#ho fun

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Singapore - everything else

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Shikumen

I was, as I am often, caught off guard.

Although mitigation efforts in other areas of my life seem to fail (maybe time for another type of job), I seek not to let this happen regarding food.  In my attempts to alleviate exciting food experiences, I try to undertake laborious research before showing up at the front door.  Unfortunately, that doesn’t always seem to work.  Exciting events seem to be looking for me.

So please forgiven the rather anemic photos.  I had to make do with my camera phone, suboptimal lighting and rather hungry dining companions.  Although it was a less than ideal situation, I guess that suited the less than optimal meal.

I was sold Shikumen as a decent Chinese restaurant in an upmarket hotel.  A place where the ladies who lunch would like to hang out.  A place with dark wooden furniture, plenty of space between tables and subdued lighting reined.  A place with a rather lengthy menu, perhaps the first clue that things might not go that well.  A mixture of dim sum and other dishes can also sometimes herald a restaurant being a jack of all trades.  In recent memory, the sad demise of quality in Goldmine springs to mind.  When all day dim sum appeared on the menu, everything rapidly went south.  In hindsight, a place to be wary of.

Char siu sou, baked pork puffs.  These were alright, although a bit soggy.  Wouldn’t be the worst I’ve ever had.

Braised Homemade Tofu with Morel and Wild Mushroom.  Hand made might be seen as a synonym for can’t be bothered.  As this is what the tofu was like as rather tasteless with a rather watery saline solution with limp vegetables on top.  Avoid.

Xiao loong bao, pork dumplings with soup.  I haven’t seen sad dumplings before.  Now I have.  As you can see from the photo, the dumplings are kind of deflated and the soup that is supposed to be contain juicy insides (what you order these for), seems rather absent.  If my life did not amount to much, I would be depressed too.

Har gao, steamed prawn dumplings.  Ok but strange that there were only three as these typically arrive in sets of four.  Perhaps the waiting staff got a bit hungry serving us.  No loss though as these were rather tasteless, anemic and costly.

Siu mai, steamed pork dumplings.  I’ve had better coming out of a packet.  The give away of its origin was those two dumplings at the top.  When made fresh, they don’t generally tend to do that.  When it is out of the freezer packet though that is another story.

Sticky rice.  The best of the rest.  Which isn’t saying much.  Looked like they had been bought from the local Chinese supermarket.  Tasted like that too.

Braised Pig’s Trotter with Star Anise and Soy. Here was something a bit different though.  Pig trotters.  Except.  It suffered the same problem as the tofu.  Subject to rather weak sauce.

Seafood ho fun, rice noodles with prawns, squid, bak choi and egg.  This gloopy mass tasted just as it looked.  Rather limp.

When all the food had came out, a waiter dropped by to see if we were still hungry.  Although my stomach was still growling, I was tempted to say sure, but not from you.  Then again, the waiters had been nothing but courteous and it was not their fault that the food was rather listless.  Of all the dishes, I think the xiao loong baos best summed up the food.  It was so insipid that I met my first remorseful dumpling.  So perhaps the trip wasn’t really a complete waste of time, money and stomach space as I am able to add a new experience to my list.  A meeting with a dejected dumpling.  Best captures the mood.

  A quiet eating 5/10.

Lunch (3 course equivalent) would have been GBP40 excluding drinks and service.

  Shikumen

You will need onion, garlic, ginger, daikon (I used green and white), carrot, green onion, beef (preferably beef brisket but I used stewing beef because I couldn’t find any), oxtail, beef stock, and spices (cinnamon, star anise, all spice and bay leaf).

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One thing that I like doing is using your time efficiently in the kitchen, especially when you don’t have the time.

First thing to do is to start prepping your stock.  In a large pot, put in the meat and oxtail and enough cold water to cover.  Bring this to a boil.

Mean while chop up all your veggies into big chunks.

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Prep the spices by putting it in a strainer like this or wrapped in some cheese cloth.

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Once the meat and water boils, you will get some sludge like this.  Gross. The foamy stuff is the blood and impurities.  Drain and rinse the meat and pot. Trust me this does not remove all the flavor. It just keeps the broth nice and clean.

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Put the meat back into the clean pot and  pour in the beef stock and one extra box of water. Haha I use the box as a measuring device.  This is just 4 cups of water. Choose the no salt or low sodium one because it is better to add your own salt at the end.

To this pot, add all your cut up veggies and spices. Bring to a boil and then turn down the heat to allow the soup to simmer for about 3 hours.  Yes this is where it takes a long time.  The meat will be tender after this.

About 1 hour before you want to eat, prepare your noodles.  I bought fresh noodles. I usually fail at separating them because I throw them into boiling water and then it all falls apart. Other people use dry noodles to prevent this. I guess an option would be using the Vietnamese dry pho noodles.  I found this method to work really well for these fresh noodles and you get long chewy rice noodles.  Soak the rice noodles in hot tap water.  It doesn’t have to be really hot. Just warm enough to soften the rice noodles. Allow this to soak for at least 20 minutes.  After 20 minutes, check to see how pliable the noodles are.  Gentle pull apart the noodles.  If you find the noodles are not soft enough and are still sticking together or breaking, then drain and pour in more hot tap water. Allow to sit again for a couple minutes and drain again.  Repeat if necessary.  Another trick is to microwave the noodles but I don’t like this method because it still gets sticky.    When you are ready to eat, drain the noodles and pour boiling water over them.  The noodles will soften really quickly.  You will just need to leave them for 1-3 minutes.  Drain and portion out into your bowls.

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The soup should be ready at this time.  Add salt and pepper to taste. I leave all the veggies and meat in the broth and it pour over the noodles.

Garnish with green onions.  A trick to keep them fresh is to place a paper towel under the cut green onions. You can store them in this container in your fridge for a couple days. It prevents the green onion from rotting and going bad.

I like to serve this dish with some steam broccoli, because you can never get enough veggies! I hope you enjoy your perfect bowl of noodles.  Try it with some chili oil or hot sauce!

Beef Noodle Soup – Beef Ho Fun

Inspiration http://www.chinasichuanfood.com/beef-ho-fun-noodle-soup/

These are the ingredients I used. The quantities can be adjusted.

2 small white daikon

1 small green daikon

1 box beef broth 900ml no salt 1 + 1 box of water (just fill up the box when you are done)

1 kg of stewing beef or beef brisket

1 kg of ox tail

1 onion

5 garlic cloves

1 inch piece of ginger

1 large Asian carrot

green onion for garnish

1 stick of cinnamon

5- 7 whole allspice berries

2-3 bay leaves

4-7 whole star anise

In a large pot, add beef and oxtail. Add enough cold water to cover.  Once the water boils,  drain and rinse the meat and pot well. This gets rid of blood an impurities. It will help to keep the broth clear.  Meanwhile chop up veggies in large chunks and set aside. Place spices in a strainer or some cheese cloth.

After the meat is rinsed, place it back into the large pot. To this add 1 box of beef broth and one box of cold water. Add the veggies and spices.  Bring to a boil, turn down heat and simmer for 3 hours.  Remove spices. Add salt and pepper to taste.

About 1 hour before eating, soak fresh rice noodle in hot tap water for 20 -30 min. Gently peel apart.  If you find the noodles are not soft enough and are still sticking together or breaking, then drain and pour in more hot tap water. Allow to sit again for a couple minutes and drain again.  Repeat if necessary.  When you are ready to eat, drain the noodles and pour boiling water over them.  The noodles will soften really quickly.  You will just need to leave them for 1-3 minutes.  Drain and portion out in to your bowls.

Pour boiling soup over the noodles.  Add the boiled veggies and garnish with green onion.  I like to add steam broccoli too.

Enjoy!

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