They say…

Pasta originated from China, they say – Marco Polo brought it back when he returned from his travels. Well, whether that is true of not, to me, they are all different kinds of noodles. Even here alone, there are so many varieties – our kampua noodles, the kolo mee in Kuching and wantan mee are all different in texture and taste and of course, the different ways of preparation and serving make that even more so.

This version of dried noodles, the mee kua…

…that is widely available here sure looks similar to linguine, doesn’t it? Of course I would not go so far as to say that they are the same – obviously, by virtue of the ingredients used in the making and probably the process as well, they are not but I had some in the house and I decided to cook it differently from the usual to see how it turned out.

Like pasta, this mee kua takes a longer time to boil unlike the rest here and after I had done that, I rinsed it in cold water to remove whatever excess starch there was and to stop any further cooking from the residual heat. I still had this packet of spices…

…so I added two teaspoons of that and some chopped sweet basil from my ailing plant plus a pinch of salt and some pepper…

…and tossed everything together.

I fried some chopped garlic in two tablespoons of cooking oil in my ceramic pan (Yes, I’ve used it already and I love it!!!) till golden brown and then I added some chopped pepperoni…

…for some added taste. Once I could detect the fragrance from these two ingredients, I added the pre-tossed noodles into the pan and mixed everything together and served…

…with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese on top.

Well, it was nice but I would much sooner have it my old school way – tossed with shallot oil, chopped spring onions, dark soy sauce and a pinch of msg and of course, with Bovril, that would bring the taste to a whole new level…just that I cannot afford it now. Believe it or not, you see bottles of that (and Marmite too) at the shops and supermarkets kept under lock and key, right next to the cans of New Moon abalone!!! Sigh!!! The way the prices are going, there are many things we will just have to learn to live without like, for instance, at RM110.00 a kilo, it sure looks like I am not going to have any bak kua (barbecued meat) this year… Sobssss!!!!