Gotcha…

I used to buy this a lot some years ago but for some unknown reason, they simply vanished from the shelves. Imagine my delight when I saw some at a supermarket round the corner from my house the other day and without any second thought, I quickly snapped up a few packets just in case they decide to do the disappearing act once again.

This is the Maggi crab and tanghoon (glass noodles) soup…

I cannot remember how much they cost before but these current ones are priced at  RM3.50 each.

At one time, I used to buy it for my late aunt in the kampung (village) when she was still alive and whenever she cooked it, she would add minced pork, crab meat and what not to make it taste a whole lot nicer but actually, there is absolutely no necessity whatsoever to do so. It tastes nice as it is – no need for anything extra.

For one thing, I like it because it is so very easy to cook. You just empty the contents into 720 ml. of water in a pot…

…and whisk it to make sure it dissolves completely.

Then you add a tablespoon of soy sauce to it – this wlll give it a nicer darker colour and will also enhance the taste…before putting it over the fire and bringing it to boil…

I would advise you to keep the pot uncovered and keep whisking as being a little bit thick, there is the possibility that some of it would stick to the bottom of the pot especially if you are using stainless steel ones and there is always the danger of it boiling over if left unattended.

When it has started boiling, pour an egg, beaten, slowly into it while whisking away…

…so that the egg will disintegrate into tiny little bits. My apologies for the somewhat blurry photograph – I guess that is what may happen when one tries to multitask – whisk, pour the egg and take a photograph all at the same time.

Let it simmer for a while and that’s it!!! The soup is ready…

You may add black vinegar before eating if you prefer it that way but do not add it while boiling. I seem to notice that if you add black vinegar to some thick starchy soup, it will dilute the soup and render it completely watery and no longer the way it should be.

And if you think that it looks like sharks’ fins soup, I really can’t blame you for it most certainly does! So if you cook this and throw in some sharks’ fins, it will taste exactly like what they serve at dinners in the Chinese restaurants or if you’re one of those animal rights activists, perhaps you would like to add sea cucumber, fish maw or fish lips instead…if you prefer something more impressive than a soup with bits of imitation crab sticks and glass noodles that are hardly visible to the naked eye.

Has anybody tried this before? It is nice, isn’t it?