"Char beehoon" is such a common dish here. Everyone has their unique style, must-have ingredients, and probably some must-have accompaniment, like savory chicken curry to drench the vermicelli or crispy hot spring rolls, to go along with their plate of "char beehoon".
Mum's "char beehoon" is always a colorful platter of green, red, black and white. Generous strips of green cabbage, red carrots and dried black shiitake mushrooms are carefully tossed so that these can be evenly embraced by thousands of threads of bouncy yet softly crunchy white beehoon. Mum's char beehoon is usually vegetarian. No meat will be added. We are not vegetarian, but whenever we have "char beehoon", there will be chicken curry. These two go hand-in-hand. They are inseparable in my family. Vegetarian "char beehoon" offers a clean, crisp and refreshing taste when eaten with dollops of savory chicken curry. Adding meat to the "char beehoon" tends to laden the palate with excess richness, especially if chicken curry is offered at the same time.
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| My version of char beehoon |
The first time I had non-vegetarian "char beehoon" was at my boyfriend's house. It was a plate of culture shock. Firstly, there was meat. Secondly, it was dark brown and had a shine that I was not accustomed to. And lastly, most importantly, there were no vegetables in sight! How can you not have greens, I thought to myself. For someone who grew up with more greens than meat in her plate, it was an amazing sight at that time. It wasn't polite for me to refuse even a small bite. But I never regretted that first bite. In fact, I was totally smitten. My boyfriend's mother, who is now my Mother-in-law, had used canned stew pork, thick black soy sauce and generous sprinkles of oil to create that plate of shock. It was such a marvelous jolt that I happily surrendered to its repeated assaults. To put it in simple language, I stuffed myself with it.
The Hubby undoubtedly adores his Mum's "char beehoon". He asked me to recreate it shortly after we got married. I did, but it definitely was not Mummy's "char beehoon". For one, there were vegetables. It was not the full meat version Mum-in-law normally makes. I just had to ensure some form of crispy greens accompany every pop into the mouth. The Hubby was rather forgiving and supportive; he said it was almost there and that I just needed a few more practices. A few more practices, as advised, dutifully performed, until this final version was reached a couple of years back with resounding approval. Of course, not without adding a touch of my own, making this my children's "Mum's char beehoon". For them, Mum's "char beehoon" is a colorful plate of green, red, black, white and brown strips. The final touch, the crowning glory I suppose, is strands of golden yellow omelette, for without it, Mum's char beehoon is incomplete.
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| My char beehoon with garnish |
Char beehoon
(A product from the marriage of two Mums' "char beehoon")
Ingredients
400g dried vermicelli, softened by soaking in water, drained
cabbages as much as you like, julienned
carrots, ditto
dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked, ditto (keep soaking water as seasoning)
1 large can stew pork ribs (or use stew pig's trotters if preferred)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
4 shallots, thinly sliced
Seasoning
3 tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce
3 tbsp soy sauce
350ml water
Garnish, my crowning glory
3 eggs (or more if kids are crazy about eggs)
dash of soy sauce
pepper
dash of sesame oil
Method
1. Prepare seasoning by mixing all the ingredients together. If soaking water from shiitake mushroom is added, just top up with plain water until 350ml is reached.
2. Canned stew ribs/pork must be processed ahead of time. This means that meat has to be de-boned, excess fats removed, excess oil floating on top of the sauce scooped out. Set the sauce aside for use later.
3. Prepare garnish. Beat the eggs together with the rest of the seasoning. Heat wok with some oil, wait till the wok is slightly smoking before adding the egg mixture. Swirl the wok about to spread the egg mixture. Quickly flip the omelette to the other side and brown it slightly. Dish out and cut into strands, or any other sizes preferred. Sometimes, I just chop the omelette into small bite size before dishing them out.
3. Heat up about 3 tbsp of oil (depending on the amount of vegetables used, discretion is necessary here), fry chopped garlic and sliced shallots until lightly browned and fragrant.
4. Add the shiitake mushrooms, fry for about 1 minute.
5. Add the carrots and cabbage and fry until slightly softened. Season lightly with pepper and salt.
6. Add 2-3 ladles of seasoning mixture (Step 1), bring to gentle boil, add the whole lot of softened vermicelli. Toss all the ingredients together slowly and gently with chopsticks. Toss until moisture has dried up.
7. Continue to add seasoning mixture, a couple of ladles each time. Repeat Step 6 until vermicelli is almost cooked.
8. At this point, add the sauce from canned stew ribs from Step 2.
9. Continue to toss until all liquid dries up. Can be served immediately, garnished with omelette.
Notes:
- using chopsticks to toss the ingredients together keeps the strands of vermicelli long and intact. Frying with a wok spatula only tends to break the strands up. Usually, I use a combination of wok spatula in one hand and a pair of chopsticks in the other. I find this a good combination as the spatula works at scooping those vegetables at the bottom of the wok, while the chopsticks works at loosening the vermicelli gently so that the vegetables can be incorporated evenly.
- seasoning liquid control for this one pot dish is important. Though a total of 350ml of liquid is specified, sometimes more is required, while at other times, not the full amount will be used. It differs from time to time really, so testing the done-ness and softness of the vermicelli nearing the final stages is important.
- the same discretion is necessary when adding the canned stew ribs sauce. What I found is that the vermicelli should be about 90% cooked/soft before adding the sauce. The effect of adding this sauce is to increase the flavor and richness of this dish, and complete the cooking and softening process for the vermicelli.
- It really takes a few practices before finding that right amount of liquid to incorporate to achieve the level of softness you like. So have fun trying and failing until you can say "Bull's eye"!
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