It might be unconventional, but it’s worth a try: Hokkien mee using a type of Japanese noodles called chukamen. This recipe is essentially yakisoba cooked in the style of fried Hokkien mee, and you can get the best of both worlds with this fusion dish.
Yakisoba is Japanese for fried noodles and it uses Chinese-style, wheat-flour noodles called chukamen.
Why use chukamen instead of the usual yellow thick round egg noodles? The texture of chukamen is springy and I find that I can pre-cook the noodles in prawn stock for a longer time to really soak up the flavour without them turning limp.
Expect to pay more for chukamen since it is an imported product.
Interestingly, yakisoba is not part of traditional Japanese cuisine.
In the book The Untold History Of Ramen: How Political Crisis In Japan Spawned A Global Food Craze, the author George Solt tells of how the dish came into being after the United States introduced American wheat to the Japanese diet post-World War II. Yakisoba became a delicacy sold on the black market at exorbitant prices.
Ingredients
- 15 prawns (340g), save the prawn heads and shell for boiling the prawn stock
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- ¼ tsp sugar
- 700ml water
- 15g ginger, bruised
- 5 garlic cloves, skins on, bruised
- 4 tbsp shallot oil
- 5 garlic cloves, chopped
- 390g chukamen
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 3 eggs, beaten
- 460g squid
- 100g garlic chives, cut into 5cm lengths
- 1 tbsp light soya sauce
- Small pinch of sugar
- Dash of ground white pepper
- 30g fried shallots
Steps
Marinate the prawns in cornflour and sugar and chill for 30 minutes. Rinse with water.
Bring the water to a boil in a pot.
Add prawn shells, ginger and whole garlic cloves. Boil over medium heat for 20 to 30 minutes. Strain, discard boiling ingredients and reserve the prawn stock.
In a deep frying pan, heat 1 Tbs of shallot oil and fry half a teaspoon of chopped garlic for 30 seconds before adding the noodles.
Add 400ml or enough prawn stock to cover the noodles mid-way and cook until the cooking liquid reduces. Season with 1 tbsp of fish sauce. Remove the noodles from pan and set aside.
Rinse the pan. Heat 3 tbsp of oil and fry remaining garlic until fragrant. Add the eggs.
Add the noodles. Stir-fry.
Add the prawn and squid.
Add the garlic chives.
Add the remaining fish sauce, light soya sauce, sugar and ground white pepper.
Serve hot and garnish with fried shallots.
ABOUT THE CHEF: You can follow Hedy on her Instagram account @hedchefhedykhoo for more of her culinary adventures.
Text and recipe: Hedy Khoo/The Straits Times