Singapore Noodles

Mild curry spice, delicious pork and prawns, juicy noodles - a real comfort dish

Singapore Noodles
Noodles are a world staple, and a comfort food for many. A mild curry-spiced noodle dish using whatever protein you have to hand is a very useful recipe to have up your sleeve. You can make this as complicated or easy as you choose, and it’s very tasty whatever you use.

The traditional protein to include with Singapore Noodles are: chicken, for its soft texture; Char Siu pork for its barbeque tang and interesting red colour; and little shrimps for that added salty sea taste. You can make it with only chicken or only seafood if you prefer, just adjust the quantities accordingly and add some hoisin sauce to the noodle mixture for the barbeque sweetness. I left out the chicken in the recipe below as I felt that the pork and shrimps were quite enough.

For a special treat, I made the Char Siu pork myself – which is quite straightforward to do and gives you several meals worth of meat which freezes very well so it’s all extremely convenient. You can buy Char Siu from Chinese groceries, but I’d rather trust my familiar butcher and know that my meat comes from well raised pigs on local farms. Some recipes add red food colouring to the marinade for extra intensity, I’d rather not but it’s up to you.
 
To make the char sui pork:                           Timings:  10 minutes then overnight marinade, then 1 hour in the oven

700g pork shoulder in one piece – makes enough for 8 portions of Singapore Noodles and a bit extra for adding to stir fries etc. You could make a smaller quantity but doing it this way and freezing the extra is highly economical.

Marinade:

• 2 tablespoons Chinese Rice Wine
  
• 1 tablespoon Chinese five spice powder
  
• 2 tablespoons yellow bean paste (which is actually a red colour and some brands have chilli in them)
  
• 1 tablespoon crispy chilli in oil (another red colouring)
  
• 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
  
• 2 tablespoons sugar
  
• 2cm fresh ginger peeled and grated
  
• 2 garlic cloves crushed with salt
  
• ½ teaspoon powdered cinnamon
  
• Glaze:
  
• 2 tablespoons runny honey mixed with 2 tablespoons hot water

Mix the marinade ingredients together in a bowl that will fit in your fridge. If you need to, cut the pork into two long strips which should each be about 6cm wide. Massage the marinade into the pork, cover the bowl and leave overnight in the fridge.

Next day, pre heat the oven to 180°C. Wrap the pork pieces in kitchen foil and roast on a baking tray for about 20 minutes. Take them out, baste with some of the marinade, wrap again and roast for another 20 minutes. Take them out again, remove the foil, baste with marinade again and roast for another 20 minutes.

Ensure your pork is cooked through, it should be pink but cooked inside and a bit sticky on the outside from the baked-on marinade.

Brush the pork pieces with the honey and water glaze and put under a hot grill for a few minutes to set the glaze. Leave the pork to come down to room temperature before slicing. Slice finely along the grain of the meat so you get round slices which are coloured on the outside. You will also be left with a few scratty bits and pieces which you can bag up and freeze for adding to stir fries.

To freeze the slices, lay them on greaseproof paper and cover with another layer of greaseproof paper. You can fold the paper over itself to give several layers of pork and slide the whole package into a freezer bag. Doing it this way means you can take out just a few slices of frozen meat whenever you want them and leave what’s left for another day.

For the recipe below for 4 people you will need about half the pork slices.
 
To make the Singapore Noodles:                               Timings: 30 minutes if using ready cooked pork

• 200g Char Sui pork slices
  
• 50g tiny whole shrimps – sold as Morecambe Bay shrimps often in the UK. You could use larger prawns if you like but cut them into about 6 pieces after making sure they are de-veined and cleaned.
  
• 200g rice vermicelli or other Chinese noodles
  
• 1 red pepper, de-seeded and sliced thinly
  
• 1 bunch spring onions, cleaned and sliced
  
• 1 carrot, peeled and cut into matchsticks
  
• 1 x 300g pack fresh beansprouts
  
• 2cm piece of fresh ginger, grated or sliced finely
  
• 1 clove garlic mashed with salt
  
• 1 fresh chilli, de-seeded and sliced finely
  
• 2 tablespoons medium strength curry powder, whatever your favourite brand
  
• 1 tablespoon crispy chilli in oil
  
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
  
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
  
• Sesame oil

Cook the noodles according to the pack instructions. Depending on the thickness some just need to have boiling water poured over them and others need to be brought to the boil and simmered for 2-3 minutes. Drain and drizzle over a little sesame oil. Leave in the colander.

Mix the chilli in oil, soy sauce, fish sauce and rice vinegar together, set aside.

In your wok, quickly fry the ginger, garlic and chilli. Push to the side of the wok, add a little more oil and fry the pepper, carrot and spring onions briefly.

Add the cooked pork and prawns, and cook for just a minute or so, then add in the drained noodles. Pour over the mixed sauce, and sprinkle over the curry powder. Mix and cook for only a minute or two to warm through and allow the sauce to permeate the meat and noodles.

Serve immediately, maybe adding a sprinkle of spring onions if you like.