Wanton noodles (云吞面）

INTRODUCTION

I still remember when I was studying in my home town Sarawak, one of my teachers from West Malaysia used the following sentence to describe the differences between East Malaysian and West Malaysian dry noodles: “ East Malaysia Kolo noodles is very dry and whitish in colour where as West Malaysia wanton noodles is dark coloured noodles swimming in a black pool of sauces.”

In fact there are many differences between Sarawak dry style noodles and West Malaysian/Singapore kolo noodles. Among them are the types of noodles, the sauces and the garnishes. You can have a more thorough understanding of this uniquely Sarawak Kolo Noodles in this post: A Noodle Dish That Chinese Sarawakian Would Not Be Able To Let Go… Sarawak Kolo Mee

Being raised in Sarawak, I have limited exposure of wanton noodles. In fact, it take me quite a while after studying in Kuala Lumpur to get used to the alkaline water dark yellowish wanton noodles. I believed most Sarawakian would have this similar problem at least for quite a while too. However, I have started to like this noodle after that short period since I have no assess to Sarawak Kolo Noodles.

In between West Malaysian and Singapore wanton noodles, there are still slight differences on the garnishes and the colour of seasonings. Most West Malaysian wanton noodles required caramelized dark soya sauce which darkens the noodles but gives a tint of sweetness, Singapore wanton noodles basically omitted the caramelized dark soya sauces.

Though wanton noodles usually accompanied by barbecue pork, however, there are many items that was served together and this will depend on stores. Some have wanton and other served with soya sauce chicken.

For this illustration, I have purposely prepare a soya sauce chicken to go along with the noodles. If you are interested, you can refer to this post: Cantonese Soya Sauce Chicken (粤式豉油鸡，酱油鸡)

As per Wikipedia,

“Wonton noodles [Mandarin: Yun-tun mian; Cantonese: Wan-tan Min], sometimes called wanton mee (“wanton” is a Cantonese word for dumpling while noodles in Hokkien is “mee” or in Cantonese, “min”) is a Cantonese noodle dish which is popular in Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. The dish is usually served in a hot broth, garnished with leafy vegetables, and wonton dumplings. Malaysia offers different versions of the dish, with different states having different versions of the dish and there are versions from Johor, Pahang, Perak, Penang, Sarawak, and Selangor. The Malaysian version differs from the original in having slices of char siu added to the dish, as well as the possibility of the soup and wontons in a separate bowl, the noodles being served relatively dry and dressed with oyster sauce. Some stalls include deep-fried wontons in the dry versions as well. Singapore wonton noodles includes noodles, leafy vegetables (preferably cai-xin), barbecued pork (char siu) and bite-sized dumplings or wonton. It is either served dry or in soup form with the former being more popular. If served dry, the wontons will be served in a separate bowl of soup. Shui jiao or prawn dumplings are served at some stalls and the original Hong Kong version is available at Cantonese restaurants and noodle joints. Fried wontons (wontons deep fried in oil) are sometimes served instead of those boiled in the soup.” (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonton_noodles)

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings: 3-4 adult serving

2 drumsticks of soya sauce chicken or about 100 grams of sliced char siu
8 ready made wanton (optional)
Chilli sauce or green preserved chilli of your choice
1 bundle of leafy vegetable greens such as cai xin
4 balls of fresh wanton noodles

For each ball/plate of wanton noodles:

2 tablespoons of shallot or spring onion oil
1 tablespoon of caramerlize dark soya sauce
1/2 tablespoon of oyster sauce
1/2 tablespoon of light soya sauces

Note:

For preparation of spring onion oil for noodles, you can refer to : Teochew Mee Pok And Fish Ball Noodles (潮州肉脞面，潮州鱼圆面）
For preparation of green chilli to go with wanton noodles, you can refer to : Green Chilies Pickles (腌制青辣椒）
For preparation of stir fried chilli sauce , you can refer to : Chilli Sauces （家居辣椒酱）

STEPS OF PREPARATION

Get ready a big bowl, put in all the sauce ingredients. Stir until well mixed.

In a pot of hot boiling water, blanch one ball of noodles for 2-3 minutes. If it comes with a packaging instruction, follow the instruction as every noodle may have different blanching time. If you want the noodles to be more springy, dip the hot noodles in pot of icy cold water for 1 minute and drain. Transfer the noodles to the bowl with the sauces. Quickly stir until well mixed.

Blanch all ingredients such as wanton, vegetables using the same pot of hot water, drain and set aside.

For assembly, transfer the noodle to a plate, top with vegetables greens, soya sauce chicken or char siu, wanton and preserved green cut chilli or chilli sauce. Best served immediately after it was prepared.

For Singapore version of lighter wanton noodles, omit the dark caramel soya sauce in the sauce ingredients.

CONCLUSION

Be it lighter Singaporean version or Malaysian darker and sweeter version of wanton noodles, all are delicious. I am rather easy when it comes to this. For noodle recipes, the ingredients quantity are estimations. You can add whatever you like such as fish balls, meat balls, beansprouts and etc. What is important is the sauce recipe. Even that, it also depends on individual taste bud. Lastly, remember that if you want QQ springy noodles, after blanching, dip in cold water to let the cooked noodles contract and become more springy.

This recipe was included in Page 63-64 of the “One Pot Noodle E-book”. For more One Pot Noodle Dishes, you can have a copy of “Easy One Pot Noodles – A step by step guide” that was packed with 30 recipes, 60 pages at a reasonable convenience fee of USD5.00. The recipes covered various recipes from curry laksa, prawn noodles to fish head beehoon and etc. Of course not forgetting the well like Economy Bee hoon and Mee Rebus . You can purchase by clicking the link above.You can either pay using Pay Pal or Credit card account. Please ensure that you have an PDF reader like Acrobat or iBooks in your mobile phone or iPad if you intended to read it in your ipad or mobile phone. Should there be any problems of purchasing, feel free to contact me at kengls@singnet.com.sg and separate arrangement can be made.

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