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Friday, September 28, 2007

Superb Home Made Soup Noodles

What to do with the leftover boiled chicken from the Mid-Autumn Festival reunion dinner? We're sick of rice and heavy meat dishes after that dinner. There's also leftover 'superior' soup of kampung chicken (free-range native chicken) and jinghua ham which has been simmered for 3 hours by my MIL. Ah ha, noodles never fail to please--especially soup noodles.This is what I did with the leftovers:

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A few months ago I asked this guy, whose family runs a noodle shop in Taman Cantik, what flour he uses to make his noodles because they were so slippery smooth and el dente. He readily told me "I use Blue Horse flour. It's good for noodles and guotie (potstickers)." You can find Blue Horse flour in most sundry shops but make sure it's Blue not Green Horse flour.

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These were the best noodles I've ever made, thanks to that guy (don't know his name). All I did was mix 1 egg only (didn't want strong eggy smell) and some room temperature water into 500g Blue Horse flour (easier to make the dough more wet and sticky and add more flour as you knead than the other way around) and kneaded it in my Kenwood Major till it was smooth and let it rest 15 minutes. Then I rolled it out into a thin sheet, folded it over and over (with a good dusting of flour) and cut the dough into 1/2 cm strips (udon size), pulled each one a little longer and dusted with plenty of flour. Let noodles rest 10 minutes. Then I dunked them, one handful at a time, into boiling water making sure I stir to separate the strands from each other and the base of the pot. When the water boiled, I added a cup of room-temperature water and when it had boiled a minute or so the second time, I scooped the noodles out, drained and put them into a serving bowl. Then I arranged the chicken and some blanched choysum over the noodles and poured in the hot superior soup, and that made a mighty excellent dinner especially with my favorite bird's eye chilies, Maggi sauce and lime dip.

26 comments:

  1. hope you like your new layout :)

    4am. Kept my promise.

    :)

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  2. er..can just make d column 1/2 cm narrower n the words on d right in a straight line/column? Auntie Elaine did say u r a nice guy!:D

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  3. Terri, why don't you start cooking classes for people like me? Saturday or Sunday afternoons perhaps??

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  4. wei.. would u mind to tell me what camera are you using ? Haha, I need to invest on a GOoD camera

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  5. denise: all my pics taken in China, Japan etc were taken by my little Canon Digital Ixus 700, which is amazing esp when you look at my Jiujaigo pics in Sichuan, which r untouched. truly great little camera.
    however, i'm now using the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ 50 which really is value for $, as it is only RM1,000 more than the canon ixus but it is almost a SLR bc u can control speed, shutter etc n there's even a macro n a food mode! BUT it isn't a full DSLR bc d lens can't be changed n i wish it can give better 'bokeh' (jap term for pics tt have a shallow depth of field) pics. unless u want to go for a full DSLR, the lumix is d best in terms of price n quality.u may want to check out d canon rebel wch rasa malaysia claims to use but i do c she processes her pics quite a bit.

    btw, go to stilllife on my links. i spent yesterday on tt blog, plus some other photography links tt's given there. there's so much info;these ppl r so generous in giving out info m tips! also, if u r interested, Sony is giving a photography talk this sat (by an expert fm japan) so call one of their dealers n c if u can get an invite. c u there!

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  6. denise: n some of my food pics, like d sausages, were also taken with d little canon. i find canon gives very natural colors of ppl, flowers etc whereas nikon is good for outdoors but then tt's just my observation.

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  7. I really like your SSN.. looks yummy. My other favorites are: 阳春面noodles in superior soup (this is simple shanghainese soup noodle my mom makes the best), 凉拌面cool braised noodles, 肉/鸡丝汤面 noodles in soup with pork/chicken, 担担面 noodles with sesame paste&pea sprouts, 龙须面 saute fine noodles with shredded chicken, 炒米线 saute rice noodles with green bean sprouts, 杂酱面 soy beans in minced meat&noodles, 酸辣汤面 noodles in sour pungent soup, 排骨面 soup noodles with pork rib.

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  8. I have 2 Qn...
    a) were you using " Panasonic Lumix" for taking mitarashi dango, quiche, zhongzi ??

    b) if all china picz were using canon ixus 700, so I assume those "food" photo of Shenzhen are the same bah kan? hahahha..cuz dunno why, those "FOOD" photos of Shenzhen seems more clearer & sharper o....HAHhahahahha...is it bcuz my eyes only focuz on food ah! AHHAHAHhaha

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  9. ll: gosh, my stomach's growling. all those noodles sound yummy!i'm a noodle person, can live w/o rice.

    denise:1)yes 2)all china pics taken after Sept 06 r with d lumix so yes, tt includes shenzen. sorry about d wrong info.
    i've just come back fm d sony workshop. if u want a dslr tt's cheap, they r giving an offer n for RM3,700 u get their alpha 100 plus 2 lenses n a memory card! if u want a more pro camera, they've just brought in their alpha 700 priced at over RM5000. call sony center in wisma merdeka 233-724 ask for Ms. shelly lee. but check out other makes at www.dpreview.com b4 u decide.i myself am torn between d canon eos n d nikon D40...

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  10. wow.. bit pricey .. i dont need a BIG boys yet ... * giggle *
    I need something like ur canon ixus! but hey, I love LIMUX o..
    and dad starts saying dont buy other brand la.. other than Canon..

    U know the other day You blog about u took pic at UMAI , and the manager approaches..etc.
    I remember last time we went to this USAGI , Karamunsing.. HATE IT! When we took pics, the manager came and said, Sorry, no photography session, our "recipe" are all secrets! HEY!!! WE ARE SORT OF PROMOTING THEIR FOOD HERE !!FREE-advertising-over-the-BLOG. WHy cant we take the pic of the food? I just dont understand.. as if from the picture we can immediately know how many spoons of mirin / salt / sauce used for their chicken!!!

    Anyways.. Grummpy session ENDED! hahaha...hey Thank you So much for your Camera TIps + Info!! Highly appreciated!

    Pls "Show-Off" some of your photo skill after the workshop kay.. haha
    * gigle *
    Luv, Denise

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  11. ur dad is right, canon is great but seriously consider d lumix ok. i'm not aware of a jap res in karamunsing; don't like to go there bc d place makes me uneasy, with all tt extension.but yeah, tt's dumb of them. i've only encountered photo ban in southern chinese cities n i feel like u do.i'm far fm taking good pics. i think u just have to know ur camera very well. recently, i've learnt to tinker with photoshop (starting with my quiche pic), just adjusting contrast n all tt but altho i really admire a lot of work out there, i still prefer a more natural look to my photos. so u won't find me overprocessing them or making them too perfect bc to me ugly pretty is more interesting than stiff prefect pretty--do i make sense?!but, who am i...so don't take this seriously!btw, we didn't stay long at d workshop bc u need a sony camera wch we don't have.

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  12. I've adjusted the column to be .5 cm narrower now and I think justify is the way to go, as I mentioned the other day.

    Back in Sydney now. Melbourne was very fun! :)

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  13. Haha... The other day I just clicked on "Snacks/starter" column, and I really love the pic on Quiche + the zhongzi that u put on ur palm !
    Yeah I agree with u sometimes original are good, but, hey, I didnt know that you have touched up the Quiche pic not until you tell me though! =p
    * Ya! Dont go to places that u dont feel comfortable with* ~~> Karamunsing
    HAHAhahah

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  14. danny: i noted measuremt's still d same.but tnx anyway.
    denise:d zhong pic was taken by Yi, no touch up. i think lighting is very important. most of my pics r taken in my outdoor kitchen bc by d time i cook it's too dark indoors.

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  15. hmm really? i just checked the measurements and i've added 20 pixels (~.5 cm) wider than what i changed it to earlier. did this when i was still in melbourne.

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  16. danny: aiya, not wider, narrower!how about exactly 11 cm?? :) thanks n u MUST eat hairy crabs in Shanghai next week. n xiaolongbao, shengjenbao,zubao,ganxitang, lamien...

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  17. Ok, another attempt!

    Made the left column EXACTLY 11cm (415px) as requested.

    I noticed that the previous pictures are slightly cropped as the column width is smaller now.

    That means from now on you should resize your pictures to approximately 400px width (using proportional resizing as I taught you last time).

    Enjoy!

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  18. Oh yes, I will be flying to Shanghai next week Monday. Will definitely try to find some hairy crabs, xiaolongbao, shengjenbao, zubao, ganxitang and lamien.

    Hopefully they will understand me with my lack thereof mandarin!

    Are there any scenic/historical sites that I should visit while I'm there? I'm keen to fill my camera up.

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  19. of course u shd visit The Bund (very romantic walk, esp since its fall now), eat at one of d posh western cafes on d french side, visit Pudong's hotels for buffets, visit an old town, don't go to chenhuangmiao,don't follow peddlars into their lairs, eat a 10-course banquet in a posh restaurant, eat noodles in hole-in-d-walls (but not street vendors), gosh, its an endless list. for historic bldgs, there's no place better than Beijing. tell me if u go;have a friend to take u arnd.TQ btw.

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  20. You cut the noodles one by one? Amazing! I would have been bored to death to do that and pulling it one by one too!! No wonder it tasted that good.

    Have you ever tried cutting with a noodle cutter? Like the one for spaghetti or 'pan meen'? Isn't that a lot easier? Or does it make a difference to the texture? The noodle cutter, it's Italian made.

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  21. Bento --> Yeah!! I also very impressed that she actually cut one by one oh... what a Great M0m...

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  22. bento: u know, i've yet to get a pasta machine bc i've heard friends complain tt their machines rust easily, n those tt says 'made in italy' r actually made in china. can u advise what brand to buy? using hand to cut is easy. use use a pastry scraper n go 'tok tok tok' n there's no machine parts to wash!
    denise: right now i'm d worst mom. i'm in a terrible mood over my son's school hw n assignments.

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  23. OMG! I think I died and went to heaven here! Love your blog!!! It is so delicious I want to live here! Those noodles look fabulous...yummm...so glad I found this lovely place, I'm definitely coming back for seconds (thirds, fourths, fifths, sixths...you get the gist)!!!

    ♥Olivia♥

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  24. s n o: i like an enthusiastic reader! thanks, do come back for 7ths and 8ths n more...

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  25. What type of flour is Blue Horse Flour? Wheet?
    I couldn't find that brand name at my local shop.
    Thanks.

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