The way that you do it…

First and foremost, I must thank my cousin in Brisbane, Australia for the beautiful calendar that she sent me…

It sure took a long time to get here but at least, I did receive it finally, safe and sound. Now I could take down the 2018 one, also from Australia, and hang this one up on the wall right in front of me above the PC monitor.

Moving on to my post proper, I had this (expensive) packet of made-in-Singapore noodles sitting around in the kitchen…

– my missus bought it and used the sachets of seasoning and what not inside to cook something.

I thought I could use it to try and cook Kuching kolo mee, the way that they do it there. No, it is not the same as our Sibu Foochow kampua mee and if you go and eat the noodles in Kuching, they will give you the pickled green chili to go with it. It so happened that I had pickled some from my garden using sushi vinegar and I thought I could use that.

Kuching kolo mee is thinner and curly – my friend told me that is because it is machine made. Handmade Sibu kampua mee is thicker and straight. The noodles I would use was nothing like either of them – I think it was the same as the Korean ones that I bought once. It did not matter how long I cooked it – it would not turn soft and soggy.

I fried some thin slices of shallot in a bit of oil and removed them before frying some garlic till golden brown – I am quite sure they have garlic in Kuching kolo mee, usually not found in Sibu kampua mee. I added a bit of light soy sauce, a pinch of msg and a bit of the vinegar from the pickled chili to the fragrant oil. Once cooked and drained till really, dry, I tossed the noodles thoroughly with the ingredients.

Kuching kolo mee is served with real char siew and a bit of minced meat and sometimes with a sprig of green vegetable, blanched. I had none of those so I had mine with a few slices of pan-grilled bacon, garnished with the aforementioned fried shallots and finely chopped spring onion from my garden…

I also boiled an egg…

…to go with it to make sure it was substantial enough to sustain me through till lunchtime.

So was it anything like the way that they do it? I could not say for sure but I did think it was really very very nice…

Somehow or other, the thought that it was something like aglio olio did cross my mind and I enjoyed it a lot. I sure wouldn’t mind cooking noodles this way again next time.