My Life is Brilliant

Hoikken Noodles .... (family and friends there is an update after the recipe stuff)

So Heidi blogged one of my favourite recipes that i made for the troops here, and seems that people are having trouble reading it. So i am going to explain a few things, and re-type the recipe for you so you have a good copy. This recipe is from one of Kylie Kwongs cookbooks, she is a fabulous Australian chef who has strong ties to China - where her parents came from. I can't wait to get home and buy more of her books ... i am on a mission to find a recipe for Banana Frittas ... i had them at Eric and Heidi's fav recipe (for those on the Tour its the Forbids Bowel Movements Restaurant ... it will take another post to explain) they are so freaking good, that i keep dreaming about them.

Mum's Hoikken Noodles (this is kylie's mum's recipe)

2 Tablespoons finely diced ginger

1 Tablespoon dry sherry

1 teaspoon cornflour (cornstarch)

1/2 teaspoon white sugar

dash seasame oil

1 Tablespoon light soy sauce

2 free range chicken breast fillets (thickly sliced on the diagonal)

600g (1 1/4 lb) fresh Hokkien noodles

1/2 bunch choy sum

1/4 cup peanut oil

1/3 cup finelyy braised dried chinese mushrooms (if you are in china you can use the real thing)

1 large onion cut into wedges

1 medium carrot, cut into julienne (thin sticks)

1 Tablespoon oyster sauce

2 Tablespoons water

5 spring onions (scallions) trimmed and cut into 10 cm lengths

Combine, ginger, sherry, cornflour, sugar, sesame oil and half soy sauce in a bowl. Add chicken and mix well. Cover and refridgerate for 1 hour.

Blanch noodles in boiling salted water until 'al dente' - about 4 mins. Drain and refresh in cold water, then thoroughly drain again.

Trim ends from choy sum and cut crossways into 3 and wash well, drain

Heat oil in a hot wok until the surface seems to shimmer slightly, then stif-fry chicken for 1 min. Add mushrooms, onion, carrot and stir-fry for 1 min. Add oyster sauce and water and stir-fry for 30 secs. Finally add noodles, choy sum, spring onions and remaining soy sauce and stir fry for about 2 mins or until chicken is just ooked thru and noodles are hot. Arrange in bowls and serve immediately!

Note:

At home i buy my hoiken noodles from the deli section of the supermarket, they are already cooked and you just need to refresh them in hot water to use them. Here in china i found some fresh noodles at a stall on the side of the road ... they were awesome! hoiken noodles are egg noodles ... so they have a yellowish colour to them.

Choy Sum is one of the chinese vegetables. The other night i used baby bok choy, you could substitute for any of the other chinese veges, like brocoli, gai larn whatever is going.

I add or remove vegetables as i go ... we did not have any of the mushrooms (although the black mushrooms here are amazing) so add or delete what you do or don't like. I am happy to try answer any of your questions ... just leave me a comment and i'll try and help.

And i will let you know if i find the banana fritter recipe ... i am totally on a mission over that one.

Moving on to the update on the past couple of days ...

we went to the Beijing Zoo on Wednesday with some other friends of the Swapps. They are lovely people and we battled the crowds together ... i do not think i have ever seen as many people in one place EVER! it was super busy ... the main attraction was the pandas. You had to push your way in to see them ... i must say they were pretty cute once you did get a look. I love how they lye on their back to eat. so funny. We passed the Birds Nest on the way home. They are not allowing people near it until May next year which is such a shame ... its an amazing structure and much bigger than what i imagined. This photo is taken from the car.

I finished the day with a 90min foot rub ... oh my, words cannot describe how relaxing that is! The chinese certainly have a gift when it comes to massage.

Yesterday i decided to get up and go for a run ... first time since i've been here. There are so many people out in the morning, riding, walking, running, working already ... so different to home. Then i had a little adventure of my own, i decided to change one of the dresses i am having made and found a better photo ... so took off on one of the bikes in search of the Tailor. I thought i knew exactly where to go ... and the Tailor is right next door to a shop called American Chopper which is actually written in english. So as i rode i was thinking to myself this is quite a long way, but hey that is ok ... so i got to the road i thought the Tailor was on ... and road along it, bearing in mind that there was not ONE sign in english ... it was ALL chinese. So i finally got to the freeway onramp ... and knew i did not know where i was, by this time i had riden about 10km ... HELLO! so i went back home the same way i had come ... turns out the tailor is like 1.6km around the corner ... hmmmm! heidi was ready to send out the search party ... they thought it was so funny. I am thinking that i would be super fit if i lived here ... as i would be riding all over the place not knowing where i was going! lol!

Eric, Heidi and I then took off with the bikes in the van to the Ho Hai area to ride around ... we had been on the rickshaws around there with the Tour last week. Its a very cool area with botique type shops and cool restaurants and bars etc. I had total "bell rage" on my bike ... and was getting a cramp in my finger from using the bell so often ... lol! that is how they roll here .. just beeping and on the bell the whole time to tell you they are coming thru!

Eric dropped us off at the Silk Market again (I know the Tour girls will be so jealous ... lol! its so fun to shop here) I am a mean bargainer too and got some awesome bargains ... amoung which was True Religion jeans (knock offs of course) for $18 ... of course i visited Katherine's Jewellery shop again ... i love her shop!

Heidi got me this Australia shirt from the Olympics, it caused such a stir in the Market "hey Australia lady" "aussie aussie aussie" - so hilarious! The Silk Market is totalling insane .. and if i wasn't tired before, then that totally topped it off!

So i slept VERY WELL last night ... a big day out!