Sunday 15 March 2015

THE LAND OF HOKKIEN MEE!



Eat to live and not live to eat.
How much truth does this sentence behold?

If a person should not live to eat, then we are throwing away the basic instinct of man. 


                                           "There is no sincerer love than the love of food."
                                                                            - George Bernard Shaw


There is nothing wrong in living to eat; in fact, I consider it as one of the best ways to live. Anything in excess is dangerous. But by living to eat, I have the whole life in front of me to enjoy all the culinary delicacies. So, I can see the moderation that will be present throughout!
In each part of the world, there exists delicacies which are waiting to be tasted by me and I don’t want to disappoint them.

Now, here I am going to say about my journey to Singapore. I would rather call it a food tour!
Come on! Let me take you through my journey.
                                                                    IMAGE SOURCE: HERE


                                                           IMAGE SOURCE: FROM MY SKETCHBOOK



As soon as we landed at Singapore, I wanted to eat. The journey was not tiring and it was definitely not going to prevent me from tasting those wonderful delicacies. 

I have heard so much about those wonderful hawker places, and I wanted to visit the one place which was recommended to us. It was in the airport road, and I convinced my sister and my best friend to consider that as our first site of visit.

When you are travelling, your companions are more important than the place you are travelling to. If they are just the exact opposite pole, you will end up being loggerheads with them in deciding the place.But I was just lucky enough to have my beloved sister and my closest friend as my pillars of strength throughout the travel.

When I proposed to go to the Hawker’s stall, they gladly agreed with me and, off we went to the place.

It was like a food court, where you have all the food stalls at one place. You can get your favourite foods from any stall, and enjoy eating them together.

We were at loss at what to get and what to avoid. But the people there were friendly enough to answer our queries, and we found it easy to communicate with them in English, and to some in Tamil.
Based on their suggestions and our instincts, we bought ourselves a huge sumptuous meal.
The Singaporean foods consist of a large variety of sea foods. Most of the popular dishes there were made up of Crabs, Prawns, Shrimps, and Oysters and of course, the fishes!

                                                        IMAGE SOURCE: FROM MY SKETCHBOOK

                                         




We enjoyed eating the very famous Fish head curry with plain rice. It delighted our taste buds for the fact it was close to our south Indian dishes. Next we shared a plate of Chicken Rice. The rice had the flavour of chicken and, the chicken itself was so soft. We also got Nasi Padang, which came along with a huge variety of dishes in itself. We were pampered for the day and we left the place with the sadness that burned our souls, because we were leaving with just one or two dishes.


                          " We all eat and it would be a sad waste of opportunity to eat badly."
                                                                                                                                                                     --   Anna Thomas



                                                                      IMAGE SOURCE: HERE

That sadness was not to last, because, we found ourselves going back to the place, the very next day.
The next day we delighted ourselves with the Chilli Crab and had our fill of noodles with Hokkien Mee. We also had Bak Kut Teh, the very clear and tasty soup. We also tried the Rojak, the Oyster Omelette, Nasi Lemak, Laksa and Char Kway teow. We really experienced the food paradise there.
We returned after a few days, but our thoughts were lingering among those noodles and prawns.

                                                            IMAGE SOURCE: FROM MY SKETCHBOOK





When you go to a new place, the first thing that strikes you is the food. Even when you are travelling, you will have to eat and, food is what you first understand in a culture. When you are migrating to a new place, the food culture is what you get used to first, and everything else follows next. Because food has a very high place in the deepest part of our souls and minds, and, it enjoys the best intimacy with the soul.

 Singapore is a place where, you can see multitude of cultures, living harmoniously. The food too has evolved along, and, it has strong roots in different cultures of the world. 

So, after leaving Singapore, only one dish took a place in my heart and that was Hokkien-Mee.
I like eating curry, I love eating seafood and I am a die-hard fan of Noodles. I just love slurping those. And as a result my favourite food is Hokkien Mee.

                                                     IMAGE SOURCE: FROM MY SKETCHBOOK



                                                                  IMAGE SOURCE: HERE


                     " Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are."
                                                                                  - Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin


It is a dish which has noodles as its base, along with the little bit of flavour, and a little of prawn. You can find different variants of it in different countries. But I loved the variety, which had prawns in it.
As for any dish, there is no generic preparation. Some follow their own recipes which must have been passed down in the families. Some just adapt the recipe to their own tastes and desires.


                      "Food for the body is not enough. There must be food for the soul.''
                                                                                                        - Dorothy Day


You have to first cook the noodles. Egg noodles are the preferred ones and I personally prefer some brands over the others. You can add some rice noodles too, if you wish. But I like the one with just the egg noodles.


Garlic is an important component of this dish. You should not miss this. Garlic, when taken alone or when added to a plain dish, it gives a pungent taste. But it has huge health benefits and for one, it reduces cholesterol.

For this dish, you have to add the garlic. You can add 5 -6 cloves of garlic. But you can reduce it or increase it depending on your personal preferences. Sauté them until they become crispy golden brown and then add some chicken or prawns and the sauces. 

Coming to the sauces, they give the taste that the dishes need and you have to be careful while adding them. You can add Oyster sauce and few drops of Soy sauce. No dish with Chinese roots will be complete without adding the soy sauce, but you have to add only little of it for the dish to taste better. After adding the sauces, I usually add eggs and finally pepper and salt. You can also add chives, anchovies and as I had said already, a successful recipe results out of your personal experience.
Now, the third part of the dish - the broth. You can buy it from the stores or you can make it yourself. I usually add chicken broth to it. You can also add prawn to it.

I boil some pieces of chicken along with pepper, salt and garlic for the broth.
When all the three components are ready, the expertise left is in adding all the three to create a wonderful one.

Add the broth to the mix of the prawn, sauces and garlic. Wait for a few minutes and add the semi-cooked noodles. Once the noodles get cooked completely, your dish is ready!
I got this recipe from various cookbooks, cookery shows and of course, from various food blogs. Each one had expressed their own recipe and after years of trying, I have found my recipe. What I have given here as a recipe may not be suitable for some. So, the best way to perfect your recipe is to experiment with it. 
                                                                                       IMAGE SOURCE: FROM MY SKETCHBOOK



But keep those experimentations to minimal when you have to feed someone else other than you. Add a bit of something, more of something else and you will find your perfect recipe.

Hokkien Mee is what I loved from the land of Culinary Marvels!



I am still not satisfied with what I can do and I am earning for more from the land of Singapore. I am waiting for my next possible travel to immerse myself in the variety of foods and attain satiety, because satiety is something which is rarely achieved!


                                "People who love to eat are always the best people"
                                                                                                                                                                  -- Julia child



No comments:

Post a Comment