and fermented soy beans.
- Add pork belly, squid, prawn, salt, fish sauce and water into wok. Bring to a boil.
- Add in noodles, chye sim and beansprouts. Stir to combine.
- Spoon into serving bowls. Garnish with omelette strips, coriander and red chillies to serve.
Disclaimer:
- This recipe was kindly adapted from Quentin Pereira’s Eurasian Heritage Cooking. I have omitted beansprouts from this recipe as the boy seriously hates them and would refuse to eat this if I do!
Serving:
3 – 4 persons
