Braise Peas & Potato

Last spring, my father-in-law cooked some fresh peas the Greek way (peas with onions and dill). To my surprise, it brings back memories of taste of my childhood, it reminds me of a dish my mother cooked when we were kids, with canned peas. The difference in taste between the two version is that my mother added minced meat to enrich the taste and of course, the indispensable soy sauce.

Since we came across some nice fresh peas last 2 weeks, I thought it would be worth a while to try re-create this dish, with fresh peas. Since I have never actually learn it from my mother, there were a lot of guessing game (but it an easy guess), it turn out just quiet the same. This is an easy dish, takes about 20 - 30 minutes cooking time (half of that time, I was doing something else!) and I am definitely going to cook this again on a working day and perhaps make it into a lunch box!

Braise Peas & Potatoes serve with toasted bread

Ingredients:
1 cup Fresh Peas
2 medium potatoes, diced
1 medium onions, diced
100 - 200g mince pork
1 small clove garlic, finely minced
2 cups water or stock, approx.
Soy sauce to taste
Salt and pepper


1) Marinate the minced pork with about 1 teaspoon of Soy Sauce (5-10 minutes is just fine);
2) Heat about 2 table spoon of olive oil in a large pot. Sauteed the minced garlic for about 10 seconds before adding in the marinated minced pork. Stir fry the mince pork, breaking it up into fine bits until almost cook.
3) Add in diced onion and mix. When the onion begin to soften, add in the diced potatoes and peas and mix
4) Add in just enough water or stock to almost cover the vegetables and turn down to medium or low heat. Cover the pot with the lid and simmer until the vegetable is cooked.
5) Uncover and reduce the sauce. Season with soy sauce, salt and pepper.
6) Serve it with bread or over steam rice.

Home Made Noodles with Mince Meat Sauce

When I was a student, this noodle dish was perhaps one of the most popular among us students. It is easily available from the hawker stall, doesn't involve hot soup (although the soup version is always available) which is ideal under the constant hot weather and more importantly, it will definitely keep hunger at bay for the next hours. Another thing I like about this dish is that every stall would make the noodle fresh (well not exactly, the dough is prepared ahead of time) and cut it into which ever thickness or shapes you like it. The choice was narrow or wide noodle or small hand tear (literally translated, we call it "flour pieces" and it requires you to just tear a rolled out dough into pieces).

Fresh noodle are not that hard to make. The easiest method to make fresh noodle is exactly the same way as making fresh pasta. All you need is flour and water or egg, some effort (think about it this way, you will replace the calories you lost later) and that is about it.

A nice bowl of comfort

The sauce for this noodle dish, I will say its the Asian version of Bolognese sauce. Here's my recipe, it is enough to feed 2 very hungry adult (but I often find that I could have make it a bit more).

To prepare mince meat sauce:

250g Mince Pork or Beef
1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
1/2 Tbsp Oil (add if your meat is very lean)
1 Tbsp water
Black Pepper to taste

The simplest way is to marinate the mince meat with soy sauce, oil, water and black pepper for 30 minutes. Alternately, first add the ingredient into the mince meat and then with a pair or 2 chop sticks, mix the marinates into the mince meat with a circular motion until the mince meat absorb in all the liquids. This will keep the mince meat juicy and more bite when cooked.

While you marinate the mince meat, work on the dough for the fresh noodle:

Preparing fresh noodle dough:

2 1/2 cup plain flour
1 tsp salt
About 1 cup of water (luke warm water on cold days and cold water* on hot days)

Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a hole in the middle. Slowly add in the water while you mix the flour with the water until you can form a large dough. Use just enough water to turn the flour into a workable dough. It may be less than 1 cup or more, depending on the weather condition and how dry is the flour.

On a floured surface, knead the dough until it is smooth. Rest the dough on a floured surface covered with a damp towel to let it rest (this is important, it will give your noodle a nice bite to it) for at least 5-10 minutes.

Knead the dough until smooth

While you rest the dough, prepare the mince meat sauce:

Cooking mince meat sauce:

1 large Spring Onion, chopped (including the green part)
1 tsp finely chopped garlic
2  - 3 Chinese dry mushroom, soaked until soft and julienne, keep the water. Alternately, you can use supermarket bought dried sliced Shi-take mushroom.
1 tsp finely chopped ginger (optional)
1 1/2 Tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
3 Tbsp Soy Sauce
1 cup stock or water from the soaked mushroom
2 tsp corn flour mix with 1 Tbsp water (if required)
2 - 3 Tbsp cooking oil
Chilie flakes (optional)

Dilute the dark soy together with the soy sauce in a small bowl. Coat a heated pan or wok with the cooking oil. Under a medium heat, add in chopped ginger and give it a few stir before adding in the chopped garlic and chillies flakes. Turn to high heat, add in the marinated mince meat and stir occasionally cooked.
Add in the mushroom and stir-fry for about half a minute before adding in dark soy sauce and soy sauce mixture and mix.
Add in stock, season with salt and black pepper before bringing it to a boil, reduce to medium heat and let simmer. When the sauce has been reduced to just covering the meat, add in chopped spring onion (keep aside about 1 table spoon for garnishing) and turn to high heat and bring to boil. Stir in the corn starch gradually until the sauce has slightly thicken (about the same consistency as Bolognese sauce). You can skip this step if the sauce is already thicken from the simmering or you don't mind a thin sauce.
Keep it warm over very low heat while you cook the noodles.

Now, To make your noodles:

Briefly knead the rested dough on a floured surface. Divide the dough into 2 - 3 portion. Roll out each small dough and fold. Repeat the for at least 6 times. Finally, roll out to about 1/3 cm thick flat dough. Cut into 1 cm stripes or thinner to your own preference. Dust the noodles generously with flour to prevent the strands from sticking with each other. Set aside and cover with a clean dry cloth. A pasta maker definitely make this task much more easier.  

Fresh noodle ready to cook and my trusty pasta maker

Cooking fresh noodles:

Just like cooking pasta, bring a large pot of water to a boil, drizzle some oil in the water before adding in the noodle. When the noodle floats, do a taste test before removing it straight into a serving boil. Serve the mince meat sauce on top the noodles and garnish with spring onion and chilies oil if you like it spicy. Serve immediately. Depending on the size of your pot, you may want to cook the noodle in batches.

Just a few tips:
1) Instead of fresh noodle, you can use store (supermarket) bought egg noodle w
2) Dark soy sauce may be available in large supermarket however, they could be sweet or salty. Which ever that you got, just have a taste test when you first use and adjust your seasoning accordingly. Add a teaspoon of sugar if the dark soy sauce you buy is on the salty side.
3) Cold water here means tap water. The tap water here is relatively cold even in summer unless it starts to pour out lukewarm water, you can just use tap water.