Tapioca starch noodle aka zhi hoon ken

I know I have not been writting about food for quite some time now. It is not because I don't cook but the lack of new food to be introduced or bragged about. Yesterday I saw in Suet Yin facebook she posted photos on KL hokkien mee and loh mee. Both are in my favourite food list and most importantly you can't get any of them in Penang. Penang as people recognise, is the little food heaven but this tiny heaven lost in comparison to some delicacies from other places. One day I will talk about bah kut teh. This frangrant herbs stewed pork originates from Klang and is served as breakfast which most people didn't know about this and it is still sold in the morning until these days, and people ! we bring our own tea leaves to make tea.


But today, I cooked "zhi hoon ken" or tapioca starch noodle. It is a popular noodle dish in any "zhu chao" restaurant in Klang. I remember when I first went to Johore to study, I ordered this noodle in restaurant and the owner looked at me in disbelief asking me what language am I using. It's Hokkien okay uncle? Then I came to Penang I tried ordering this noodle in one of the occasion when we ate in the kind of place, and no, no one understands me. I almost forgotten about this food until recently my dad always buy a packet or two for me to bring back here.

This time round, he even got me 3 stalks of green onions. Superb! This is the best combination one ever can have with starch noodle.

For people that never seen tapioca starch noodle before, this is it. The texture after being cooked will be chewvy just like gummy bears but a lot softer. I used a pack for 2 person. You definately need to rinse the noodles with water to get rid of excessive starch so the noodle won't be too sticky later on when cooking. 2 times are just nice.



Slice that 3 stalks of beautiful green onions diagonally into small pieces. Soak some dried shrimp in water to soften the orange boys. If you have fresh shrimps, please use them instead of the dried ones. Prepare 2 shitake mushroom by soaking them in water mix with 1/2 teaspoon of sugar. Slice the mushrooms.


It is my family tradition that we always marinate pork before cooking. So this time, it is not excluded.


This is the stir fried starch noodle in dark soy sauce with lots of ingredients making me salivate again while writting. It is not too dry, with that just right amount of gravy, I bet no one can love other food while savouring this.


Ingredients
1 packet starch noodle
about 50 gram of pork in small chunks
3 stalks of green onions, sliced
2 shitake mushrooms, soaked and sliced
dried shrimp - as much as you like, you can't cook this without shrimp
1 chopped shallot
5 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon dark soy sauce
2 tablespoon oyster sauce
bird eye chillies -depends on how spicy you can take
salt and pepper to taste
1 bowl water


Saute shallots and dried shrimp in heated oil. Add in mushroom and pork and stir. Mix all the sauces and bird eye chillies. Pour in 1 bowl of water and let boil. Add starch noodle and green onions and let simmer for 10 minutes to soften the noodle. Add more water it the mixture dries up. Add pepper and salt to taste. Serve hot, must serve hot!