Homemade Wantan and Fragrant Noodles

The clans of Babe in the City - KL loves wantan mee (noodle)!!! We can eat it for every meal and everyday, and won't get fed-up by it especially me cos I usually can't tolerate having the same stuff 2 days in a row :p My boiboi loves wantan (pork dumplings) or sui kow (prawn dumplings). Since our fave stall near home have moved to no where made known to us, I resorted to make them at home.

First for the broth, simmer a handful of cleaned dried anchovies (ikan bilis) in about 3/4 full of a saucepan for about 30 - 45 mins. By then the broth will reduce to about half of the saucepan. If you prefer soup version for noodles, make more. Strain and discard the anchovies. Season with salt and pepper. Add a little bit more salt as later on you'll have to add the wantans and choy sum inside which will dilute the broth a bit. Set aside.

To make the wantan, this time I used equal amount of lean pork and prawn. Mince them together and add in some soy sauce, fish sauce and white pepper. Marinade for about 30 minutes. The wantan wrapper/skin can be bought from wet market or at the convenience of supermarkets or hypermarkets these days.

To wrap the wantan, place a piece of wrapper on your palm and place about 3/4 teaspoon or less of fillings in the centre. Close your palm and use your fingers to shape them into a money pouch, gently gather and pressing the top together. Please note that as much as you would like your wantan to be filled with the fillings but seriously you'll need to stinge a bit. Otherwise the pouch will break or overflowed fillings won't allow you to gather them up as nicely as possible. Make the whole lot and cover with a clean cloth as you go along.

When done, place water in a pot of water and let it come to a rolling boil. Put in the wantans in batches. They're done when they started to float and let it boil a few minutes more. Scoop them up with a strainer and place them into the anchovy broth.

Throw away the water in the pot and start boiling a fresh pot of water, otherwise use another pot like I did :p You may use back the remaining water but it might have turned a bit starchy after cooking the wantans. Once boiled, add in baby choy sum and cook till done. Strain and place choy sum into the broth together with the wantan. This way, instead of cooking the choy sum in the broth, you'll have a clearer broth.



As for the noodles, I did not get the wantan noodles. In fact I had wanted fresh thin pan meen but the stall had ran out. The boss told me to take these fresh Hakka noodles instead. He said these tasted better and very springy. Let the pot of water come to a boil after cooking the choy sum but make sure you'll have a whole lot more water. Let the noodles cook until al dente or to the texture of your liking. Strain and place the noodles in a big mixing bowl. Pour in oyster sauce and dark soy sauce (both to taste) plus generous amount of garlic oil*. Use a chopstick and a spoon to mix them thoroughly. Spoon them into individual plates and sprinkle some deep fried garlic* bits on them. Serve with wantan and choy sum in broth.



To make garlic oil, chopped about 3 cloves of garlic. Make sure the chopped pieces are rather even in size, otherwise you won't get evenly browned garlic bits. Heat about 1/2 -3/4 cup oil in a wok on low fire and place in the garlic. Keep stirring and you'll need to keep a watch over them. Once they're about 40% - 50% browned, turn off the fire and let the remaining heat to finish browning the garlic till golden brown.


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