I had wanted to eat the famous KL-style charsiu siuyoke fan (roast meats with rice) but the hawker told us (in queue) that the charsiu is sold out and the next batch would be available at around 2pm.
Many dropped out of the line but I decided to stay after seeing a customer in front of me cart off with a bowl of delicious looking noodle dish. I quickly scanned the stall’s menu and placed an order for Hakka Noodle with roast pork. I did not mix the chilli into the noodles, preferring to get an original taste of the plain looking but surprisingly yummy clean flavour. This is a stall that I will be returning to to have a go at their charsiu fan (BBQ pork rice). The roast pork had crunchy crackling but the charsiu, in my humble opinion and personal taste preference, is the star ingredient!
“There are numerous restaurants in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand serving Hakka cuisine. Hakka cuisine was listed in 2014 on the first Hong Kong Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
The Hakka people have a marked cuisine and style of Chinese cooking which is little known outside the Hakka home. It concentrates on the texture of food – the hallmark of Hakka cuisine. Whereas preserved meats feature in Hakka delicacy, stewed, braised, roast meats – ‘texturised’ contributions to the Hakka palate – have a central place in their repertoire.” – Wikipedia
The Handmade Hakka Noodle Recipe below is from the kitchen of Mrs Lam (nee Lim Tai Moi), age 89. Special equipment needed Noodle/Pasta maker. Mrs Lam uses the Italian Ampia Tipo Lusso 150.
Ingredients
- 1 kg of Wheat Flour
- 1 teaspoon *Potassium Carbonate
- 450ml Water
- The Minced Meat:
- 1 cup cooking oil
- 500g minced Pork
- 10 cloves of Garlic, finely chopped (or to taste)
- 3 – 4 tablespoons Fish Sauce (or to taste)
- 3 tablespoons Dark Soya sauce
- Garnish:
- 500g Bean Sprouts, cooked
- Spring Onions, chopped
- Fried Garlic + Garlic Oil
Instructions
MAKE THE NOODLES:
- Place the flour in a big mixing bowl.
- Dissolve the potassium carbonate in the water to form the **lye water (碱水 / 鹼水) mixture.
“If you use too much it’ll become bitter. But if you don’t use it at all, the noodles won’t be nice. It becomes mee sua.”
- Add the lye water to the flour one bit at a time, using your fingertips to gather the wet clumps.
Knead into fist-sized balls.
“Too much water and it’s not good; not enough water and it’s not good. You just need to agak-agak (estimate). You’ll get it with experience.”
- Flatten the dough balls with your palm. Make sure it’s thin enough to fit into mode “1” of the machine.
“Use the soft part of your hand, and don’t use too much force, or you will hurt the dough.”
- Put the flattened dough ball through mode “1” of the machine, take it out and fold the sheet in half, coat with a thin layer of wheat flour if too sticky. Do this step 3 times.
“Remember, don’t use tapioca starch for this, It’ll become very starchy and sticky if you do that. You have to use wheat flour.”
- Then put the sheet through mode “2” once. The sheet should get thinner and longer.
“Just do it as many times as you need to make it look pretty.”
- Then put the sheet through slot 3 to make noodles.
Sprinkle some tapioca flour over the noodle clumps.
You can keep the noodles for up to one week in the fridge.
MAKE THE MINCED PORK:
- Heat the oil up for three minutes.
Throw in the garlic and fry until golden brown.
“Not too hot or it’ll burn. Use more garlic for more flavour.”
- Add the fish sauce and minced pork. Fry for about 5 minutes, or until oil has “disappeared”.
“Use a lot of oil. Otherwise, you won’t have any gravy for the noodles.”
Notes
TO SERVE:
In a pot of boiling water, cook the noodles for about a minute. “Once the noodles start floating, take it out.” On a plate, serve the noodles with a helping of minced meat. Garnish with boiled bean sprouts and spring onions. Flavour with fish sauce and garlic oil.Recipe Credit: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/cnainsider/mrs-lam-s-handmade-hakka-noodles-the-recipe-8783482
Watch Mrs. Lam’s noodle-making video here: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/mrs-lam-s-hakka-noodles-recipe-video-8783308
*Potassium carbonate (K2CO3) 碳酸钾 is a white salt, soluble in water (insoluble in ethanol) which forms a strongly alkaline solution. ~ Wikipedia
** Lye water also known as kansui (碱水 / 鹼水) is an alkaline solution that is safe to ingest in the final concentration that it’s used. It doesn’t significantly alter the flavour of the final product but it does change the texture.
Typically it is used in some noodle preparations to create a slightly chewy noodle rather than the conventional soft noodle.
Lye Water Info credit: http://ediblyasian.info/recipes/kansui-chinese-alkaline-salts-for-cooking-
Happy cooking, eating and bonding!