Fried Beef Hor Fun With Gravy 滑蛋牛肉河 - My Attempt At Recreating A Soo Kee Classic "Malaysian Monday 7"

I have been seeing the two Soo Kee Mee Stall* (大樹頭蘇記炒粉) classics, namely the "sang har mien" (生蝦麵, crispy egg noodles with fresh water prawns) and "ngau yuk hor" (牛肉河, fried beef rice noodles with gravy) everywhere. They are the must eat dishes for locals and tourists visiting Kuala Lumpur for quite a while now. Do a quick goggle on Soo Kee Prawns And Beef Noodles and you will find pages and pages of reviews from newspapers and bloggers alike. Armed with a few photos from the web and my memory of the dish I decided to try my hand at recreating the beef noodles at home. If you have tried cooking wat dan hor , stir fried rice vermicelli (wet version) or other Cantonese fried noodle dishes you shouldn't have any problem mastering this. The beef from the original version is tenderised with either bicarb soda or papaya extract (it looks raw even after cooking and taste nothing like beef) which I am not a big fan of, instead I have used my own technique to cook the beef to perfection. I am very happy with my attempt and I hope you will give this delicious dish a try too. Oh yes! I managed to get a few fresh water prawns and I will be making the "sang har mien " soon, stay tuned!
*Soo Kee Mee (Mee = Noddle) Stall is a noodle restaurant with a 70 year old history that has a cult following in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The restaurant has been operating from the current location in Jalan Imbi for more than 30 years and is now run by the founder Hon Soo's daughter. There are also a few other restaurants using the Soo Kee brand by many of the 9 Hon children.
P.S Have you been to any of the Soo Kee ? If so which is your favourite and how do you think I fare? :)

recipe per serve
you'll need;
300 g of fresh wide rice noodles (hor fun)
150 - 200 g of beef fillet, thinly sliced across the grains
5 cm knob of ginger, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 spring onions, cut into 6 cm lengths
500 ml of stock
1 tbs of light soy
1/2 tbs of dark soy
1 tbs of oyster sauce
dash of sesame oil
dash of Chinese cooking wine
white pepper to taste
tapioca flour solution*
1 egg white, lightly beaten
* Unlike corn flour this won't cloud the sauce.

Prepare the vegetables.

Marinate the beef slices with a little soy, sesame oil, chinese cooking wine, white pepper and corn flour. 

If using fresh rice sheets - cut into wide ribbons and mix in 1/2 tbs of dark soy.

Char noodles in a smoking hot wok with a little oil. Do not move the noodles too much to prevent breakage. Set aside and keep warm.

Cook marinated beef on medium heat very briefly with a little oil, remove from wok and set aside. (it should be around 60% cooked). 

Saute garlic and ginger for a 15 seconds then add in the spring onion and continue to cook for a further 30 seconds. Add stock and seasonings and bring it to a boil.

Gradually add in the tapioca flour solution to thicken the sauce, it should be thick enough to coat the noodles but not gluggy. Drizzle in the egg white, turn off the heat and give it a light stir. Finally stir in the beef.

Pour the sauce over the noodles and serve immediately with some pickled green chillies. I am extremely happy with the result and I hope you will give it a try too.

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