Char bee hoon (The Real Singapore Noodles)

Serves 4

1 handful of dried shrimp
1 handful of dried shitake mushrooms (about 5, depending on their size)
1 handful or bunch of dried rice vermicelli (about 100grams)
1 Chinese tablespoon oyster sauce
1 Chinese tablespoon mix of light soy and dark soy sauce
4 - 5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 handful of Chinese greens (I used choy sum or chye sim), cut into 3 inch pieces
2 - 3 tablespoons fried shallot oil
A bit of sesame oil and sugar
Ground white pepper to taste

Garnishes:

Sambal chili

Pickled green chilies

Fried shallots

1. Soak the shrimps in hot water, enough to fully cover them, for about 30 minutes.

2. Soak the mushrooms in hot water, enough to fully cover them, for 30 minutes.

3. Soak the rice vermicelli in tap or room temperature water for 20 minutes, then drain.

4.  Drain both the shrimp and mushrooms and reserve the soaking liquid, then add the oyster and soy sauce.

5. Slice the mushrooms, removing the stems and marinade them in a bit of soy, sesame oil and sugar.

6. In a mortar and pestle, pound the shrimps. Or you can chop them finely.

7. Chop your garlic.

8. Heat some shallot oil in a wok, then add the garlic and stir till you can smell the aroma. 

9. Add the pounded shrimps and fry, till you can smell that aroma too. 

10. Add the mushrooms, and fry them all together till it smells awesome. Then throw in your drained noodles.

11. Toss and add the reserved liquid (you may not have to use all of it). Keep frying and tossing, for about 5 minutes.

12. Add the greens and fry again for about 1 minute. Turn off the heat, and add a bit of extra sesame oil or finely ground white pepper, if you like. 

13. Garnish with sambal, green chilies and fried shallots. 

* There are so many versions of this dish as most cooks have their own way of preparation. But generally, these are the common ingredients (vegetarians can omit the shrimp and use oyster sauce that's made from mushrooms). 

Great version of fried bee hoon can also be seen on YouTube here on mummyicancook. 

I love the "bastardised" international versions of this dish too, it makes it so much easier to eat and you don't have to make extra dishes like a chicken curry to go along with it. SortedFood/Body Talk Daily have a really great skinny version. 

Although I love the video recipe, I reckon you need to soak the noodles in room temperature water, not hot water. So you can cook the noodles for longer and it will absorb all the other flavours in wok more. It's also more forgiving if you fry it for too long. If you soak it in hot water, not only does the flavours not seep into the noodles, the noodles will become soggy if you fry it for too long. 

Banana Ice Cream

I totally love this girl and her recipes, even though I'm not vegan!

I've made banana ice cream like this before (following Nicko's Kitchen's recipe) but Laura Miller has taken it to another level! No reason not to try this, so easy.

I also love her Chocolate Pudding recipe, which I've made before too.

Spam fries

1 can of Spam serves 4 (but it's really not enough!)

Spam

Oil

1) Cut into desired shape and fry till crispy!

I made two dipping sauces, one with mayonnaise and a Vietnamese hot sauce, and another with half and half of American yellow mustard and hot English mustard. 

Singapore mutton soup (Soup kambing)

Serves 4

Marinade:
About 700g mutton with bone (either shanks or ribs), chopped into 2 inches pieces
1 inch knob old ginger, roughly chopped
1 inch knob blue ginger/galangal, roughly chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
6 small red shallots, roughly chopped
3 coriander roots
3 big green chillies, chopped into 1 inch pieces
1/4 teaspoon methi/fenugreek seeds
1/4 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1/4 teaspoons fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoons ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon finely ground white pepper
About 3 tablespoons groundnut oil for frying and making it into a paste

Soup:
41/2 cups beef/veal or chicken stock (I used store bought beef stock but if you have a home made one, even better)
2 cardamon pods, bruised
1/2 stick cinnamon
1 star anise
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 teaspoon sugar
salt and pepper to taste *
*Optional. The stock may already contain enough salt, and there's already pepper in the marinade

Garnish:
Fresh coriander leaves
Fried shallots
French baguette

1. In a mortar & pestle, food processor or hand blender, blitz the old ginger, blue ginger, garlic, shallots, coriander roots and green chilies together to form a paste (add some oil to make it come together)

2. In a wok, heat about 2 tablespoons of groundnut oil to medium. Fry the fenugreek, mustard and fennel seeds - be careful as they will pop as soon as you do. Quickly throw in the ground paste. Do not burn the fenugreek, mustard or fennel seeds.

3. Fry the spiced paste till it's fragrant, about 3 to 5 minutes. Then add the turmeric, curry powder, cumin and white pepper and fry for another minute or so, till it's fragrant. Remove from wok and set aside to cool.

4. Once it's cooled, mix it in with the mutton pieces. Marinade for at least 2 hours.

5. In a pot, bring the stock to a boil with the bruised cardamon pods, cinnamon stick and star anise. When it boils, add in the marinated meat with the spice paste. If there's any spice mix left in the bowl, add a bit of water and throw it all in the pot. Do not waste the paste.

6. Bring to boil for about 3-5 minutes and the lower the heat to the lowest possible and cover for about 2 -3 hours, or until the meat is tender.

7. Remove the meat from the bones and add it back to the soup. Pour in the coconut milk, and add the sugar. Taste to see if you need to add salt and white pepper. Simmer for another 30 minutes before serving.

8. Garnish with fried shallots and coriander leaves. Eat with French bread.

* Mutton is referred to as goat meat or the meat from an adult sheep. In this case, it's goat. I got mine from Tekka Market in Singapore and it's widely available there. Goat meat contains less cholesterol and is less fatty than beef or lamb. It has less calories too. 

If you can't find goat meat, you could probably use adult sheep - or if you can't find that either, you could use lamb. (Although I'm told in some European supermarkets they sometimes try to pass of adult sheep as lamb.)

Some stalls make their Soup Kambing thick, some thin, some not so oily, some with a film of oil on the top (my favourite type!). Although it uses traditional Indian ingredients, Soup Kambing is actually a Singaporean dish, according to Carry It Like Harry . There's no other dish similar in India. Sold mostly by Singaporean Muslim Indians, this rich and flavourful soup is very popular in Singapore and Malaysia, and probably in my top three favourite local dishes.