I love Bak Chor Mee so naturally when I find one that I like a lot. I will keep quiet about it simply because I really like to eat it without having to queue for it. I can’t tahan having to queue for food. Especially when it is my favourite food place.
But that said, there are times when the Bak Chor Mee is so good that I have to share it. This is one of those places. I can’t really remember if I have done a review of this simple stall at Block 524 Hougang Ave 6, but it is a true gem of a noodle stall. The Bak Chor Mee is delicious and interestingly there is something in the mix of the noodles that makes you want to have some more.
I ordered a small bowl with extra fish ball for $3.50, which is a steal if you think about it. Some food courts are already selling a standard portion of Bak Chor Mee for about $3.50 or even $4.00. The Jing Ying Coffee Shop is really old school with some really awesome foods, but this stall is my favourite. Here’s a link to the location, just in case you want to pay them a visit.
If there is such a thing as comfort food, then mine would be fish sliced bee hoon soup with thick white bee hoon. Here’s a recipe for fish sliced bee hoon soup that I think will rock your socks off. This is why I think this recipe so totally rock. This is a recipe that’s been tweaked to my liking.
Fish slices (fried):
Ingredients:
Fish *Use Angoli* 500g (Angoli is Hokkien for Red Snapper)
1. Cut the Angoli into thin slices about 1cm thick and then salt lightly, leave it to marinate for about 30 minutes. If you don’t like your fish to be too salty, you can wash it after marination.
2. Then prepare 5 tablespoons of potato starch *use measuring spoons* and crack an egg into it. Put half a teaspoon of chicken stock and half a capful of hua tiao jiu, white pepper and then whisk with a fork into a smooth creamy mixture.
3. Then dip the fish slices into the mixture and deep fry it over low heat, this is to ensure that the fish is cooked while the batter doesn’t burn – you want the fish slices to taste cripsy, not rock solid. Also not having a big fire ensures even cooking.
4. Fry till light brown *not too long* as fish cook easily, the texture should be just right, and the fish is not cooked too long. The taste should be soft and juicy and the batter gives it a nice crunchy texture.
Fish Soup:
Ingredients:
Sea salt (you can omit this and use chicken stock only)
Salted vegetables (Kiam Chye)
Sour plum (preserved salted sour plums)
Carnation milk (if you like)
Tomatoes (quartered)
Spring onions (cut into 2cm lengths)
Ginger (thinly sliced)
Method:
1. Bring about 1.5 litres of water to the boil, and add either 1 teaspoon of salt or chicken stock. I use salt instead because I am using salted vegetables for flavouring already, you can use chicken stock if you’re not adding salted vegetables an alternative vegetable is szechuan vegetables as it adds a different taste to it.
2. Bring the water to boil, then add the salted vegetables, sliced ginger and sour plum to flavour the soup (if you like you may also wanna add 4-5 whole garlic). Only add the tomatoes, spring onions last as they cook very quickly.
3. For the bee hoon, I use laksa bee hoon from NTUC and one packet feeds about 4 people easily. Boil the noodles first and then add it to the soup. The trick is to prepare everything ready and then adding it together to make the dish.
Serving Suggestion:
You can either add the fish into the soup when you prepare the noodles or not. It’s up to you. I prefer not so that I can taste the crispiness of the fish slices.
As an alternative, you can add chye sim, although I prefer to add thinly sliced bitter gourd to give it that extra taste.
That’s it, perfect!
Bon Appetit!
Usually I would end here with “Bon Appetit!”, but there is a YouTube video with my look-alike Adrian Pang and the very lovely Michelle Chia, and incidentally they are both promoting Sliced Fish Bee Hoon, so what the heck:
