Monday, January 28, 2013

long ngien or foochow egg noodle

Ma had been pestering me to make long ngien....yesterday she changed tactic. Instead of pestering, she said, "I'll cook long ngien for you tomorrow." I looked at her stunned....she is on wheel chair and she has not cooked for years. How on earth is she going to cook for me? That was how desperate she was to eat long ngien. It worked!! I felt bad and decided that I will cook long ngien for her today.
 I beat four eggs in a bowl. (Ma was bossing me the whole time. She thought I didn't know how to make the noodle. When I told her I used three eggs, she said four eggs will make the noodle nicer. So I added another egg.) Put in 500g of tapioca flour and two tablespoons of flour. Flour will help to harden the noodle a little but not too hard so that it still has its slippery texture. Add enough water to get a thick but runny consistency.
 Put a little oil in the wok...very little. Ladle out the batter and turn the wok/pan so that it thins out. If it's difficult to thin out, it means the batter is too thick. Just add a little water. Adding water has to be done quite often as it tends to thicken towards the end.

Flip over and then bring it out of the pan. Roll it up immediately...this is challenging as it's quite hot. If it cools it hardens and it will be difficult to roll. I am able to roll, put another ladle of batter in to the wok and cut the rolled up noodle while waiting for the batter in the wok to cook.
 This is how it looks like when it is all cut up. When we were in Vancouver, we did a whole batch of it and stored it away. We brought it along when we went on our Rockies road trip. When we stopped for dinner, brought it out, boiled anchovy stock, throw in vegetables and the noodle....dinner is ready!!
This is the final product. I boiled lala stock. Then I fried ginger, added slices of chicken. Poured in some rice wine before pouring the stock in. Added fishballs, stuffed taufupok, vegetables to the soup. Finally throw in the noodle. Ma says can't find such nice long ngien in Sitiawan.

At the end of the meal, she asked, "When are you getting kompian?" ........lol...I don't know how to make kompian and there is no way I can find it in Seremban!!!!!

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