Koeyteow Kungfu a.k.a Koeyteow Hongkong

What is a koeyteow? It is some sort of flat noodles made of rice flour, soft and white in colour and somewhat oily (if you get fresh ones), if its in the fridge, it tends to harden, so let it thaw outside prior to usage, although the texture won't be as soft as the fresh ones, but the outcome once cooked is the same. Very addicting! I'm a hardcore fan of koeyteow as compared to other kinds of noodles and pasta :D
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Sorry for the trivia XDXD

Why it is name as above? God knows why XD My humble personal views tells my heart that it is so due to the very chinese-like one meal dish; thickly soupy, not hot, and pleasantly mild (although in my case, it's not so mild..already adapted it to a malay tongue hoho) (feeling syiok sendiri again).

As usual, this dish can be obtain almost anywhere, but the one's that's decent are hard to come by. I only can remember 1 shop selling good koeyteow kungfu, and it was in my matriculation collegue which is about 7 years ago hoho

And again, a delightful day for me to present a very Malaysian dish for all to go ahead and try (although the name is somewhat suspicious haha). The taste is slightly different, but I can assure you that it might be one of the best ones you've ever tasted in a restaurant. My style weights more on hot-thick-mild-slightly sour-savoury taste :)


For 3 servings (big portion per person)

Ingredients

For the noodle
1 pkt of koeyteow
3 A size eggs
a dash of light soy sauce and pepper
1/2 cup vege oil

For gravy
1 big onion - julienne
4 cloves garlic - julienne
4 chile de arbol*optional (this is mild-hot)
1/4 chicken breast - cut to cubes
some medium size prawns - about 10 like dat; shelled leaving the tails intact
2 tbs oyster sauce
2 tbs light soy sauce
1/3 cube chicken stock (i used maggi)
1 1/2 - 2 cups of vegetables like (really, its up to you, cut to ur liking);
- carrots - julienne
- cauliflowers
- baby kailan/bok choy
1 egg*optional
4-5 cups water depending on how much gravy you want
1 - 2 tbs vege oil
 2 tbs corn starch (dilute in some water)
lime juice

For garnishing
1 sprig chopped coriander leaves - very important as it contributes to the tastes as well
some fried shallots

The ingredients for the gravy

Method

Lets prepare the noodle first;
1. Crack and egg and beat profusely until creamy, with rapid hand like 1 min or so

2. Wash the noodle in running water to distangle them and divide the noodles to 3 parts.

3. Add in 1 part in the bowl containing the beaten eggs and add a dash of pepper and soy sauce to it. Stir well. Leave for like 2-3 mins for the noodle to partially absorb the egg mixture

4. Heat the 1/2 cup oil in a wok (must use wok plz) you gotta fry em in a deep well so it'll be something like a heap of noodle that clings to each other..more like a thick omelet
5. Please pour in the mixtures when its really hot yea, if not it'll not be crispy

6. Similarly repeat these steps to prepare more koeyteow for each serving..note that you'll need to add more oil if it runs low, and you can prepare the next koeyteow when you are frying the current one

7. Flip the egg-koeytoew mixture gently in a sliding manner yea, if you do it harshly it'll break, not nice to see, not nice to eat ;D aiyooo..each side should be about 5 mins or so i guess? whats important is that it must be crispy! please use medium-low flame while frying, but high ones when prior to adding the koeyteow mixture.

Next, the gravy, this is relatively easy to cook;

1. Stirfry the onions and garlic together until fragrant prior to addition of bruised chile de arbol and oyster sauce. When the oyster sauce are crisp, go for the light soy sauce. At this point the mixture'll look somewhat like a thick paste.

2.Add in the chicken chunks and cooked em up until opaque. All the time do use medium heat. Add in the 4 cups water and chicken stock and let it simmer for 5-10 mins

3. Add all the veges together and leave em in for like 5 mins (put the green leafy ones at the last 1 min, dun wanna overcooked them)..use medium-low heat

4. After the 6-7th min, I usually taste it and adjust the salt, pepper and lime powder (you can use lime juice) prior to addition of liquidify cornstarch.

5. Stir until the liquid becomes deliciously viscous. At this point, I usually add the prawns for 1-2 mins tops in order to preserve the sweet taste as well as maintaining the texture. Close fire and add in the chopped coriender leaves and stir. (*optional = before adding prawn, for those who wants to put egg in, beat it for good and pour slowly in a circular motion, at the same time use the other hand with the ladle to stir in an opposite direction..juz like when you make egg-drop soup)

Pretty easy right? XD

How to serve?

Juz use a plate or a bowl with less depth, add the koeyteow omellete and pour in the viscous liquid carefully. Topped with cayenne pepper, fried shallots and a wee bit of spring onions or coriender leaves and wallah! you can eat oredi huuu :)

Tips;
- use 1 egg for 'marinating' each portion of koeyteow for 1 serving, it is best to use A or AA size
- the best composition of this one dish meal is when the viscosity is not too high or too low
- low viscosity will dampen the koeyteow-omellete duo and make it less crisp
- do not combine the gravy with the noodle if you're not eating immediately

 Hidden treasures..yumyum..