Drunken prawns (醉虾) is a dish which is unbelievably cheap and easy to prepare at home, but if you were to order it at the restaurant, be prepared to pay at least three times (but usually more) more than it would cost you to prepare it at home. Seafood is always so expensive when it is ordered outside.

If you think that it’s cruel to use live prawns, you can substitute with non-live ones. In my opinion, the key to delicious drunken prawns is to “marinade” them when they are still alive.  My (unproven) theory of why Chinese restaurants use live prawns, is that the prawns will ingest some of the wine, hence the wine aroma is deep within the prawns, else the aroma of the Chinese wine is kind of on the surface only. In the case of live prawns, I think the taste is more distinct and sweeter.

If you are looking for affordable live prawns in Singapore, refer to this post

Ingredients
(Serves 2)

- 10 live prawns (some call them shrimps)
- 3 tbsp Chinese wine (Hua Diao Jiu 花雕酒 or Shao Xing Jiu 绍兴酒)
- a handful of wolfberries
- 3 thick spring onion stalks (the bottom white part)
- 3 to 5 slices of ginger
- spring onions (cut to wispy thin strips) and coriander

Directions
1. Place prawns in a deep vessel with lid (I use my 4.2l slow cooker pot).
2. Drizzle 2 tbsp Chinese wine over prawns and close the lid (because the prawns will jump :P)
3. Wait till the prawns have stopped jumping. This will take about 10 minutes or more.
4. Trim the feelers off the prawns, arrange them in a single layer on a steaming plate that has a bit of depth. Pour the marinating wine over.
5. Place spring onions stalks, ginger and wolfberries on top. Drizzle one more tbsp Chinese wine over the ingredients.
6. Steam till the prawns turn completely red (this takes only a few minutes - do not over cook).  Garnish with spring onions strips and coriander.

“Marinating” the prawns “敬酒”

My happy loot! Live prawns (still alive when I reached home)

It’s certainly a cook’s dream come true to cook with the freshest ingredients on hand. And when it comes to fresh seafood, nothing beats purchasing them while they were still alive :p For my foodbuzz 24 writeup, I needed live prawns to prepare one of my fb24 meals, drunken prawns, and I was really happy to find them at Grand Atlantic Fishery, a seafood stall located at Farmart.

Drunken Prawns - Made with live prawns (recipe here)

At the seafood stall with tanks of fresh seafood

Grand Atlantic Fishery sells a wide variety of seafood - including lobster, crabs and clams, in addition to prawns. Not all the seafood are alive, though it seems to me that they always have live prawns for sale.

Uncle weighing the prawns I ordered

You can request that they place the prawns in a special bag with oxygen pumped into the bag, so that the prawns will still be alive when you reach home, at no additional cost. Otherwise, I think they would just place the prawns in a normal plastic bag for you. If you want them to stay alive when you reach home, go home as soon as you can after purchasing the prawns, as the oxygen in the bag can only last for a few hours. You also need to trim the prawns feelers before you prepare/serve the dish.

Uncle at work

I was lucky one time and managed to get the live prawns at an offer price of S$12/kg. I purchased half a kg and only paid S$6 for the entire bag of prawns you see in the photo below (we counted and there were 29 prawns inside … what a steal!). When there are no promos, the usual price is around S$20/kg,  but you get much bigger prawns than the S$12/kg lot. Still quite reasonable as compared to the prices at supermarkets, especially when they are so fresh.

Bag of prawns with live prawns at home

P.S. This is NOT a paid review, everything written here is my personal opinion.

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Place: Grand Atlantic Fishery Pte Ltd
Opening Hours: 8 am - 4pm (Closed on Thursday)
Location: Farmart Centre (67 Sungei Tengah Rd Unit 30 , Singapore 699008)
Phone: ‎+65  67649035

With Halloween just around the corner, I’m glad this pumpkin soup (and the adorable pumpkin soup bowl it’s contained in) gets to make its starry (hopefully not scary) appearance on my blog before Halloween, hehe.  Roasting the pumpkins before putting them in the soup really draws out their natural sweet flavours (process of cameralization), and I adore the taste of natural sweetness over sugar sweetness. This recipe is really flexible because I actually made two versions with it - one which is chunkier (almost gravy like) for B who prefers chunky soups, and one version which is creamier and smoother (think cream of chicken type of consistency) for me. With the basic puree, you can adjust the stock and cream to achieve the consistency that you like.

I saw mini pumpkins being sold at Vivomart (and selected Cold Storage, Jasons outlets) and I purchased one for photography purposes. The cheapest I saw so far was S$3 each (at Vivomart) but my friend told me that nearing Halloween (which is now I guess) the prices may be slashed  further as the supermarkets try to clear the leftovers. I’m going to check out the supermarkets tonight and hope I get lucky

Happy Halloween!

A close up

Ingredients
(Serves 4)

- 500g pumpkin flesh, cut to small chunks
- chicken broth/vegetable broth (600ml for thick, chunky soup, at least 800ml or more for creamier, more watery consistency - see cooking note 1)
- 2 sprigs of rosemary leaves, chopped finely
- 1 large white/yellow onion
- 8 cloves garlic, peeled
- 30g butter
- extra virgin olive oil
- sea salt and freshly cracked pepper
- 1/4 cup of thickened cream (the one I used contained 35% milk fat)
- 2 tbsp white wine (optional)
- cinnamon or nutmeg powder (garnishing)

Directions

1. Arrange pumpkin chunks in a single layer on roasting tray with the garlic and drizzle liberal amounts of extra virgin olive oil till pumpkin pieces & garlic cloves are well coated in the oil. Season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle chopped rosemary over.
2. Roast pumpkin in preheated oven of 200C (400F) for 30 minutes till they are soft (if you like, you can turn them over after 20 minutes for a more even cooking).
3. Melt butter in heated pan then cook onions over gentle flame till the onions have just started to caramelised (soft, translucent, shrunken). This takes about 4 minutes or so.
4. Add the stock, followed by the roasted pumpkin and garlic, then bring to a boil. Simmer with lid on for another 10 minutes, then off the flame. The pumpkin pieces should be really sweet and tender by now.
5. Process the soup in batches using either a blender or food processor till smooth (see cooking note 3). At this point you can add more broth to get the right consistency you like.
6. Return the soup to the saucepan and stir in the wine & cream and season with salt and pepper to taste.
7. Warm through, without boiling. Ladle into bowls and garnish with a few drops (or swirls) of cream and cinnamon/nutmeg. Serve with toast.

Pumpkin Toast (cooking note 3)

Cooking Notes

1. This recipe is very flexible. With the thick pumpkin puree, you can adjust the thickness of the soup based on your preference. For instance, if you like a chunkier soup, you can use lesser stock or even omit the cream. Likewise, for a more watery/creamier consistency, add more broth or cream accordingly.
2. To make pumpkin soup bowls, get mini pumpkins, carefully cut off the top, use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and strings, and use a paring knife to scoop out the flesh out all round. I’m sure you can do this better than my shoddy workmanship hehe
3. You may reserve some of the thick puree (step 5) to spread over baguette to make delicious pumpkin toast (pictured).
4. You can substitute rosemary with sage or thyme as you like.

More pumpkin deliciousness:

- Pumpkin Muffins
- Pumpkin Chawanmushi
- Steamed Tofu with Pumpkin, Prawns & Ebikko
- Pumpkin Rice

With Halloween coming soon, I decided to soak in the festive mood by cooking with pumpkin, starting with these adorable pumpkin muffins. Because I don’t really have a sweet tooth, I always like the idea of having a savoury ingredient like pumpkin in something sweet like a muffin. If you want to prepare this in advance before Halloween, you can freeze the muffins in the freezer and toast them for about 5 minutes in the oven to warm them up before serving. This is always a huge time saver for me when I want a quick and fuss free breakfast.

I’m pretty inexperienced at baking. For those who are experienced, could you tell me honestly if my muffins look ok? Are nicely baked muffins supposed to look like that? Also, they rise nicely when they are in the smaller cupcake cases as shown in the photos, but if I use the taller and bigger muffin cases, the batter do not cook well, and they will sink in the middle and then collapse. Does anyone know the reason for this? Your expertise is much appreciated.

On to the recipe now, if you still dare to follow a recipe shared by a noob hehe

Pumpkin muffins (with pumpkin milkshake in the background)

Ingredients
(Makes about 16 small muffins)

Adapted from 500 Cupcakes & Muffins by Fergal Connolly

- 200g plain flour
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 250g caster sugar
- 110ml vegetable oil
- 2 lightly beaten eggs
- 110ml milk
- 150g pumpkin flesh, blended to a puree

Directions

1. Flour mixture: In a bowl, sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon and sugar together, and mix well.
2. Pumpkin mixture: In a large bowl, beat the oil, eggs and milk. Stir in the pumpkin puree.
3. Combine the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture. Stir until just blended (and lumpy). Be careful not to over mix as it will result in a tough texture.
4. Place baking cases in muffin tins. Spoon the mixture into the cases (each slightly more than 2/3 filled).
4. Bake for about 20 minutes in preheated oven of 175C (350F). Remove the muffins and cool on a rack for several minutes before serving.

Just for Fun:

I baked a mini one for my hamster Mario.

And he seemed pretty happy about it Read about it here.

More pumpkin recipes:

- Pumpkin Chawanmushi
- Steamed Tofu with Pumpkin, Prawns & Ebikko
- Pumpkin Rice

“Rustic” … Singapore?

In this special foodbuzz 24, 24, 24 feature, I visited farms in Singapore to gain a glimpse into the lesser known “rustic” regions of Singapore to create more awareness on sources where one can buy fresh produce from our little country. I then created three simple meals of the day using the ingredients which were purchased from the farms.

Goats Milking at Hay Dairies

I name this article “Rustic Singapore”, though “rustic” is hardly a word used to describe our little country. When one thinks of Singapore, the words one will associate are usually “skyscrapers”, “modern”, “cosmopolitan”, “high-rise buildings” “crowded” and “dense”. We are a small (imagine a plane only takes mere seconds to whizz past Singapore, and driving only takes 45 minutes from one end to the other) and dense (population hitting 5 million) nation.

A farmer harvesting some spring onions at Kok Fah Technology Farm

But yes, there are still pockets of farms thriving despite the land scarcity. Besides getting the freshest ingredients a cook can possibly lay his and her hands on by visiting these places, these trips made great educational trips and sightseeing for both adults and children.

Cucumbers for sale at attractive prices at Kok Fah Farm’s market

Rustic Trail

(1) Hay Dairies

Hay Dairies is a local farm producing fresh goat’s milk. There are milking demonstrations every morning, and members of the public can buy fresh goat milk as well as view the goats in their barns.

Stars of Hay Dairies

Really love their faces because they seem like they are smiling. Don’t believe me? See for yourself!

Smiling Faces

After viewing the goats, you can buy fresh goat’s milk which are kept fresh in a cooler box

I bought an assortment of white and chocolate milk

(2) Bollywood Veggies

Mere minutes drive from Hay Diaries, I just have to drop by Bollywood Veggies for lunch and also check out what they had for sale that day. They usually have a cart of farm-picked vegetables for sale which varies every time depending on the harvest of the day. I like surprises! They also had a few pots of herbs for sale.

Decided to get some mini red radishes (the ones I usually see are white; bottom left pic) for making vegetable juice. I love it that they still had their leaves on, the ones at our supermarkets are usually trimmed already. That’s the advantage of buying directly from the farms! I also bought a green papaya for making soup, I can’t wait to see how it turns out.

Scene from Bollywood Veggies

The green message at Bollywood Veggies

(3) Kok Fah Technology Farm

Crops at Kok Fah Farm

As I entered its market, I feel like I am at a farmers’ market. With so much fresh produce, it is truly a cook’s paradise.

Kok Fah Market

I cannot use words to describe to you how fresh their produce are, so I’ll just let the photos do the talking.

Some of the farm fresh vegetables on sale:

Farm Fresh Produce

Beans, lentils and dried goods for sale

It also had a nursery with lots of edible plants for sale… can you identify them?

Edible plants for sale at the nursery

Some of my purchases of the day in preparation for my foodbuzz 24 meals

(4) Farmart

Wanted to visit an egg farm but I found that they had all been closed to public due to the bird flu. So I visited Farmart where they are stalls selling locally produced eggs. Was eggcited  to find white eggs which I’ve purchased for cooking my foodbuzz 24 meals (see breakfast).

Besides eggs, I also drop by a seafood stall to purchase live prawns for one of my foodbuzz 24 dish, “drunken” prawns. All right, so the seafood was not bred in Singapore but imported from Malaysia. But I am making an exception to feature them in this segment because the setting is so rustic, and it’s such a treat to be able to purchase live seafood at affordable prices in Singapore. And hey, at least the prawns are still alive when they are in Singapore ;p

The prawns were still swimming in the bag when I reached home … this is as fresh as it can get!

(5) Myco Farm

On the way home, I drop by Mycofarm which is a mushroom farm. Bought a mix of mushrooms including the gorgeous emperor shiitake mushrooms pictured below (so fresh, you still see a layer of white spores on the caps).

Menu for the day, cooking with local ingredients

So with all this shopping, I have to put the ingredients to good use right? Check out the meals I cooked using the farm fresh ingredients

Breakfast

For breakfast, I had it really simple because I wanted to head down to get live prawns right after breakfast to prepare drunken prawns for lunch. Simple, but satisfying - an easy scrambled eggs with chives and served with fresh goat’s milk and toasted parmesan baguette.

A close up of my scrambled eggs breakfast.

Lunch

Since I had to cook three meals (and take photos!) for the foodbuzz events, all the dishes I chose for the day involved relatively easy and fast cooking.

For lunch, we had oyster sauce baby bok choy in garlic oil, “drunken” prawns and vegetable juice. Served with white rice.

Dinner

For dinner, I’m glad I had chilled aloe vera drink with honey & lime to refresh and replenish myself after a long day.

For mains, we had three cups mushrooms & chicken, as well as sweet potato leaves in chilli, served with egg fried rice.

The egg fried rice was a last minute dish because I only realised that I went out of rice when I want to cook it. Luckily, I had a day old leftover refrigerated rice so I was able to make this 5-minute egg fried rice which turns out to be pleasant treat instead of white rice.

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Smiling Goat at Hay Dairies

This sums up my rustic food escapade for the past two days.  I enjoyed buying fresh ingredients and then trying to make delicious meals with them. It’s a great feeling to get away from the hustle and bustle of fast-paced urban life.

Scene at Mycofarm

I’m so heartened to still see a few pockets of farms left producing local food in Singapore. I hope that they continue to thrive. Maybe I will be back next week to stock up my pantry because now that I know what it is like to cook with such fresh ingredients, I’m hooked

Adorable rabbits kept as pets at Kok Fah Farm (pets = not for sale!)

Note: The detailed information about the farms as well as the recipes featured in this article will be published as blog posts over the course of the next month. Please stay tuned and thank you for reading

I first cooked this soup for my friend w who came to visit my place. W is a vegaquarian meaning he only eats vegetables and seafood (something I aspire to become one day) so I was flipping through my cookbooks the night before, looking for a meatless soup recipe. Finally found a recipe for “wild mushroom soup with sage” in the cookbook 500 Soups which I thought looked really delicious. We had this soup together with grilled scallops & large tiger prawns on angel hair pasta (recipe coming up) and Bakerzin blueberry cheesecake (which is 50% off this month). I tweaked the soup recipe based on the ingredients we can find in Singapore (for example, portobello mushrooms instead of wild mushrooms, thickened cream instead of double cream). I’ve always like portobello mushrooms for their deep, earthy flavours and “meaty” texture. The result of the soup is really good. I love the deep flavours of the portobello mushrooms which goes well with the subtle aroma of the white wine. The mushroom bits and cream give the soup a velvety and nice texture. The minute we reached home after sending w back, B asked for the soup again and finished the rest of the pot. Happy is a cook when there are no leftovers

Meatless Deliciousness - Cream of Portobello Mushroom Soup served with Basil Macadamia Pesto on Toast

The soup is creamy and slightly chunky so it is filling on its own. When I re-cooked this, we had it as a meal on its own, served with some basil macadamia pesto (pictured - recipe coming up) on toast. Yummy yummy.

Ingredients
(Serves 4 - 6)

- 25g butter
- 3/4 large white/yellow onion, chopped finely
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
- 1 tbsp plain flour
- 850ml vegetable/chicken/mushroom stock (see cooking note 1)
- 650g portobello mushrooms, chopped to large chunks
- 5 fresh sage leaves, chopped finely
- 100ml white wine
- 100ml double cream/thickened cream (see cooking note 2)
- sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
- chopped fresh parsley (for garnishing)

Directions
1. Melt butter in large and deep saucepan. And the onions and garlic, and cook over gentle flame till the onions have just started to caramelised (soft, translucent, shrunken). This takes about 4 minutes.
2. Stir in the flour and cook for one minute more, then gradually stir in the stock.
3. Add the mushrooms and bring to the boil. Don’t worry if it seems like a lot of mushrooms, they will shrink considerably when they are cooked.
4. Reduce heat, cover and simmer gently for about 15 minutes, until the mushrooms are tender. Stir in the sage.
5. Remove a couple of ladlefuls of the mushrooms, chop them to small pieces and set aside.
6. Process the remaining soup in a food processor or blender until smooth.
7. Return the soup to the saucepan and stir in the wine & cream and season with salt and pepper to taste.
8. Warm through, without boiling. Ladle into bowls and garnish with chopped mushrooms you reserved in step 5, parsley and a few drops (or swirls) of cream. Serve with toast.

Cooking Notes:
1) I used “Woh Hup” brand of “Concentrated Mushroom Stock” for the stock base by dissolving 1 tsp of stock for every 200ml of water. This stock works really well for this soup and is very convenient.
2) The original recipe calls for double cream, which is something common in UK. However, double cream is quite rare in Singapore (so far, only seen it at Cold Storage Centrepoint) and pretty expensive. I substituted this with thickened cream containing 35% milk fat and it does the job well and is so much cheaper and easier to find at our local supermarkets.
3) Ingredients substitution: You can substitute portobello mushrooms with wild mushrooms. You can also substitute the sage with fresh thyme (1 tsp).

Love my soup bowl? I adore the beautiful, punchi blue colour Bought for S$2 at Daiso Singapore.

Steamed “gong gong” served with chilli sauce, a local delight

These edible sea snails are affectionately called “gong gong” here in Singapore and some places in South East Asia like Batam. You can usually order this dish at hawker stalls which sell barbecue seafood such as sambal stingray and sambal kang kong.

“Gong” means “silly and blur” in our localspeak, but I seriously doubt that consuming this seafood will cause any brain damage in the long run

But don’t take my word for it because I must be pretty “gong” to start with. I have no idea what the proper name of this shellfish is in English. I have known it as “gong gong” all my life. So I did some research and found out that it is commonly referred to as “conch” or “whelk” in English.  People seem to use both terms quite interchangeably so I’m rather confused which is more correct.

Amidst the confusion, I prefer to simplify life by just calling them “gong gong” - I think the local name has a nicer ring to it

Edible Snails - Favorite Food or Fear Factor?

I’m not sure if those in other parts of the world (especially the Western countries) are familiar with this variety of seafood. Does it make you salivate or is this something that they force you to eat on Fear Factor? I don’t think they should be that scary since they are pretty similar to escargots.

The local version is usually cooked by steaming and the meat is then fished out either using a toothpick or by pulling out its tail before being dipped in a home made chilli sauce. The entire part of the meat (i.e. sans the tail) is said to be edible though I personally remove the bottom black part.

Like mussels and most seafood, this is much cheaper to cook at home. I bought the shells (1.5 times the amount you see in the photos) at Sheng Siong Supermarket (which I just discovered is a paradise for fresh and unusual food ingredients)  for roughly S$2. I think this dish will set you back by about S$8 if you order it outside. And it is prepared in almost no time at all.

Ingredients
(serves 2)
- 500g “gong gong” (edible sea snails/conches/whelks)

A) Chilli sauce
(mine is just a very simple and lazy version)
- light soy sauce
- 3 to 5 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
- 2 bird’s eye chilli (chilli padi), cut
- juice of 1 lime

Directions
1. Scrub the shells gently with a brush and rinse in water.
2. Steam the shells over high heat for about 10-15 minutes, depending on the size of the shells.
3. Meanwhile, prepare chilli sauce by combining ingredients (A) in a small condiment bowl. Serve with the cooked “gong gong”. Provide some toothpicks or dessert fork for fishing out the meat out of the shells.

Cooking Notes
- Be careful not to overcook as the meat will become rubbery and tough. The bigger the shells, the longer the cooking time.
- You can steam it with a few slices of ginger if you prefer.
- You can use a mixture of green chilli and red chilli for more colour.
- You can add a bit of plain water to (A) if you prefer it less salty and more watery.

Further reading
- Wiki
- Wild Singapore

I hadn’t plan to make or post a baked rice recipe so soon after making sausage baked rice, but I had leftover pineapples and ham from making hawaiian pizza (recipe coming soon, stay tuned) and this seems like the perfect use of the leftover ingredients. Plus, baked rice is a family favourite which never fails to please. I consider baked rice in the “safe foods” category so I make it when I want to eat something good. Besides chicken & mushroom as well as sausage, this is another combination of ingredients that work well for baked rice. I’m not sure if this applies in other countries as well, but over here, it seems that as long as there are pineapples and ham in a dish, the eateries will name the dish as “hawaiian” in the menu. Cliché as it may be, pineapple & ham is a tried-and-tested and wonderful food pairing nevertheless.

A whole tray of hawaiian baked rice … baked rice is wonderful party food

Ingredients
(Serves 4-6)

- 1 1/2 cups uncooked rice
- Water to cook rice
- 5 garlic cloves
- 1 1/2 cup pineapple chunks (canned or fresh)
- 2 to 3 slices of ham, cut to small squares
- 15g butter (or use olive oil for healthier version)
- generous tablespoons mushroom soup (I use Campbell’s, straight from the can - no need to mix with water or cook)
- Shredded Mozzarella Cheese (about 150g)
- Shredded Cheddar Cheese (about 150g)
- Salt & Pepper
- Parsley (garnishing)

Directions
1. Wash and rinse uncooked rice until water runs clear.
2. In a heated wok or saucepan, melt the butter. Add the washed rice, salt and black pepper to taste. Stir well.
3. Wait for the rice mixture to cool, then transfer to a rice cooker. Add the garlic cloves. Add water to cook rice (I use slightly more than 1 1/2 cups of water - adjust the water amount according to your cooker).
4. When the rice is cooked, stir in the pineapples and sliced ham, saving some as toppings. Portion out the rice into oven-safe baking dishes (you can also use disposable aluminium tray) until about half the depth of the dish.
5. Smear some mushroom soup sauce on top of the rice, and topped with a layer of shredded mozzarella and cheddar cheese followed by the rest of the pineapples and ham.
6. Baked in a pre-heated oven at 200C (392F) for about 20-25 minutes, or until all the cheese has melted and is very slightly browned. Garnish with parsley if desired.

Ok ignore the cocktail umbrella … I know it is a “cheesy” prop

Steamed mussels in Chinese wine

This is easy to whip up at home and so affordable too. I bought 500g mussels at the supermarket for only S$1. I can’t believe how cheap it is to cook this at home. The steps are so easy, this is truly fuss-free cooking at its best. Great for busy weekday nights.

Ingredients
Serves 2

- 500g mussels, scrubbed, beards pull out, discard shells which are broken/chipped (optional: soak in salt water for 1 hour for the mussels to purge out the sand)
- 1/4 cup Chinese wine (see cooking note 1)
- 1/4 cup water
- 3 chilli padi, deseeded, sliced finely (adjust to your liking)
- 2 shallots, chopped finely
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped finely
- 3 slices ginger
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- a few coriander leaves, roughly chopped (for garnishing)

Directions

1. Heat oil in wok. Stir fry chilli, shallot, garlic, ginger till fragrant.
2. Add mussels, wine and water, stir evenly to coat mussels in the wine, cover with lid and cook for about 5 minutes. Discard any shells that don’t open. Stir in some coriander leaves for garnishing and serve with rice.

Cooking Notes

1) The Chinese wine usually used in cooking is Hua Diao Jiu 花雕酒 or Shao Xing Jiu 绍兴酒.
2) You can substitute with white wine or sake if you do not have Chinese wine in your pantry.
3) If you add more mussels, increase cooking time by a few more minutes, and halfway through, stir the mussels so that those on top gets to the bottom to ensure even cooking.

“Gong Zai” Noodles with Ham 火腿公仔面

“Gong Zai” Noodles with Luncheon Meat 午餐肉公仔面

Because I keep a food blog, I think many may assume that I must eat well at home. The truth is that I don’t cook every day, and I eat my fair share of fast food and instant noodles. And I eat instant noodles not just for the convenience, I love the MSG flavourings and the texture of the noodles =P I am also quite fussy about how my instant noodles are done - they have to be firm and the soup is usually cooked separately because I don’t like the waxy water after cooking the noodles.

One of my fave brands of instant noodles is Nissin’s chu qian yi ding (出前一丁). The noodles are ‘q’ (Chinese equivalent to al dente?) to the bite and the sesame oil flavouring is so aromatic. It is used by Hong Kong tea cafes (cha can ting 茶餐订) for their “Gong Zai” noodles (公仔面, gong zai mian). When I was in Hong Kong, I looked forward to waking up in the morning to enjoy this simple dish to start my day. Gong zai mian is cooked with chu qian yi ding noodles, and the soup is usually replaced with the cafe’s own soup broth (there are dry versions as well), with a variety of toppings to choose from.

Chu Qian Yi Ding noodles packaging with the cute boy mascot

I asked around and was told that “gong zai” means “doll” or “puppet” in Cantonese. So I guessed the noodles were named this way due to the cute boy mascot on the packaging?

Update from mordaciter from Hong Kong who shared via comment on the origins of the name “gong zai”. Thanks mordaciter

“This type of noodle is called “gong zai” noodle not because of the cute character on the bag. In fact, there’s another brand of instant noodles in HK that was more popular before Nissin arrived, and that brand is called Doll Brand (Gong Zai Meen in Canto). So that’s why people still refer to instant ramen as “gong zai” noodles, even though Nissin is much more popular than Doll Brand these days. (I’ve tasted Doll Brand before and it’s not bad as well.)“

“Gong Zai” Noodles with Ham 火腿公仔面

At home, I whip up my simple version of gong zai mian by adding a sunny side up egg and some veggies, along with some ham or luncheon meat slices. Since I didn’t have the chance to travel to Hong Kong for the past few years despite missing the place so terribly, this will be a cheap way for me to reminisce about Hong Kong until I have a chance to go again, hehe

If you have other toppings ideas for gong zai mian, please share them with me in the comments section

Ingredients
(serves 1)
- 1 packet of Nissin chu qian yi ding instant noodles 出前一丁 (I use original flavour)
- your own soup broth (or use the packet seasonings) plus the sesame oil sachet
- 1 to 2 ham slices or 3 slices luncheon meat
- 1 sunny side up egg*
- some oil
- 1 small bunch of baby bok choy 小白菜 (you can substitute with other veggies such as lettuce or peas)
- chopped spring onions (garnishing)

* Directions for making sunny side up egg
Crack the egg without breaking the yolk into a small bowl. Heat up a wok and grease it with oil. To cook perfect sunny side egg, carefully pour the egg into the wok, and try to position the yolk in the middle surrounded by the egg white. After about two minutes, loosen the edges a bit, and let the egg cook for a few more minutes till the yolk is about half cooked. Carefully remove from pan and set aside.

Directions
1. Cook baby bok choy in boiling water for about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Set aside.
2. Cook the instant noodles in boiling water. Drain and set aside. Discard water.
3. Pan fry the luncheon meat slices for a few minutes each side till crisp. If using ham slices, just heat up both sides for a while. Set aside.
4. To assemble, add your own soup broth plus the sesame oil seasoning. What I did was I added the packet seasonings on top of the noodles, pour boiling water over and stir to mix it in. Then I added the sesame oil, and assembled the meat, veggies and sunny egg on top. Garnish with some spring onions.

“Gong Zai” Noodles with Luncheon Meat 午餐肉公仔面

Psst … if you have leftover luncheon meat, try my fried rice with luncheon meat recipe.