INTRODUCTION

I have been struggling whether or not to share this simple noodle dish. Simple both in terms of cooking method and ingredients. After due consideration, I have decided to blog for records because every time I posted this dish in Facebook Group, they bound to have members asking for recipe..

This is my childhood noodle dish .. When I was in primary or early secondary schools, whenever I want to have some supper, I would request to have this. My late father will give me fifty cents (rm) and I have to walk for about 15 minutes to the noodle stalls and bought these noodles. It was a store set up by a Heng Hua (兴化）uncle or ah pek and he has been frying this noodles for many many years. Until now, I still missed his noodles and no one can beat him even his own daughter who took over the store after he passed on.

Why I like this noodle is because it was sweet and sticky. He was using the thick Heng Hua or pa mee. This type of noodles is slightly different from what you have seen in this illustration. I have no choice but to use this as that is the closest I can get in Singapore. His alkaline noodles are thicker, less yellowish and much softer than the yellow noodles sold here.  He also used old fashion liquid gula apong (a type of palm sugar) and what amazed me is his noodle will not turn watery even if it is packed after 3-4 hours. Nowadays, after packing back these sweet noodles, it will turn moist and watery. Then, of course lard is used instead of cooking oil.

This type of noodle is still being sold in Kuching but I have to admit I am disappointed with the quality nowadays. Firstly, they are not sticky and but oily plus watery. There is no fragrance of gula apong also. Thirdly, the recent version have added too much side ingredients such as cockles, eggs and some even use Chinese sausages, fish cake possibly influenced by the Penang char Kway tiao. Therefore, for this recipe, you can always add the above mentioned side ingredients.

Why Singaporean members are always asking for recipe whenever I was posted? The answer is very simple, it resembles one type of economy fried noodles still being sold now and popular in the olden days. What differentiate this recipe with what is commonly sold in Singapore is the sweetness. All the one that I have eaten in Singapore is just yellow noodles fried with soya sauce and more on a savoury side. The noodle are rather dry and not as glossy as those in Sarawak. The glossiness of this recipe does not stem from the oiliness.. It is the caramelized palm sugar that make it sticky, glossy and dark..

This is one of the cheapest noodles being sold when I was young and it is still the cheapest now. There is no meat and the ingredients comprises beansprouts, yellow noodles, palm sugar and some dark soya sauce. All the ingredients are cheap and hence the noodle dish was sold cheaply. Beansprout is very important in this dish, it flavours the dish and the quantity shall be at least more than half the quantity of noodles. Rest be assured that without bean sprout, the noodle dish will not taste nice. For this illustration, I have purposely omit all garnish and decoration to the plating, as it is a humble dish that need no garnishing at all..

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings: 3-4 adult servings

• 1 packet about 500 grams of thick yellow alkaline noodles
• 150 grams beansprouts
• 2 tablespoons of palm sugar (pounded gula melaka or gula apong)
• 1 tablespoon of dark thick caramelized soya sauce
• 1 tablespoon of dark soya sauce
• 1 tablespoon of minced garlic

STEPS OF PREPARATION

• Heat up a wok with 2-3 tablespoons of cooking oil or lard, sauté the minced garlic until fragrant. Add in the yellow noodles. If prefer, you can blanch the yellow noodles in hot water, drain and before adding. Stir fry until the aroma was well incorporated. Add the dark soya sauce and thick soya sauce, stir fry until well combined. Add the palm sugar and stir fry until the sugar melted. Before dishing up and offing the heat, add the beansprouts, stir fry for one additional minute and the dish is ready.

Note:

• Usually for sweet noodles, there is no side ingredient. But if you add side ingredients, reduce the palm sugar amount and become savoury version. In the stores that sell this sweet noodles, you can also ordered kway tiao fried in the same way with out palm sugar.

• This is a sweet noodle recipe, but if you are concern about the sweetness, you can gradually add the palm sugar. If you do not have palm sugar, you can use white sugar though the colour and aroma may be different.

CONCLUSION

i have decided to blog this because it is a simple dish that I respect and missed. Though Singaporean version is the savoury version but they are some Singaporean members who have tried this like the noodles very much .. If you are running out of idea what to cook, you can give it a try ..

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