December 9, 2011

Foochow Char Gii Mien (Halal Version)

This recipe is especially for my friends who asked for the halal version of the Mi Sup Goreng Foochow which is very famous in Sibu. And the photo is by Lawrence Ding.

The story associated with Char Gii Mien in Sibu is this:

My family lived at Kung Ping Road (road name was later changed to Brooke Drive)from 1955 to the 1990's. Our house was a beautiful Sibu styled wooden house with 8 rooms built by my grandfather.It has coloured window panes. Later my mother developed it into a shophouse called Takang Building.

There was a coffee shop called Kaban Coffee Shop right at the junction of Kampong Nyabor Road and Brooke Drive(Opposite Art Friends). There were a few stalls run by both Chinese and Malay operators. We frequented the stall owned by Hew Ming Ung whose wife calls my mother Aunty or Chuo Goo (because she is a Lau too).

Mum would always send one of us out with a Thai made container to buy RM5 - worth of Char Gii Mien because take away would contain more soup and even more noodles..So in Foochow mum would always say.."Har Sik"..or more value for money. It would be enough for the whole family of hungry children.

The noodles also got fatter as we had to walk for about 5 - 10 minutes home. We loved eating the "fattened" noodles. And Ming Ung would always add a few more fish balls for us!

Nowadays whenever I order CGM for myself I would think of the Hew family.

Sadly when I moved away from Sibu the Hew family suffered a great tragic loss. Their pretty daughter at age 14 (Beautiful Treaure) was raped and buried in a shallow grave in Durin by 5 school drop outs! That murder case stunned the Sibu society for years!

Not long ago I met up with the couple. Ming Ung is just a year older than I and he has white hair and a sad look. The couple continues to earn a living as mee stall owners.


(Photo courtesy of Lawrence Ding)

Ingredients (for 4 persons)

Yellow oily noodles ( your own portion or 1 cup each)
2 ringgit worth of sawi (sliced 2 inches length)

1 tablespoon cornflour

garlic - 1 clove
onions - 4 small ones
20 thin slices of fresh fish flesh e.g. tapah/pomfret/garoupa(optional)5 slices each.
2 pieces of fish cakes
1 packet of fish balls
400 gm chicken breast meat (sliced thinly and marinated in some salt and pepper and coated with some cornflour)
1 tablespoon dark soya sauce
4 tablespoons of cooking oil(If you use olive oil the fragrance would be different)
1/2 tablespoon of fish sauce
fresh prawns

salt and pepper to taste

6- 8 bowls of chicken or meat stock (optional)


green onions (for garnishing)
coriander leaves (for garnishing)

Method:

The Frying of the Noodles (Goreng)
Heat up a wok to high heat and add 2 tablespoons of cooking oil. When hot add some garlic slices and then fry the noodles until cooked. Lift from the wok and set aside. A bit of burnt noodles would give that extra oomph.

Preparation of the soup
1. Add 2 tablespoons of oil to the work and add in the rest of garlic.
2. Add the chicken slices. Sear the meat.
3. Add dark soya sauce.
4. Add the chicken or meat stock. Add the fish sauce
5. Bring to the boil and add the fish balls and fish slices and prawns. When the soup is boiling add the vegetables and coriander.
6. Add the noodles and let them boil for two minutes. Add salt and pepper.
7. Garnish.

Serve in large bowls.

The soup would be thick (but you can still thicken the soup with more cornflour) and good for slurping on a very cold day!! But the noodles would be just wonderful even if you do not add the cornstarch.

( For non halal dish - add liver and pork slices...and pork fat crisps or yew char which originally was the only ingredient besides the vegetables and pond fish and river prawns in our own farm house in the past....we also used the home dried left over noodles which needed to be boiled with a bit of oil in the kuali to make them oil...and then fried in the kuali again...Add some red rice wine.)

14 comments:

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

I quite like the Foochow wet fat noodles, seldom get them in Singapore when I was there.

Did they catch those idiots?

mezzo solo said...

but it is not quite easy to get the same taste-like when we do it in our small kitchen. i think we need the "wok - qi". haha...

Ensurai said...

Ann...yes that's right...that's why you have to wait for the noodles to fatten...
those idiots...two are still in jail. Two got released. In Miri we did not hear about the results of the appeal case...So I hope some one can shed light on it...

Ensurai said...

Mezzo Solo...Yes that's right..what I do is to let some of the noodles burn a little by a very high fire...

You really need that chi char chi char..of the Diang!! hahahahah Merry Christmas..in Ca?

Anonymous said...

i always ask the seller to add more rice wine but...always almost disappointed - they didnt listen to me !- as though the red wine cost so much

- Ah Ngao

Ensurai said...

Ahhhhhh ...Ah Ngao...
I know it is the red wine that makes it so delicious...

The wine will make all the tastes come together and give it a special ooomph.

No red wine is Rm 6.00 in Sibu...how much is it in Kuching?

mezzo solo said...

so pleasently, we talked joyfully over a bowl of foochow noodles....merry christmas, everybody

Ensurai said...

Mezzo solo...thanks for visiting my blog..May God bless your diang and zhou (stove)..may God bless your kitchen and keep friends coming through your door bringing you happiness and May God bless your work....
Peace.

William said...

Nice...I love CGM. Gone are the good old days! Tragedy can be very painful!

Ensurai said...

William..can you cook it well? Most of my friends like the wok to be hot hot hot..and then get that special burnt noodle smell...

Tragedy can be most painful...

Anonymous said...

Sounds like the PJ Paramount Garden`s Hokkien Mee. I didnt realize this is a Sibu hoochiew meing. Èu hiong, eu hoh riak ...Ngui pih eh tiok from this end of the world...

Anonymous said...

around RM20 per bottle in Kuciang

- Ah Ngao

Ensurai said...

Anonymous..whaaa..bi eh tiork in PJ? Jin hiong oh if not halal because of the garlic and yiu char..

You sound as if you are Hook Chiang!! I am a Ming Chiang Nern. Thanks for visiting this blog.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Ensurai said...

ah Ngao...Rm 20- is atrocious!! I think I better do business in Kuching!! I will find out from my mum where she gets hers..and give you the phone no....

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