Cantonese Roast Meats

A quick and convenient dinner is simply going to a local vendor and buying a portion of mixed Cantonese Roast Meat, containg Char Siu, Siew Yoke and Siew Aap. Translated, Sweet BBQ Pork, Crispy Roast Belly Pork and Roast Duck. This lot cost only £8. I have put a 6in ruler next to it to demonstrate the portion size here.. big enough to feed 3 - 4 adults!




For those living locally in Manchester, I actually bought this from Chi Yip, which is located in Chadderton. Their Char Siu is usually only average, but the Roast Duck is about the best I have tasted in Greater Manchester and the Crispy Pork is quite good too. The skin is usually quite crispy if you eat it straight away.

Mee Goreng Udang ( Prawn Fried Noodles )

A quick, and simple dish, where the ingredients play a huge part in how good (or bad) it taste.

I had not bought anything to make dinner that night and decided to look around to see what was in the cupboard and freezer. What I found were the essential ingredients for this slight variation of a popular Malaysian mamak (indian-muslim) dish.

The noodles and prawns were fried separately, as the latter were quite big and I wanted to make sure they were cooked properly rather than frying them together with the noodles, and risk over or undercooking them.



Noodles:
I had some instant "straight to wok" noodles for emergencies, but its best to use fresh egg noodles. Not the thin variety.
I also had some sambal belachan frozen in individual portions. These were made by grinding belachan (pungent prawn paste), chillies, garlic and dried shrimps together.

Method:
Fry the paste in oil with sliced onions till fragrant - when the fumes start to make you cough and splutter, then that it the right time to add the noodles!
Sprinkle water so that noodles becomes soft and succulent. Then add tomato sauce, chilli sauce and sweet soy sauce. Add salt to taste.
When nearly done, crack an egg over it. Continue frying till egg becomes brown.
Then its done!




Prawns:
I used peeled and deveined raw tiger prawns (frozen). Fresh is better if you can get them.
Heat 50% butter, 50% oil, then add diced capsicum, curry leaves and garlic. Fry till brown (only takes seconds), then add 1 tsp curry powder paste.
Again, fry till fumes make you cough and splutter, then add the prawns and fry quickly. Add salt to taste. Remove when you start seeing moisture seep out of the prawns. You dont want to lose too much water from the prawns or they will not be succulent and juicy when you bite into them.

Serve noodles, topped with the prawns.