Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Merdeka Open House 2008: Mee and My Malaysia: Stir-fried Silver Needle Noodle (銀針粉) or (老鼠粉)


This noodle is known as silver needle noodle in Hong Kong but "Rat Noodle" (老鼠粉) in Malaysia and Singapore. These noodles are named this way because it is shaped like a needle or rat's tail. It is made of a mixture of rice flour and wheat starch or cornstarch. I have known this noodle as 老鼠粉 and it is usually served in clear soup or stir-fry in Malaysia. I used to eat this as a kid so it brings back memory of home. When I saw Florence making her own silver needle noodle, I wanted to make it too. I have all the ingredients and the recipe seem easy enough. Little did I know that making this noodle actually was quite a tedious process. The process of shaping this noodle each and every single one took me a while. I even enlisted Evy as my helper, but this helper hardly help at all. After she done with a few, she said, "Mommy, I don't want to do it anymore, my hands are tired." Oh man, my only kitchen helper, who normally loved to play with dough quit on me. So, I had to make the rest on my own. Then, I got a mishap when boiling the noodle. The instruction said boil until the noodle turned transparent. But no matter how long I boiled, it never turned transparent. At the end, I just drained it under the cold water, and after I did that, it turned transparent. But the damage was already done, my noodle was soggy and sort of stuck together even after I applied some oil on it. However, I was not going to throw all my hard work in the trash, so in the refrigerator it went (like the instruction said).


The next day when I took it out from the refrigerator, the 老鼠粉 was stuck together in a big lump. So, I had to separate each noodle by hands. I ended out with a lot of broken pieces but I went ahead and stir-fry my 老鼠粉 and the above was the result. Not too bad I would say and actually quite delicious. Not sure I would make it again soon though but will definitely make it when I have the craving again.

Ingredients:


老鼠粉/ rat noodle
Shredded carrots

Thinly cut Chinese green, or bok choy

Chopped garlics

Sliced yellow onion

Pork or chicken of your choice

Oil for cooking

(A)
Soy sauce
Dark soy sauce

Oyster sauce

White pepper


Method:

1. Heat up oil in a wok. When heated add in meat of your choice, garlic and stir-fry until meat is 80% cooked. Add in onion, carrot and green and stir-fry until cooked. Add in rat noodle and sauces (A), stir-fry until well mixed. Serve hot!


I am serving this dish to Merdeka Open House 2008: Mee and My Malaysia hosted by Babe in the city_KL. Do visit her on Aug. 31st for the round up to celebrate the Malaysians' Independent Day. Hereby I also want to wish all Malaysians a Happy Merdeka Day!

20 comments:

Babe_KL said...

gosh dat dish looked like came out of a restaurant. we all love loh shue fun in all sorts of way but your homemade one does take the cake!

thanks for participating.

Sweet Jasmine said...

wow, this is sure hard work. We can easily buy this noodle here in supermarket. Guess homemade ones should taste better without any chemicals...

tigerfish said...

I call me Bee Tai Bak! It's the same thing!

Have been eating this quite often. My parents does it without the "dark" sauce. A lot of white pepper though. Yummy!

Unknown said...

sous chef's mom taught us to pour some hot water over noodles which get stuck together prior to stir frying...hope it might help next time?

SIG said...

Oh wow, that is a lot of work. I just bought some in the market today. The inconvenience of living in a non-Asian country, huh?

Unknown said...

very interesting noodles, i'm just not sure if i can find it here in manila though...tsk..tsk..

ICook4Fun said...

Ching, can't you get this noodles at the asian store. Its a lot of work doing it from scratch. You are really hardworking :) I am able to get this noodles at the Asian store and bought it often to stir-fry. Thanks for the reminder that I need to submit my noodle dish too :) Happy Merdeka Day to you too!!

Anonymous said...

I just came back from visiting Florence's site. Her "rat noodle" looks good. I am tempted to try. Did you use wheat starch or rice flour? I don't know if I can find wheat starch in our local Asian stores. Have to look....

Ironically, I made rat noodle using premade ones from the store. I boil hot water and cook the noodles until they are a little transparent and soft. After draining the cooked noodles, I mix it with the seremban ground pork recipe from Lily's blog. The noodles will soak up the wonderful delicious sauce from the cooked pork and I save a step of not stir frying the noodles. :)

Little Corner of Mine said...

Thanks babe_kl for organizing this event, will sure check out the round up on the 31st. :)

Yes Sweet Jasmine, lots of work preparing this noodle, not sure will make this again. :P

Tigerfish ah, I noticed that Singaporean prefer white noodle with white peppers whereas Malaysian love dark sauce noodle. Funny hor?

Thanks for the tips Rita! Will try when I encounter this kind of problem again.

Yes SIG. But I can get it in Denver.

Not sure mikky. Have to look for it I guess, if not, can always make your own. :P

Hi Gert, not the Asian store here. But I can get it in Denver, but more than an hour away, I hardly go there anymore since the gas price doesn't worth it. Because I didn't know it's so much work before I attempted it, normally I'm not that hardworking one. Hahaha... :P

Hi Lee Ping, yes hers look really good, that's why I made it. LOL! I used wheat starch, should be able to get it in Asian store, quite common now. Your version of preparing the rat noodle sounds delicious without stir frying the noodles. But don't think I want to make my own rat noodle again, will buy some when I visit Denver store in the future.

daphne said...

U made your own "rat noodle"? That sound so tedious. Despite that though, looking at that dish makes my mouth water! It really looks good with "wok hei"!

Beachlover said...

wah...you make your own needles noodles,very hardworking!! I love this neddles but must find the chef who can cook with "wokking heat"*wok hei" if not it's won't taste good!!.Remind me must get needles noodles when I go to Queens.wah...ada Merdeka Open House lagi!!.let me hop over look see,look see:)

Anonymous said...

OMG, you do that Lou Shu Fun using your hand? Can't find any in the Asian store?

Jo said...

Making loh su fan from scratch? I can't imagine myself doing this. You were brave Ching. Happy National Day.

vanillasugarblog said...

Oh I am craving this now for dinner. What a gorgeous photo.

Anonymous said...

ahhh I lurve mee tai mak!!~ woah I can't believe that you made your own, amazing!~ they look really drool-worthy

Chibog in Chief said...

this is sooo yummy!!i love it

Baking Fiend said...

i'm definately too lazy to homemade these rat noodles... sounds so tedious, so kudos to you! :)

Little Corner of Mine said...

Thanks daphne. Yes, I made my own, really tedious!

Beachlover, what look see look see, go participate lah!

SueSue, only in Denver, not the one I frequent here.

Happy National Day to you Jo. Yes, I made that from scratch.

Thanks Dawn.

Thanks noobcook.

Thanks Dhanggit.

Thanks baking fiend. I couldn't imagine how tedious it was until I experienced it myself. So now I know!

Anonymous said...

Wow, you make the loh shue fun from scratch? Kudos to you!! It looks really good.

Anonymous said...

Whoahh...what coincidence!!! i get inspired by Florence's post too. Too bad i cant get the main ingredients :(