Lunch: Charbeck Mee Sua

One of the bad things about being at home is the fact that I get very bored with eating the same food at home day in day out. The good thing that comes out of that is that it gets me off my butt and gets me hunting down new recipes to try.

My husband would tell you that my western meals are much, much better than my Chinese food. Partly because having grown up on my Teochew grandmother's cooking, I like cheng soups and steamed food. Especially steamed fish. The husband? Not such a fan of what he deems bland food.

I've therefore been on the lookout for more dishes to add to our dinner menu for more variety, and also one-dish soupy meals to add to our lunch menu. To remind myself of the good ones, I've decided to start posting some of the recipes here. This is the first of the Lunch Series.

I tried a recipe for Charbeck Mee Sua in The New Mrs Lee's Cookbook, Vol.2 a couple of weeks back, and I really liked it. It is a tasty soup dish, and I love mee sua. I share this with Noey, but he isn't too fond of mee sua, so I use bee tai mak (which he loves) instead and pour the same soup over. Also, I pick out most of the taucheo from his bowl because it does taste a bit strong. It is quite the defining flavour to this dish though, so I do not leave it out. Also, in a bid to make it a more balanced meal, I usually add some greens, like chye sim or xiao bai chye to it.

Altogether a rather tasty afternoon meal that isn't too difficult to put together!

Here is the recipe, with some of my own modifications. The original recipe also involves pork kidney, which is soaked in brandy, but I don't like kidney and have omitted it.

Ingredients (Serves 2-3)
160 minced pork
160g pork liver (Optional)
2 tbsp salted soy beans (taucheo) (I use the knife brand bottled version)
½ thumb sized knob ginger
2 tbsp oil
700ml water
½ tsp salt
4 bundles fine rice noodles (mee sua)
A handful of greens, eg. Chye Sim or Xiao Bai Chye

Garnishes
6 cloves garlic
2 spring onions
2 sprigs coriander (Chinese Parsley)

Method
1. Rinse then cut liver into thin slices, if using.
2. If whole salted soy beans are used, pound the beans.
3. Peel then finely shred the ginger and mince the garlic.
4. Heat a wok over a high flame till it smokes. Add the oil.
5. Lower the flame then add the garlic. Stir-fry until light golden-brown. Remove and drain. Set aside.
6. Stir-fry the ginger in the garlic oil then add the salted soy beans. Sprinkle some water to prevent it from burning.
7. Add the minced pork. Continue to stir-fry for 3-5 mins
8. Once the pork is cooked, add the liver and water.
9. Bring to a boil then simmer. Add salt to taste.
10. In another pot, blanch the rice noodles in boiling water for about 1-2 mins. Remove and drain.
11. Blanch the greens in boiling water. Remove and drain.
12. When serving individual portions, place the rice noodles in a bowl with the greens on top, then pour the soup over. Garnish with the fried garlic, spring onions and coriander.

Enjoy!