New level…

I bet everybody remembers the sotong (squid) that I bought the other day. I asked my missus to pack some in small packets to keep in the freezer so I would be able to take them out to defrost and add to my bowl of instant noodles…

That would certainly bring the taste to a whole new level!

We also do the same with the smaller pek hay (seawater prawns)…

…for this same purpose or to add when frying vegetables, rice or whatever. In Hokkien, we call it cho liao or literally translated, use as ingredient.

One thing we may do when buying prawns would be to remove the shell, heads and tails, wash and rinse them very thoroughly and boil them to get the stock. My missus may pan-fry them first – she says it will give the stock a special fragrance, nicer than if we boil them just like that. A cousin of mine would always do this and use it to cook Sarawak laksa everytime he buys some prawns. Of course, we remove the veins and dispose of them separately. For one thing, we can throw the shell and everything into the rubbish bin after boiling and there will not be any stench coming out from there at the end of the day but usually, I will take and bury them in the garden for the natural fertiliser.

Anyway, back to the instant noodles that I cooked that day, one thing I would always add, never mind whether I have any sotong or prawns or not, is an egg…

and right before serving, I would sprinkle some chopped spring onion from my garden…

– just a bit of that will make a world of difference. We may use daun sup (Chinese celery) instead if we have that in the house and the good news is that I’ve planted some and they are growing really well. I may get down to blogging about it one of these days.