Pan Mee (Handmade Noodle Soup)

Pan Mee for Dinner (3 March 2012)

Hehehe, it's a relief to know that wiki has acknowledged that Pan Mee originated from Malaysia. As a KLian, of course I'm afraid that another nation proclaims my local food as their national dish! (Oh-oh, am I starting something controversial here?) Take it with a pinch of salt as I have with my Chicken Rice, Bak Kut Teh and Yee Sang. (Awkward silence.....)

Let's get back to glorifying Pan Mee! Pan Mee in its simplest form is basically strips of flour noodle in anchovy soup, topped with fried anchovies, pork and sweet leaves. Nowadays, most Pan Mee stalls have other variations of serving Pan Mee ~ dry, chilli, curry, herbal, etc... I still like the traditional kind the best!

Making 2 bowls of pan mee is easy but try making it for 10... at the same time! I had to knead 1 kilo of flour, boiled 3 litre of soup, cooked 1/2 kilo of minced meat and deep fried 300g of dried anchovies. It took me half a day to prepare these but only 15 min for everyone to finish the noodle! Was it worth it? YES!!!

Pan Mee Recipe (Serving 4)

Part 1 - Noodle

Ingredient:
500 g plain flour
2 large eggs
1 tsp shallot oil
1/2 tsp salt
220 g water, add more if necessary

Method:

1. Start by adding the shallot oil to your eggs and beat lightly
2. Sieve flour into a mixing bowl and make a well in the centre.
3. Pour egg mixture and salt in. Mix flour & eggs with hand until crumbly.
4. Add water gradually and continue to knead the dough until it's smooth and springy in texture. I took more than 20 min with my tiny hands! You could always use a mixer if you have one.
5. Let the dough rest for 1 hour. Cover with a damp cloth.
6. Once ready, cut the dough into 1 cm slices. Roll out using a pasta maker gradually from Setting 1 to 5. If you don't have a maker, roll out 2mm sheets. Dust sheets with flour.

Part 2 - Soup

Ingredient:

1/2 kg pork bone

200g dried anchovies/ ikan bilis with the head on

1 onion, cut into 4

 3 litre of water

Method:

1. Wash and blanch the pork bones in hot water
2. Wash and dry the anchovies. Using a non-stick pan, fry the anchovies until brown and fragrant.
3. Place pork bones, fried anchovies and onion into a stock pot. Add water and boil for at least 2 hours.
4. Sieve the soup before assembling the noodle.

Part 3- Others

Ingredient:

400g minced pork, marinade earlier with cornflour, salt & pepper

4-5 dried Chinese mushroom, sliced thinly
1 piece of black fungus, sliced thinly
Vegetables (sweet leaves)
Deep fried anchovies

Method:

1. Stirfry minced pork with garlic, soy sauce, oyster sauce, Chinese wine & a little sesame oil.
2. Separately stir fry mushrooms and black fungus with dark sauce, soy sauce, salt & pepper
3. Blanch vegetable.
4. Deepfry anchovies, drain and set aside.