Food Cravings
What happens when a friend instigates a craving by sharing several photos of a specific cultural food with you but you're stuck in another country with no availability? That's me in Melbourne with the Singapore Char Kway Teow or Fried Rice Noodles.
The only available option was to create the dish myself.
For readers and foodies who are unfamiliar with this dish, it is culturally Teochew in origin and has been a favourite hawker centre staple in Singapore since the 1950s. It is so popular that it is mentioned by the Singapore Tourism Board! A Malaysian version is equally popular in Penang.
I don't have an original hawker recipe so my attempt to recreate this Singapore hawker dish is purely from memory of observing how the famous hawkers make it. All the ingredient are available except for blood cockles.
A generous wok ladle of pork oil into the pan over high heat and in goes the minced garlic and handful of flat rice noodles and yellow wheat noodles. Continue stir frying while adding in slice fish cake, lup cheong (Chinese waxed sausage), egg and splashes of light soy sauce and sweet soy sauce till everything is dressed in a shiny caramel coat. Then a handful of beansprouts and teaspoon of belacan chili. Stir frying it all on a high flame and added splash of pork lard to a quick sizzle, charring and smoky fragrance.
Hope it makes the cut.
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