Like red…

We had ang chao kampua…

…before and at best, we thought it was all right. We never went back again for more so I guess that speaks volumes. The ang chao or the lees or the residue of the red yeast rice from making the traditional Foochow red wine kind of drowned out the lovely kampua mee taste.

That was why when I saw this…

…on the shelves in the shops, I did not bother to give it a second glance.

I guess my missus was curious so one fine day, she came home with a pack and even then, I was hesitating, not all that keen to give it a try. I asked her what it tasted like and she said it was just like ordinary kampua mee – the only difference was just the red colour.

Well, finally, I decided I would give it a try myself so I took a packet and cooked…

…and if there was any difference between its taste and that of the regular kampua mee, I must say that I couldn’t tell at all. My guess is red yeast rice is used in the making of the noodles, not ang chao which has been fermented and has a distinct taste of its own.

I had it with the leftover luncheon meat in the fridge, reheated, of course, and a sprinkling of spring onion from my garden…

…and yes, I enjoyed it. Red yeast rice is believed to lower one’s cholesterol level and they do sell the extract as supplements in the pharmacies. If you take a look at the photograph on the pack, it sure looks like wolfberries or goji berries, doesn’t it?

THE KITCHEN FOOD shop (2.304994, 111.847404), home of the original, the one & only Sibu instant kampua, is located in the Sibu Bus Terminal area at Lorong 7A, Jalan Pahlawan, right next to the UOB Bank there.