My mum bought me a bottle of red yeast paste during my confinement period. It was meant to be used as a paste or marinade for cooking chickens with, supposedly a dish that could help with post-birth recovery (am not sure how or why). The confinement nanny only cooked this dish for me once, so a lot of paste remained even after my confinement was over. I thought it was a good opportunity for me to try cooking red yeast chicken with mee sua at home for both myself and the guy.
Actually, the only time I have ever eaten this dish was on my first date with the guy (already fourteen years ago!), while we were having a meal at a foodcourt in town. I could not remember why we decided on this dish, because after all, I was never one who favoured soupy dishes. I could not really remember how the dish tasted too because it did not have any memorable taste at all – plain, soupy, hot – that was all I could recall of it. But perhaps that is how red yeast chicken with mee sua should taste like, and on that basis am I cooking my red yeast chicken as well.
Ingredients:
- Chicken: 1 whole, chopped into parts
- Red yeast paste: 6 tbsp
- White sesame oil: 2 tsp + 4 tbsp
- Light soy sauce: 2 tbsp + 2 tbsp
- Ginger: 6 slices
- Rice wine: 1 cup
- Water: 1 liter
- Salt: 2 tsp
- Mee Sua (rice vermicelli): 400g
- Chye Sim (vegetable): 200g, cut into 5-cm lengths
- Chinese parsley: 1 stalk, chopped
Method:
- Mix chicken with red yeast paste, 2 tsp sesame oil and 2 tbsp light soy sauce.
- Leave overnight in fridge to marinate.
- Heat 4 tbsp sesame oil in wok.
- Add ginger. Stir-fry till fragrant.
- Add marinated chicken & remaining sauce. Fry till slightly cooked.
- Add rice wine. Cover wok with lid to simmer for 10 min.
- Add water, salt and 2 tbsp light soy sauce.
- In a separate pot, bring water to a boil.
- Add mee sua and chye sim. Cook for 1 min.
- Drain away water. Serve mee sua and chye sim in 4 separate bowls.
- Pour equal amounts of chicken and soup into 4 bowls.
- Garnish with parsley to serve.
Trick:
- This dish can be served dry without the mee sua. Just stop at step 7 without adding the water will do.
Disclaimer:
- This recipe was kindly adapted from Noob Cook’s ‘Red Glutinous Wine Mee Sua‘. I used rice wine instead of red glutinous wine and added a lot lesser than was recommended. The taste was still great!
Serving:
4 persons