Home Made Flour Noodles - Pan Mee

Now trust me you would love my version of the famous home made flour noodles. This was a dish that I took sometime to make as the amount of work put into it seriously got me intimidated. But rest assured, I bucked up and decided to make it and the results were fantastic!

The process however took me two days to cook as I prepared the stock the night before and precooked most of the ingredients before commencing on making the noodles. So what went into making this spectacle of a dish?

Ingredients:

Part 1:

Stock:

1 kg dried anchovies (equivalent to 4 packets of dried anchovies from the Asian Grocery Store) - peeled, heads removed.

1 litre water

Part 2:

Condiments 1:

500gms (1 packet) pork / chicken minced meat

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tsp dark soy sauce (sos kicap pekat)

1 tsp soy sauce 

1 tsp chilli flakes

1 tsp cornflour

2 cloves of garlic

Condiments 2:

6 - 8 dried shiitake mushroms - finely sliced

2 medium sized dried morsels - finely sliced

2 tbsp Chinese Wine

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tbsp cornstarch mixed with some water

2 cloves of garlic

Condiment 3:

Dried Anchovies - from stock, dried in oven tossed with salt and oil and grilled in oven for about 30 minutes constantly stirred to avoid sticking to grill pan.

Spring Onions - finely chopped

Chinese Vegetables (Choy Sum, Kai Lan or Watercress Shoots) - washed and set aside.

Noodles:

250gms plain flour

250gms self-raising flour

1tsp salt

250ml water

Method:

1. Firstly make the stock before hand to avoid longer cooking time. So if you have time to make the stock the night before even better. Simply put water and dried anchovies into a pot and boil. Warning: dried anchovies does give out a fishy smell and may stink the house up but trust me the effort is worth it.
2. Drain anchovies from stock and store stock in fridge once cooled down. 
3. Next prepare the anchovies for grilling. On a baking sheet, spread the anchovies and allow it to settle. Crank up the oven to about 200 Degrees C and put in the oven to start the drying process. After 15 minutes, you'll notice the anchovies turning dry. Remove them from the oven and sprinkle salt and oil. Toss them to ensure all the anchovies are fully covered in salt and oil before spreading them again for grilling. Put them back in the oven and let it sit for a further 15 minutes before stirring them to make sure the anchovies are fully grilled on all sides. Repeat the process and make sure to check the anchovies that they do not burn. Remove from the oven and let it sit in a plastic container and cool before covering.
4. Prepare the condiments separately. First the minced meat. Fry up some garlic and add in the minced meat and fry till almost cooked through. Add some water to ensure everything gets cooked. Add some seasoning, the sauces and cook till the sauce reduces. Remove from heat. Repeat the same with the mushrooms and morsels. Leave aside to cool. 
5. Next prepare the dough for the noodles. In a big mixing bowl, mix both flours salt and water until it becomes sticky and combined. Roll out onto a floured surface and knead a little to ensure all loose pieces of dough sticks together and cover with cling film. Leave in the refrigerator for an hour. Take it out and knead for a little while. Cut a quarter of the dough and roll it out till it is 1mm thickness. To make noodles strands, you can use a pizza cutter or a knife and cut downwards. If you fancy tearing the dough instead then leave the dough as is.
6. Take the stock out of the fridge. Pour into a fresh pot and bring to boil. Once boiling, tear in the dough or noodles and constantly stir until it bounces up to the surface. Cook a little longer to ensure the noodles are cooked through. Then add in the washed vegetables and cook for a little bit more before dishing out onto a serving bowl. Add in a portion of morsels and mushrooms and a portion of minced meat before finally adding some grilled anchovies and fresh spring onions.
7. Serve with a freshly made batch of sambal belacan (shrimp chilli paste) or sliced chillies soaked in soy sauce.

The end result was a fantastic meal, and the portions above can served up to 4 people. I know it fed me 4 days... 

The sambal belacan recipe waiting to be perfected, I leave you with this recipe to perhaps round up an exciting year of cooking (despite it not being as frequent as it should) to many wondrous other escapades from the kitchen of the Innovative Baker.

Here's wishing everyone a Happy New Year,

The Innovative Baker :)