Mee Tomato

With the in laws coming tomorrow and my new batch of yellow mee in stock , I decided to cook Mee Tomato to clear the fridge. Mildly spicy for a cold, thunderous evening .. It's a refreshing change from the usual Mee Hong Kong.

Blended Items

A handful of dried chillis, soaked

1 large onion or 2 medium size ones

3 cloves garlic

1/4 tsp coriander powder 

1/4 tsp cumin powder

1cm belachan 

1/4 cup water 

Sautée the blended ingredients in oil until fragrant. Toss the beef in and brown with the spices and and in the rest of the ingredients and simmer until the vegetables are tender.

1 slab of beef sirloin, around 150g sliced thinly

2 tomatoes chopped 

1/2 can tomato purée 

1/2 can Campbell tomato soup

1 carrot, chopped into half inch lengths

1 potato, cubed

Baby corn, chopped

2 liters water

1 tablespoon beef stock powder or 1 cube of beef stock

1 tablespoon white pepper 

2 tablespoon sugar

salt to taste

2 tablespoon cornstarch mix with water

Once the vegetable and beef are tender and the soup is boiling, stir in the cornstarch to thicken the soup. Serve with blanched yellow noodles, sliced bok choy, chopped parsley, fried shallots. For those who like it spicy, drizzle some sambal kicap over. 

Mee Soto

Back in Singapore there was hardly any reason for me to cook this because practically every Malay stall sells this! 

Unfortunately, here in Jakarta the soto is different.

They have all kinds of soto and one of my favourite is soto betawi which is served with hot rice, pickles and sambal. But all these do not go well with noodles like what we are accustomed to. 

Blend the ingredients and sautée until fragrant.

1 large onion

5 candlenuts

5 cloves garlic

1 inch ginger

2 inches lengkuas (galangal)

1 tablespoon coriander seeds

1/2 tsp cumin seeds 

1 tablespoon white pepper

1 cinnamon stick 

5 cardamom pods

3 star anise 

5 cloves 

1 lemongrass bruised

1 chicken stock cube

3 tablespoons kurma powder

2 tablespoon sugar

Salt to taste

5 chicken wings

1 chicken breasts or half a chicken

3 liters of water approximately

Vermicelli or yellow noodles 

Once the blended ingredients are fragrant, sautée the cinnamon, star anise, cardamom, cloves and kurma powder. Add water and the rest of the ingredient and boil for about 45 minutes to an hour. 

Add more water to the broth once it reduces according to preference.

Remove the chicken breasts, cool and shred. 

Prepare your noodles by boiling it and setting it aside. Serve your preferred noodles with taugeh (bean sprouts), parsley, shredded chicken, fried shallots, begedil (potato patties), boiled eggs ( optional) and lots of sambal kicap ! Perfect for a cold, wet, rainy day! 

Dry Beef Noodles

Today i was sooooo craving beef noodles at The Banquet in Jurong Point. Its so awesome that i had to make it today. Of course its not even close in my opinions (im always critical of my own cooking) but the Hubs throughly enjoyed it ! But man the broth / beef brisket took 5 hours to cook! Don't be scared... 5 hours passes quickly if you started cooking other appetizers like I did ... :-)

For the broth,

1/2 chopped yellow onion

1 large shallot

1 tablespoon grated ginger

1 tablespoon chopped garlic 

Sauté the above ingredients in a bit of oil until fragrant.

1kg beef brisket or any part that you prefer - cut into 1 inch cubes 

Add the beef and sear all sides.

5 whole cloves of garlic

1 cinnamon stick

3 cloves 

2 star anise 

2 liters of beef broth / vegetable stock

1/2 cup chopped coriander

2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

Add the above ingredients and simmer for 5 hours, continuously adding more water to keep the water level above the beef. Once beef is really tender continue simmering until you get about 4 cups broth. Season with salt / pepper to taste 

For the gravy,

1 tablespoon garlic paste

1 tablespoon ginger paste

2 cups of beef broth

Sauté in oil until fragrant. Add the beef broth and let simmer. Add in the following seasonings.

2 tablespoon dark soya sauce

1 tablespoon light soya sauce

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tablespoon oyster sauce 

1 tsp pepper

1/2 cup cornstarch

1 cup water (mix)

Add the cornstarch water mixture into the simmering ingredients and pour over your noodles. I couldn't find the laksa noodles here in Jakarta or the flat kway teow but I found Fortune's Hong Kong Noodles and I used that! 

If you decide to use the same noodles I did, all you need is a pot of boiling water, blanch the noodles in and once cooked, rinse with water to remove the starch and then pour the gravy in.

I blanched some cai sim, added sliced spring onions, lettuce and fried shallots over the noodles with a side bowl of that delicious beef broth! Don't forget your chilli! I sprinkled chilli flakes for more heat!