Turn me on…

I can’t remember when it was but it was many many years ago when I was in KL on one of my working trips. My nephew and his housemate who happened to be my ex-student, both singles at the time, came and took me out and for supper, they brought me to a mamak stall somewhere in PJ, insisting that I tried the mee Maggi goreng…

…and I did. I thought it was all right but it certainly did not turn me on – not something that would get me craving and dying to have again.

For the uninitiated, over here, when people say Maggi mee, they actually mean instant noodles and not necessarily of that particular brand. Since it was one of the earliest brands on the market, the name has somehow got stuck and is liberally used to refer to noodles of the same kind, never mind what brand…like how people say pampers when talking about disposable diapers for babies or Colgate for any toothpaste and so on.

Anyway, I saw a post in Isaac‘s friend’s blog on how to cook “Maggi goreng” and I was wondering if there was something that I missed. Is it really that good? Perhaps I should give it another try…and I did! So, the other morning, I prepared the ingredients…

…and never one to stick to the basics, I added some prawns and sliced fresh chili as well.

After frying the sliced garlic and onions in a bit of oil till they turned brown, I added the prawns and mixed them with the other ingredients until they were cooked before I threw in the sliced chili and the noodles (2 packets) that I had boiled till soft and rinsed in cold tap water so that they would not stick together. Then I emptied the sachet of curry (use 1 only) seasoning into the wok and mixed everything together thoroughly. Lastly, I broke an egg and fried it together with everything else and after stirring for a while, the noodles were ready to be served…

Unfortunately, it still did not get me jumping up and down with delight. Somehow, I feel that there are many other things that I would prefer.

Incidentally, if I remember correctly, somebody did ask me once how much oil I used to fry my noodles or was it rice? Well, not much – maybe two to three spoons, just enough to brown the garlic and the onions. Keep stirring regularly and sometimes, the noodles or rice may stick to the wok a little bit but that is not a  problem. After adding the egg and mixing it with everything in the wok and scraping off whatever may be stuck, it will all come off very easily and in the end, you will have a nice clean wok like mine…

Somehow, I never had any problem with things sticking to it when I cook. Perhaps, you did not heat it up till it was hot enough before you started throwing in the ingredients?…