Vermicelli with minced sauce and Knife Skill

Vermicelli with minced sauce
200 g vermicelli, soaked in water and then blanched in hot water, drained and ready to serve
200 g pork or chicken meat, minced
4 dried mushrooms, prepared Chinese style
2 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 big onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
3 cups stock or water + 1 stock cube
salt and pepper
cucumber, julienned
tomatoes, sliced thinly

Marinate meat with sauces and sugar.

Heat oil in a frying pan. Saute onions until golden; add garlic and fry for a minute or so; add minced meat and stock; bring to boil, lower heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Slice mushrooms thinly and add into the minced meat, cook for a further 2-3 minutes. remove from heat.

To serve, place a serving of vermicelli in a bowl and spoon the minced sauce over it. Garnish with cucumber and tomatoes.

K has this fascination about the knife skills displayed by the many chefs he watched on the television food programmes. He aspires to emulate them and he reckons a good knife is the first step. Recently he bought a paring and a chef's knife during a Sydney trip.

First, cut cucumber into 4-5 cm length, then pare it thinly to the pith (and pop the pith into the mouth like K, no waste).

This is what you would end up with. Now pile two to three pieces on top of one another.

...and chop away. Practice-makes-prefect knife work!

K and Jo