Mee Hoon Kueh 麵粉粿 Hokkien Hand Pulled Noodles - Merdeka Open House 2010

This is an everyday home cooked meal of many Hokkien households in Malaysia and Singapore; although one should  not confuse it with the popular Taiwanese snack that shares the same Chinese name (麵粉粿) which is more like a savoury pancake. I first discovered this delicious dish when I moved to Singapore and I haven't looked back since. Many of my blogger friends have blogged about it and since this is my first attempt, I decided to share it with you too. I am using a recipe by Amy from Cooking Crave that I bookmarked many months ago and I can see why her whole family is a big fan of this humble but hearty dish. One doesn't need much for this dish; a few everyday ingredients and a big warm heart will turn out mee hoon kueh just like a any Hokkien mother's.

Like many Chinese dishes that would normally contain pork, this dish is virtually unknown to many of my Malay and Muslim friends. I am making this a halal version and I hope everyone will be able to give this a try too. I am submitting this to Babe In The City - KL's  Merdeka Open House 2010.

Remember to check out our second Muhibbah Malaysian Monday roundup too

P.S The dough can be rolled out and cut into fettucini shape noodles, it will be called pan mee (板麵, pronounced ban mian in Mandarin) instead.

recipe adapted from Cooking Crave
serves 2 to 3 as a one dish meal
for the noodles dough;
250 g of plain flour
1 egg
1 tbs of cooking oil
100 ml of water pinch of salt

for the broth;

1/2 cup of dried anchovies (ikan bilis)
1.5 L of stock or water
1 tbs of tong choi *(冬菜, pronounced dong cai in Mandarin)
1/2 cup of dried soya beans

1/2 cup of dried mushrooms, soaked in hot water for 20 minutes and drained.

2 garlic clove, chopped

* a type of preserved vegetable

- Fry anchovies with a little oil for a minute then add in the stock or water. Add soya beans and tong choi and simmer for 20 minutes. Saute garlic with a little oil then add in the mushrooms and cook for a minute or two, add content to the sieved broth.

you'll also need;
100 g of chicken meat*, sliced
shuzaicai** (樹仔菜, sauropusandrogynwsL.Merr), picked or
choysum, cut into manageable lengths
2 spring onions, chopped
crispy shallot
1/2 cup of dried anchovies, fried til crispy and drained well
cut chillies
*Use leg or breast - marinate chicken with a little soy, sesame oil, pepper and corn flour.
** Also known as mani cai or sayur manis 

For the noodle dough - Mix all ingredients in a large bowl to make a dough, adding more flour if dough is too wet.. Knead dough for 5 minutes or until it springs back a little when pressed with a finger. Cover dough with cling film and rest for an hour while you prepare the other ingredients.

Saute mushrooms with garlic; marinate the chicken slices; clean and slice the choysum.

The prepared toppings.

Add the saute mushrooms into the anchovy broth and simmer for 15 minutes.

Tear a small piece of the dough; flatten it with your finger tips, pull and stretch to thin out the dough.

Drop the noodle sheets into the boiling broth.

Try a piece of the noodles and when it is almost done add in the marinated chicken follow by the vegetable.

Top with the crispy anchovies, chopped spring onions and cut chillies.

I am pretty happy with my first attempt and I think I will be making this again very soon.

I made some pan mee (cut noodles) using the leftover dough.

This is my version of the popular dry pan mee, something I whipped up after reading this post by my friend CW. I will do a separate post on this.