What's For Dinner?

A lot of people have been asking for my Mee Hoon Kueh recipe.

What is Mee Hoon Kueh?
It is a Hokkien dish. It is also known as Pan Meen (variations: Paan Min, Pan meen) or Mee Hoon Kerr.

Well, to be honest, I don't have a recipe. I learned by observing and helping my mom and aunties prepare it for our Sunday brunch. It's quite easy. Here's my sort-of recipe. Free feel to modify it to your liking.

Dough: all purpose flour, water (room temperature)

Stock: ikan bilis (anchovies), chicken or chicken bones (optional)

Ingredients/toppings (you can use anything you like): Choi Sum or any kinds of greens, chinese mushroom, mook yi (wood's ear, the black fungus stuff), thinly sliced pork or chicken, meatballs (good for kiddies), fried onions/shallots, fishball/fishcake, fried ikan bilis, green/spring onion etc

Dough:
1. Put flour in bowl or on table. In the center, make a crater and add water in. Mix with fingers. Have some extra flour or water handy in case it gets too sticky or dry.
2. Knead the dough until a stretchy consistency. If you have a mixer with a dough hook, that'll save you a lot of work!
3. Put dough in a bowl and cover with a clean damp cloth. Let it sit between 30 mins - 1 hour.

Stock:
1. Boil ikan bilis in water.

2. Strain the ikan bilis out and put stock back in the pot.

What's Next?
There are 2 ways to make the noodles - pasta maker or free-style. Most hawker stalls use the pasta maker because it's more efficient. I prefer the latter method because it's more fun when you get everyone in the family involved. Oh yeah, have a rolling pin or a clean bottle handy.

1. Cut the dough into small balls and roll the dough. It'll be easier to stretch out the dough and it won't be too chewy.

2. Make sure that the stock is hot (but not rolling boil). If the stock is not hot enough, your mee hoon kueh will come out sticky and gunky. You can season the stock if you'd like.

3. Put in meat/meatball etc. If you're using mook yi (wood ear) or mushrooms, put it in now.

4. Put in dough pieces. You'll know they're cooked when they float to the top. Crank up the heat. Stir the pot so the mee hoon kueh don't stick to each other.

5. Put in the veggies at the very last minute. Turn heat off.

6. Scoop mee hoon kueh into bowl. Decorate with fried shallots and green/spring onion. Serve with a side of soy sauce with cut chillies.

If you've tried this recipe, do let me know how it turned out! Enjoy!