Friday, October 3, 2008

Chicken Wine Mee Suah

We didn't have time to taste the chicken wine mee suah in Sibu. Really wanted to, as I was told the Foochow's wine is different from the rice wine we used here in Sabah. I have tried those from Ipoh which was cooked in red rice wine and they were very good even though kind of fury looking with the redness of the wine. Why is the rice wine red? 

Anyway, I did bring back some good, handmade (L insisted) mee suah from Sibu and I hand-carried them personally as they were a delicate lot.
I decided to cook this for my 5-minus-one (Mee is the one in the States) sisters on our Thursday breakfast date. We have these breakfast dates every Thursday come rain or shine for the past 18 years. It started after our dad passed away, as dad and mum enjoyed going for dim sum almost everyday, we wanted to make sure mum get to go out for breakfast at least once a week with her daughters. So this routine/ritual was formed and it is still continuing even long after my mum left the scene. It is one highlight of the week for all of us - to catch up with one another, to share our views and opinions on every topics (food, travel, health and most recently, politics) under the sun. Most times everyone is talking and no one listening... :D Sometimes when time permit, the breakfast would extend to shopping (food, crockery, furniture, clothings...) 

The noodle is so exquisitely smooth, silky and light but still retains a definite bite. Heavenly... 

For the chicken wine recipe, click here. I omitted the mushrooms, wolfberries and black fungus here, just wanted to keep the soup as unclustered as possible to better taste the mee suah. 

To cook the mee suah noodle:
~Boil a large pot of water (~4L) for 4-5 servings of the noodle (usually about 4 bundles).
~By the side get ready a big basin of cooked cold water. 
~When water boils, pop the noodles in, stir to keep the noodles from sticking.
~It takes less than a minute to cook. 
~Lift the noodles from the boiling water and drop them in the cold water. This will stop the noodles from cooking any further. 
~Drain and separate into serving bowls. 
~Pour boiling wine soup onto the noodles and serve hot.   

I have Agnes to thank for this almost zero oil content chicken wine soup. I find even the kampong chickens these days are quite fat. Apparently many kampong chicken rearers are using chicken feeds to fatten them up faster!

With this ingenious piece of tool, oil is filtered off from soups effortlessly. It has an extremely fine gauze as sieve which only allows water to pass through.

Tilted at an angle, it makes the job a piece of cake. 

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Foochow "ang chiew" (red wine) in Sibu is red but clear, and if not well-made or properly done, may be sourish. Otherwise, it is nice and very fragrant.

I hear in West Malaysia, they use the "ang chao" - the residue from making the wine (Sibu Foochows use that to cook meat e.g. pork belly) and hence the extremely red colour.

Here, we take mee sua on birthdays, anniversaries, arrival of new born etc...., our longevity noodles - different from the ones I had at Supertanker in KK.

Heather said...

ah... how i miss those thursday breakfasts...

especially since i (and any of the invited 'second generation') would be the only one who listened attentively while all the sisters talked at the same time. :)

homesick pangs now!!!!!

a feast, everyday said...

suitaupui, the redness in the wine is caused by the rice used or the yeast?
The one I tasted in Ipoh was the wine, not the residue. My mum used to cook pork with the residue too when she did get to make the wine in the early days...
U know KK quite well, do u come here often? Try the Welcome Restaurant (check out my eat-out posts) for seafood next time u here. It is in the vicinity of Supertanker. Better and cheaper food than supertanker, no air-con but very pleasantly open air.

daisyf, maybe i bring them over to S'hai n hv our breakkie there...

Terri @ A Daily Obsession said...

hey check rei & nee's posts. they made red rice wine. i think it's the yeast?

yes, u n ur sisters r really fantastic, getting together after all these yrs. i often wonder y some fam can do tt n some not.

Anonymous said...

I don't know what they use to make red wine...some red seeds, I think. I only buy the wine in bottles and use in my cooking. It seems if u marinate the chicken in the red wine for a few hours before cooking, you'll get the meat with a reddish tint...

P.S. I don't go to KK that often, only when I get invited to give talks. I have some posts on my recent trip 1st weekend of September.

Anonymous said...

P.S.: If you can search for my June 20th post: "I want it that way", you will find an alternative way of cooking and serving mee sua...other than with chicken soup or frying (Haven't the slightest idea how they do that!!!).

Terri @ A Daily Obsession said...

there's another way my sibu friend linda always cook her mee sua--with duck n herbs. my heart drops each time she serves it like tt. somehow for me mee sua shd be cooked with rice wine.

Anonymous said...

Terri, that must be "patin"...is the soup blackish, with a rather accented "dong qui" aroma? If it is, it's another foochow delicacy.

irenebui said...

what a co-incidence, i'm going to try out the huang jiu mien sien nearby my office...
i'm sure your home-cooked one will taste better...

red | hongyi said...

this.is.making.me.very.homesick! :((

a feast, everyday said...

and I heard u won't be coming back this month. i know what, get mum to go over there ;D

Precious Pea said...

I have that oil sieve too and it work wonders! Comes in handy when I make soy bean drink too.

a feast, everyday said...

Love it too.
Sorry to ask but how do u use it for soy bean drink?