Hong Kong Series: Congee, noodles & rice

There are many eateries in Hong Kong which sell a combination menu of “jook, fun, meen, faan” (粥粉麵飯) – congee, (rice-based) noodles, (wheat-based) noodles and rice. The origins of these were originally, of course, on the street – first by trolley vendors, then “dai pai dong” (大牌檔) street-side stalls and now either in temporary markets or permanent shop spaces.

Congee, steamed plain rice noodle rolls, stir-fried noodles and deep-fried dough sticks

Hurstville Chinese Restaurant (華英小廚), 27 March 2010

This restaurant is a firm local family favourite, even though it’s not that local to us. We started eating here about 15 years ago and have all our celebrations here – birthdays, Chinese New Year, Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節) – and keep coming back for their quality Cantonese fare and friendly service. It is a family run business, with three son-in-laws who look after the various parts of it.

Monsieur Poisson and I stop by for brunch one day en route to visiting my mother, and I hone in on some common Cantonese breakfast/brunch/lunch items. We start with sampan congee (‘teng jai jook’ – 艇仔粥) which gains its name from the vessel which housed fishing families who are the ones credited with ‘inventing’ this type of congee.

The ingredients used vary from place to place but typically include, of course, fish, minced pork or beef, peanuts, dried squid and dried pork crackling. Our large bowl here comes topped with sliced spring onions and deep-fried pastry bits to give added crunch, much like croutons to soup. We’ve also ordered some deep-friend dough sticks (‘you tiao’ - 油條) on the side for dipping.

And how I miss seeing street vendors (usually old men) in Hong Kong frying these up in bubbling vats of hot oil! Stretching and shaping premade dough, deftly wielding long chopsticks, turning the ‘you tiao’ in the oil until golden and fishing them out to drain on a wire stand, awaiting to be placed into brown paper bags upon purchase. Absolute simple bliss.

Next we have some stir-fried soy sauce noodles (‘si yau wong chau meen’ – 豉油王炒麵) which are egg noodles tossed in a combination of dark and light soy sauces, and bean sprouts as well as garlic chives. A bit lacking in the garlic chives in this instance, however the flavour balance is right and the noodles are neither greasy nor clumped together. I used to order these at street-side eateries in Hong Kong for breakfast and would liberally douse the lot with toasted sesame seeds from canisters provided at tables.

We finish with another breakfast staple – steamed plain rice noodle rolls (‘ju cheung fun’ – 豬腸粉) which gains its Chinese name from its appearance resembling pig’s intestines, apparently. A lot of places don’t serve this unfilled variety of rice noodle rolls in Sydney, as opposed to the ones with filling seen at yum cha, and I’ve never understood why. When made well, they are smooth and slippery and shouldn't be rolled up too tightly otherwise they're too stodgy in texture. Here we are served a mound of the noodle rolls covered with light soy, a thin sesame sauce and a thin hoi-sin sauce. Chilli sauce is a common addition as well.

So between the two of us, we fail to finish all this food but staff are more than happy to package up the remaining half plate of noodles for us. I take it along to my mother’s where it serves as a welcome afternoon snack.

Hurstville Chinese Restaurant (華英小廚)

184 Forest Rd (cnr Park Rd), Hurstville NSW

Tel: (02) 9586 0828

Opening Hours:  7 days  11am-3pm (lunch)

5pm-10:30pm (dinner)

happy eating!

Here piggy, piggy, piggy!

Of the many weddings I attended in the past two years, only two have been Chinese banquets. There are typically many small courses much like a degustation menu and usually starts with roast suckling pig. There is something rather special about this fine, tender, young meat which doesn’t taste as strongly of pork as its older cousins and has a thinner layer of skin which yields a smoother, crispier crackling. It tends to be reserved for special occasions in Chinese tradition and is not always readily available in Cantonese barbeque stores.

At one of these weddings where Mr Awesome was also a guest, we were discussing our love of the baby pig when I mentioned it was common practice for guests to ask for the roasted head and trotters to take home to be used in a soup base or congee much like you would a ham hock. We were most disappointed when we brought this up with our waiter and were met with the response that all uneaten parts had already been thrown out. What an absolute waste! Mr Awesome then had a most brilliant idea – for his next birthday he would eschew the usual birthday cake and cut open a roast piggy instead. Mmmm…

A couple of months later and we were met with the most amazing sight of Mr Awesome being wheeled in his birthday pig on a trolley and taking to it with a heavy meat cleaver from head to tail. The crunch of beautiful crackling was heard by all as he was doing so and, afterwards, I was duly offered the head and trotters to create something beautiful.

You may find the above picture disturbing and/or confronting but it is a reality that all meat-eaters should face. Meat comes from animals and these animals are raised and slaughtered to give us the meat; just because it comes neatly butchered or pre-packaged should not sanitise this fact. Nevertheless, I found myself face-to-face in my kitchen with said piggy and didn’t quite know how to tackle it – it’s not everyday that I have a roasted pig’s head sitting around!

So if you find yourself with leftover roasted suckling pig parts on your hands this Chinese New Year, here are a couple of ideas. I decided the trotters would be used for congee and trimmed away any large fatty chunks. From the head, I removed the cheeks and then the lobes of fat from those before finely slicing the remaining skin and meat to be used in a noodle stir-fry. Although the cheeks were not terribly large once the fatty bits had been trimmed away, they did produce a handsome tub of sliced meat.

The congee did require some seasoning as the marinade for the roast pig is rubbed in the cavity of the pig and not on the limbs, which mainly just taste of roasted smokiness. The noodle stir-fry was done in two batches due to its size but apologies as we hungrily dug into it before any photos were taken. You’ll just have to imagine and visualise how it tasted and looked!

Roasted Pig’s Trotters Congee (serves 4-5)

Ingredients:

·         1 cup of long grain rice (unrinsed or rinsed only once), soaked in 2 cups of cold water in a large pot overnight

·         4 roasted pig’s trotters from a suckling pig, fat trimmed

·         1 tsp finely shredded ginger

·         salt, to taste

Method:

1. Add a cup of cold water to the pot of soaked rice and bring to the boil over medium heat. Add ginger and stir a few times to prevent sticking at the bottom.
2. Add pig’s trotters and increase heat to high to bring back to the boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook, half covered, for about 45 minutes. Stir the bottom occasionally and skim any large charred bits which float to the top.
3. Remove pig’s trotters to a chopping board to cool a little but keep the congee simmering on a low heat, stirring occasionally. When cool enough to handle, remove meat from trotters and roughly chop before setting aside. Return pig’s trotter bones to the pot and simmer for another 30 minutes or so until the mixture is fluffy and there are no discernable grains of rice. You may need to add water if you prefer a thinner consistency.
4. Remove bones and return chopped trotter meat to the pot. Stir through and season with salt to taste. Serve in bowls with ground white pepper and finely chopped spring onions alongside for sprinkling on top, if desired. 

Roasted Pork Cheek Noodle Stir-Fry (serves 4-5)

Ingredients:

·         500g pack of Hokkien noodles

·         2 roasted pig’s cheeks from a suckling pig, fat trimmed, cut into strips

·         finely shredded ginger (optional)

·         1 small red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped (optional)

·         2 tbs hoisin sauce

·         ⅓ medium Chinese cabbage (‘wom bok’/’wong nga bak’), shredded

·         4 tbs hoisin sauce

Method:

1. Bring a large pot or wok of water to the boil and briefly blanch the noodles to remove its excess coating of oil. Do this in batches if necessary. Drain and set aside.
2. Heat a wok over medium-high heat and briefly stir-fry the pork cheek strips until lightly browned and some of the fat is released. Toss ginger and chilli with this, if using. Add 2 tbs hoisin sauce and toss until evenly coated before setting aside.
3. Increase heat to high and add cabbage to the pan. Stir-fry until wilted and set aside.
4. Place half the noodles in the pan and toss briefly to evaporate any clinging moisture before adding half the pork cheek strips and half the shredded cabbage. Stir-fry until well mixed, adding a tablespoon of hoisin sauce if needed. Repeat with the remaining ingredients. 

happy chinese new year & happy cooking!