My missus went and bought this freshly-made mee pok (flat noodles)…
…to keep in the fridge to cook and eat slowly, bit by bit.
So far, I’ve been buying the factory-made mee pok or mee kua…
…packed and sold in flimsy plastic bags and more recently, I bought these mini-rolls…
…that came in a more impressive-looking packaging.
I took some of the noodles my missus bought to cook for my breakfast one morning and much to my surprise and delight, I found it a whole lot nicer than those factory-made dried ones. That was why the other morning, I decided to cook it again and as always, I started off by frying some sliced shallots till golden brown…
…and taking them out of the oil. That is to get the fragrant shallot oil for tossing the noodles later (lard may be used, if one so desires) and for the fried shallots that will be used for garnishing. I took them out first as they might turn soft and soggy if tossed with the ingredients.
I added a teaspoon of Bovril and dark soy sauce and half a teaspoon of msg (if you watch the people at the shops, they will add one teaspoon full, scooped)…
You may add a bit of chopped spring onion and a generous sprinkling of pepper as well.
I boiled the noodles till cooked, rinsed them under running water to wash away any excess starch, added some hot water and brought it to boil before draining the noodles well and tossing them with the aforementioned ingredients in the pan. Finally, I served the noodles in a plate…
…garnished with the fried shallots and more chopped spring onions.
I guess this is suitable for vegetarians as the Bovril these days…
…is yeast-based (like Marmite), no beef in it and anyway, it may be omitted – just use dark soy sauce on its own, and any other kind of noodles may be used instead if one is not into those with eggs used in making them, hence the slightly yellowish colour.
Indeed, it is very much nicer than those factory-made dried ones, cooked this same way, and I would not be surprised if these are cheaper too – around RM3.00 for a bag of 1 kilo, I think, while those dried ones may go up to RM10.00!!! So why would anyone want to pay more and settle for less, you may ask?
One kilo is actually a lot, probably enough for 10 plates whereas if you go some place outside, ONE plate like this…
…will set you back by at least RM3.00 already but with those few thin slices of meat.
The only drawback is if I buy the uncooked fresh noodles home for more or less that kind of money, I would have to eat it most every morning to finish it all off quickly as they may not last like forever even when we keep them in the fridge and besides, I will see it every day staring at me in the face and that, for sure, will trigger off my OCD. LOL!!!
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
The noodles you dished out looks pretty good. Simple and yet delicious. I cook like your way too and instead of using Brovil, I use dark soy sauce plus a little bit of oyster sauce as I am not a fan of Brovil. Add some minced meat, greens or spring onions and fried shallots. Taste absolutely great.
Yes, just as nice without Bovril. Before my missus introduced me to this, I just used dark soy sauce, so very nice too. Chopped spring onions and fried shallots would be an added bonus, will bring the taste to a whole new level.
Ouh…so you do add MSG? My family does not really like the idea of using msg in our cooking…everything has to be….natural…though everything is processed now.
Read up on all the more recent articles on msg. All that talk on the food shows in search of umami, that is all msg!!! Of course, whatever they say about it being not all that bad as people believe it to be, moderation is the key!!!
PLUS I believe that people use fake/imitation msg, cheap ones and some add a shockingly large amount! Money is the root of all evil. I only use AJI-NO-MOTO and just a little bit.
And there is msg in soy sauce, oyster sauce, chicken stock, all the stock granules, canned foods, processed foods like sausages, burger patties, meatballs, ham and so on, all the snacks and tidbits etc etc etc…and of course, when you eat out, there is a lot in everything!!! You probably do not realise how much you have been eating all this while.
Not sure we do this with noodles in Johore.
But mixing Marmite with rice congee is popular.
My missus’ recipe – we did not use to cook it like this in my family either. There was a place selling it here once but it has since taken it off its menu – I guess Bovril is getting to be too expensive plus even at that price, it is always sold out, hard to buy.
Noodles look so nice and fresh! I don’t dare to buy fresh noodles and store them as I tend to forget to cook them but if only a small amount I don’t really mind cause I will just quickly cook them for lunch or dinner. Time for you to make your own pork slices then you can eat at home all the time! HAHA
They only sell those noodles by the kilo…unfortunately. Yes, I do make my own char siew now but I only need a few slices for a plate of noodles. Not the same if heated up after keeping in the fridge, not freshly-made.
When i saw the MSG, i thought oh i would never use that but then i remembered that i also use “Magic Sarap” which is basically MSG :). I’ve been craving pinoy pansit, which looks like what you just cooked so I’ll probably try your recipe and see if it would be the same as our pinoy pansit 🙂
Moderation, do not use a lot. Definitely not as much as the restaurants and eateries outside – after eating, you will feel thirsty, your lips feel numb and there is that lingering taste of the msg in the mouth. Those are signs of an overdose. If you do not feel anything, then the amount used is all right.
Well, it’s sodium = salt so at the end of the day, it is best not to eat too much. If your ingredients will have a lot of taste already, then you can omit it altogether. That is what we do with our own cooking at home.
Your home made noodle looks yummy. No Bovril in my house so I use dark sauce. What I usually do with fresh noodle is to divide them in portion, store individually in plastic bag and freeze them. They can keep longer this way and when we want to use them, just move them to the lower shelf in the fridge to thaw them the night before. That is what I do with fresh wonton noodles too.
Oh? Maybe we should do that too but our freezer is usually very full, not much space. 1 kg noodles is quite a lot, will take up a lot of space.
Yes, these noodles are nice enough with just dark soy sauce, no real need for the Bovril, actually.
Bovril is like Marmite? I will have to look into that. Marmite is even hard to find here but I think a Northeastern Chain “Wegman’s” might sell it.
It’s a British product like Bovril, probably, that is why. In Australia and New Zealand, they have their Vegemite. We were a British colony, brought up on Bovril and Marmite.
Bovril as one of the condiments? Interesting idea, never really have this in my pantry as I actually don’t know how to use it much
I usually have it with porridge or tossed with noodles like this and sometimes, when there’s no soup, I’d use it to make that, nice too! Not much else that we do with it…unlike Marmite – they use it for cooking Marmite crabs, Marmite pork and so on. I also like Marmite with porridge, not so nice with noodles, makes ok soup too.