Just be happy…

The other day, I stopped by a coffee shop here to buy their fried kway teow though I would not say it was the best in town. I do know of some others that have an edge over theirs even though we’ve eaten there a few times before and we quite liked what the people at the chu char (cook & fry) place at the back dished out.

I was in the vicinity because I wanted to go and buy some exclusive bread from the bakery across the road, not available elsewhere, and it was very convenient to just buy the kway teow from the coffee shop opposite and just eat and be happy with it. Even though Sibu is a very small town and it is not all that difficult to go here and there and buy this and that, at a time like this, the less we move around the better. #staysafe #staywell #stayhome

Other than that day, I did venture out to the kampung area, not too far from my house, to buy some nasi lemak, something we had not enjoyed for a very long time and my missus did go out that afternoon to stock up on food supplies in the house – she would usually go out once a week but she did not do that the previous week as we still had quite a lot in store.

Among the things she bought was a kilo of our local version of the yellow noodles which, being alkaline-free, do not have that unpleasant smell and are not that yellow in colour and the other morning. I decided to take a bit of the noodles and cook mee mamak…

…for breakfast – the Malay/Indian-Muslim version of the mee goreng (fried noodles).

I cannot remember the last time I had that and I can’t even think of any place close to home selling that. Besides, if there are places not too far away, I wouldn’t be too sure at all that they would be open like my regular nasi lemak stall that I went to that day.

These were the ingredients that I prepared…

– a few cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped and some shallots, peeled and sliced, that I found in the fridge (I feel that was optional) and one fresh chili, cut into thin strips. I also took some of the prawns that I bought the other day plus a handful of lettuce (no sawi or any other greens in the house) and the chopped spring onions from my garden that I had in the fridge.

I heated up some oil in the wok. Yes, I used a wok and a regular gas cooker, not an induction cooker – Uncle Roger would surely approve! I threw in the shallots and the garlic and fried them till golden brown before the prawns and the chili went in. Once cooked, I pushed everything aside and broke an egg into the wok. I made sure I scrambled it well before I mixed it with the aforementioned ingredients and added the noodles.

I had added some soy sauce and some Maggi Thai chili sauce plus a generous amount of pepper and a sprinkling of msg to the noodles and mixed everything together well…

This way, I would not have to worry about it while cooking the noodles. I saw the people at the stalls using bottled chili sauce but we only had my missus’ ABC super pedas one in the house and I am not fond of the taste. That was why I opted for the Thai chili sauce instead.

As I stir-fried everything in the wok, I added a sprinkling of water to the sides and let it sizzle. The water, which would evaporate almost instantly, would cook the noodles. You will have to keep doing that for quite a bit so the noodles would be nicely done – do NOT add too much water as that would render the noodles over-soft and soggy. Once done, I threw in the lettuce and added a handful of the chopped spring onions and dished everything out…

…and served, garnished generously with more of the spring onions.

There was enough for two servings, the size of each around that in the first photograph above. I had one to myself and yes, I would say that it was very nice and I enjoyed it very much. My missus and my girl shared the rest and since there were no complaints, I guess my home-cooked mee mamak wasn’t too bad after all. LOL!!!