Making my own Pan Mee!
I was scrolling through facebook the other day and saw a recipe for Pan Mee - 板面 on sharetify
http://www.sharetify.com/2015/04/blog-post_201.html?m=1
Then Mel whatsapp-ed me yesterday telling me she is a little homesick and i thought - what better time to make pan mee? Plus i have all the ingredients in my kitchen already so i invited Mel over for lunch so we can make pan mee together and catch up.
I mostly followed the recipe i found for the dough but decided to make my own sauce. I realised it is not as much effort as i thought it would be when you have a friend to help you and you get to chat while kneading the dough into shapes for boiling!
For the dough, you'll need:
400g self-rising flour or just plain flour will do ( I THINK. I used self-rising)
1 egg
200ml water
2 tablespoon oil
For the sauce:
Sesame oil
Oyster sauce
Dark soy sauce
Chopped chestnut mushrooms 250g
500g minced pork
Fried anchovies
1 tablespoon dried chilli flakes
1& half tablespoon spicy dried shrimp sambal (hay bee hiam) - you might be able to get this in chinatown
To be honest, i just invented my own sauce really. I didn't really measure anything. Sorry, i know it's such a lousy recipe :(
Mel was in her lecture when we decided to make dry pan mee - 干捞板面 so i made the dough first as it will need to sit for at least 30mins before cooking. I mixed the ingredients in a metal mixing bowl using a spatula until it is relatively kneadable. Then i kneaded them into 3 separate balls because it is easier for me to knead a few small ones than a single giant one. I left them in the bowl and covered the bowl with cling film to prevent them from drying out.
I also fried some dried anchovies with lots of oil until they are crispy.
ONE HOUR LATER....
Mel arrived with minced pork and sesame oil. I boiled some water in a pot and added some salt into the boiling water. While i start to work on the sauce, Mel started pinching off the dough balls and knead them into very flat small pieces(imagine homemade odd-shaped pasta, just that they are not pasta) and threw them into the boiling water (you know it's cooked when the pieces floats on the water surface). I heated some sesame oil in a pan and threw in the mince pork. Once they are half-cooked, i added the oyster sauce and dark soy sauce and stir until they are uniformly mixed in. If i have to give some measurements, maybe 3 tablespoons of oyster sauce and about 120ml dark soy sauce. Definitely taste it when you are adding the sauce so you know if its too salty for your taste - i like to have mine quite salty. Then i added the chopped mushrooms, spicy dried shrimp sambal and dried chilli flakes and cook for another 10minutes.
Now all you have to do is to put the the sauce and the cooked "mee" pieces together and tadaaa..
It was soooo good =D The recipe actually makes enough for 3 persons but there were only 2 of us so I don't have to worry about dinner tomorrow! (I am going to the US embassy tomorrow for my visa application so I'll probably eat out for lunch). If you enjoy chinese cuisine this is a dish you should definitely try! It's one of my all-time favourite.
