Mee Jawa

I haven't wrote a cooking/food post in a while but that doesn't mean I haven't done any cooking of late. On the contrary, I've been quite busy in the kitchen with two guests around. It has been a joy to cook for four. I've always preferred cooking to sewing in school. Memories of my shift dress disaster just flashed in my mind as I type this entry *shudder*. No need to go into that detail.

Janet hasn't been home for a few years. She's missing some local dishes like bak kut teh, laksa, mee siam and mee jawa and she managed to replenish her cravings this past week and a half. Yesterday, we spent the afternoon cooking mee jawa for dinner. Janet & Papa took a day tour to Washington DC the day before and opted to rest in Jersey before exploring Manhattan again today. It's nice to have extra help in the kitchen once in a while :)

I haven't cooked mee jawa in a while. I love it with Satay but due to lack of time, I decide to forgo it :( Maybe next time.

Last night's dinner!

My Mee Jawa recipe is taken from The Star Online's Kuali Section. I didn't garnish mine with boiled potatoes and lime juice as suggested in the recipe. Yellow noodles has more than enough carbs in it. Adding potatoes would be carbo-loading. I normally use cilantro or fried red onions (depending on individual taste) as garnish instead.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

1kg yellow noodles 1kg medium prawns 500g sweet potatoes, mashed 50g gula melaka 2-3 heaped tbsp cornstarch 1/2 cup oil salt and pepper 2.5 l water Herb paste (blend or pound): 3 stalks lemon grass 6 shallots/red onions 4 pips garlic 4 cm ginger 4 cm galangal 5 red chillies Method Heat oil and fry the paste till fragrant. Add prawn stock, simmer and bring to a boil. Stir in the mashed potatoes and thicken with the cornstarch and season with sugar and salt and pepper. Serve with fried tofu, slices of hard boiled egg, prawns, bean sprouts, potatoes and a squeeze of lime juice. To make prawn stock: Bring 2.5 litre water to a boil and pour in the prawns. When prawns are cooked, dish them out. Shell the prawns and keep aside for the noodles. Return the prawn shells to the pot to make prawn stock. Continue boiling the stock for another 30 minutes. Discard the shells.

Bon Appetit!