'Ban Mian' or 'Pan Mee'

Pan Mee is my childhood favourite. I love soupy noodle and this is one of them. My daughters like it too. As we are on the journey to know good food in different continents, we have chosen the one that is close to our heart, the place I grew up - Seri Kembangan.

According to The Star newspaper on 18 April 2008, the village was established in 1952 when the British moved Chinese villagers living around Sungai Besi to a centralized location due to the communist threat during the insurgency. During its early days, the village had 50 houses and all were built from scratch because the British only provided empty plots of land. Most of the 15,000 inhabitants earned meagre incomes as mining workers and rubber tappers. Yes, that's the humble beginning of my ancestor. ^^

People speaks Hakka. It is known as Hakka village too. Pan Mee is a Hakka-style noodle. It's literally translates to 'flat flour noodle'. The dough is made from flour. We add eggs to enhance the flavor of the noodle. This recipe is from my mom.

Ingredients (3 persons):

1. 2-3 cups (estimates) flour : Organic unbleached flour (all purpose flour is fine too)

2. 2 medium size eggs

3. 1 cups of anchovies

4. 6-8 cloves of shallots

5. Vegetable - sweet potatoes leaves (you may put any vegetable you like)

6. Shredded chicken/pork

7. Cili padi

8. Salt

9. Parsley to garnish

Steps:

1. Beat 2 medium size eggs (avoid bubbles)

2. Mix the flour into the beaten egg slowly. Hand-knead until it become dough. If it's too dry, add some water. If it's watery, add some flour.

3. Leave the dough for 5-10 minutes. 

4. Torn the dough into smaller piece and roll it with rolling pin to flatten it.

5. Peel it to different shapes and sizes as you wish. Most common shapes is flat stripes of noodle.

6. Add some cooking oil to wok to fried the anchovies and shallots. Fried until it's fragrant. Add water into the wok and let it boil for 30 minutes to an hour until fragrant.

7. Add shredded chicken and bring to boil.

8. Add vegetables and bring to boil.

9. The flatten noodle (we tear it slowly to put into the soup) is added slowly. Bring the whole pot to boil.

10. Add some salt.

11. Garnish it with parsley and served.

12. Minced cili padi with soya sauce may be served together.

Notes:

Be patient when mix the beaten eggs and flour. It might not set as a dough for the first time. We use organic unbleached flour because the noodle will turn out soft and smooth. 

                                           

A merry heart model children's future behavior in managing the unexpected

I was reading an article of the value of laughter at home.  As I was reflecting on some pointers in the article, I realized I 'sometimes' over react in small little things like little hands accidentally drop my IPad, spill juices on table, whining of not liking the food I prepared, complains over their daily routine, throwing tantrum to get more attention and so on. Well, it does make me feeling guilty. It makes me feel worst when the article said, our children behavior models after our behaviors in managing the unexpected. 

I am writing this to remind myself to lighten up the unexpected situation at home. Being discern and aware is the starting. I have to remind myself that my reaction to the unexpected teaches my children many things. If I am showing a happy heart with discern brain, it will help my children to model me in managing their frustrating dilemma in the future. I want to fill their memories bank account with positiveness. I will add laughter into my daily responsibility and routine by:

1. Counting 1 to 5 so my brain will stop for a moment before I react

2. Put a smile on my face so I can think better

3. Instead of asking 'why' or blame, lecture and scold my children, I will bite my tongue and continue to smile... so I can calm down

4. Pray to God so He can guide me in handling the unexpected situation

5. Discern between a true crisis and and opportunity for a healthy laughter... This will takes a lot of practice...

Please share if you have something that work very well for you :-)

Outdoor Excursion

I had decided to think out of the box. Learning don't confine on workbook alone. Learning is all around us. Previously, I can concentrate and have one to one time with my eldest daughter while my baby took her afternoon nap. As my second daughter grow, she skip her afternoon nap and need a lot of attention from me.

I have decided to bring the girls for an outdoor excursion. It's not typical me of going outdoor without planning what to do. I go ahead with no end in mind and let the girls lead me. We started having lunch under a hut. It was a windy day. I brought along their chalk and crayon with a roll of paper. The girls started with drawing. It was really fun to see them sharing and communicating. One using body language and the other talking. The younger one will 'copy' her 'jie jie' in anything. I get to have a quiet lunch while the girls busy with their drawing.

They continue playing at playground. I end up drawing a hop scotch on the sand. We play hop scotch for a while. Then, we numbered the same hop scotch and we had Maths game - addition and subtraction. We will put the little one into the box with the right answer from the addition and subtraction game. The young one will learn to recognize the number. It was really fun. We played word game too. We look around and find objects start with letter A to Z. We learn new words from each other. It was a fun 2 hours.

                                           

Assam BeeHoon/Vermicelli - Penang, Malaysia

This recipe if from my Ah Mah in Penang. She is a good cook and very good in cooking authentic nyonya food. I have decided to let my girls try some spicy food from Malaysia. Though they don't really like it, my husband and I enjoyed it. 

Ingredients (3 persons):

1. Chili boh (from Penang) / instant chili paste 

2. Lime juice / lemon juice

3. Bean sprout

4. Prawn

5. Bean curd 'tau kua'

6. Shallot

7. Spring onion

8. Sugar, salt, light soya sauce

9. 3 eggs (number of eggs depends on number of pax n beehoon quantity)

10. Minced garlic

Method:

A. Slice and fried tau kua. Cut 'tau kua' into small cubes (square) and set aside.

B. Slice shallot and fried until golden brown. Set aside. 

C. Mixed item 1, 2 and 8 together. If you like sourish taste, add vinegar.

D. Heat up the frying pan with cooking oil. Stir fried minced garlic and prawn.

E. Add beehoon n item C. Toss everything evenly.

F. Add bean sprout and toss evenly.

G. Add beaten egg and mix evenly.

H. Add tau kua and spring onion and toss evenly.

I. Last add fried shallot. Served.

Back in Malaysia, we like use this BeeHoon brand : Errawan (5 elephant head on the packaging). In Singapore, we use any brand and it turns out fine. This dish need a lot of patience because it takes strength to toss the beehoon. ^^. Happy trying.

                                            

       

Aglio Olio and Bruschetta from Italy

My girls are into noodle recently. They love pan mee, udon, Shanghai mee, and spaghetti. Since they like spaghetti, I took this opportunity to introduce Italy to them. I have made Aglio Olio (with a little modification to tailor to their taste bud) and bruschetta. 

Aglio Olio - 3 pax 

Ingredients:

1. Spaghetti

2. 5 strips of Chicken breast 

3. Italian herbs : basil, rosemary, oregano, thyme, parsley, red bell pepper

4. Sesame oil

5. Soya sauce

Steps:

1. Marinate the chicken strips with Italian herbs and a pinch of salt overnight.

2. Bring spaghetti to boil. Boiled until it's soft.

3. Drain it and toss with sesame oil and soya sauce. (You may use olive oil or fried garlic oil)

4. Sprinkle Italian herbs and toss it.

5. Marinated chicken strips - grilled

6. Served it with the spaghetti. 

Note: if you don't like chicken strip, you may change to bacon strips or prawn or any grilled vegetable to your liking.

Bruschetta - 2 pax

Ingredients:

1. 2 medium size tomatoes

2. 2-3 cloves of garlic

3. Scallion or spring onion - 3 small stalks

4. 1 tea spoon of Olive oil or cooking oil

5. A pinch of Italian herbs and salt

6. 1 loaf of baguettes

7. Garlic spread

Steps:

1. Cut tomatoes to small cubes.

2. Mince the garlic and scallions 

3. Mix tomatoes, garlic and scallions together.

4. Add olive oil and mix well.

5. Add Italian herbs and small pinched of salt and mix well.

6. Leave it in the fridge overnight.

7. Sliced the baguettes to the thickness of your liking and toast it.

8. If you like the garlicky taste, spread a layer of garlic spread on the sliced baguettes.

9. Spread the tomatoes mixture on it and served.

                                           

Rosti or Roschti - a Swish dish

We have been singing the 7 continents song at home. Prior to that, we have been playing games on spotting the right countries on map. Geography should not be dry subject. I remember I had to memorize and memorize to pass my geography subject in school and I don't like it. I believe every subject can be lively and fun. This week, we look into Switzerland. One of the favorite dish for kids is Rosti. 

Ingredients:

Russet potatoes (3 big size for 4 pax)

Butter (unsalted)

Method:

1. Place potatoes in a saucepan and cover with cold water.

2. Cover it with lid and place on a stove with 'hi' heat.

3. Let it boil for 10 minutes and turn off the stove.

4. Remove the potatoes and leave it to cool.

5. Place the potatoes in the fridge for about an hour until it's cold.

6. Remove the potatoes from the fridge. Peel and grated them into strips. Grated it when they are still cold. 

7. Melt the butter in the frying pan.

8. Place a handful of grated potatoes onto the melted butter. Flatten it to shape.

9. Pan fried one side until it's slightly brown before you turn to the other side. 

10. Served once both side are slightly brown. 

Making this dish required patience. The fire on the stove can not be too hot. If it's too hot, it will burn the grated potatoes. The butter can not be too generous too. It will become too 'buttery' if we place too much butter on the frying pan.