Stir fried rice vermicelli with chicken

 Hello~ I was getting a little homesick so I made myself some rice vermicelli. In Singapore we call it beehoon. This used to be something my family used to cook cause it was easy to make, delicious and you could store it for a couple of days (1-2days). So when they got really lazy, I remember eating this for 2 days for lunch and dinner. You would get so sick of eating it, the reason why my brother and I ate it was just so we could finish it and get something new to eat.


This recipe is very flexible so you could add in almost any other ingredient you think would go well with it :)

Ingredients:

Rice vermicelli (3-4 serves)
Garlic (2-3 cloves)
Chicken (~100-150g)
Light Soy Sauce (depends on how salty you want it to be)
Dark Soy Sauce (~1 tbs) [OPTIONAL]
Carrots (1 or 2 sticks)
Nappa Cabbage (5 leaves) 
Sesame Oil or any normal cooking oil you use

If you would prefer your noodles to look whiter, then don't add in the Dark soy sauce. Dark soy sauce only changes the flavour slightly but it does allow your food to look darker. 
Sesame oil gives the dish a slight fragrance compared to other cooking oils. It just gives it that extra yum, but you can cook it with normal cooking oil if you're not picky.

• Step 1, boil some water in a pot. 

• Step 2, while the water is taking it time to boil, cut up the garlic, carrots, nappa cabbage and chicken. For the nappa cabbage separate the parts of the stem and leaves. 
• Step 3, when the water boils, throw in the nappa cabbage STEMS and carrots.

• Step 4, when the nappa cabbage stems turn translucent and the carrots are almost soft, heat up oil in a sauce pan.

The most important part is to ensure that the cabbage stems are translucent as I always find that they take more time to cook. You can eat carrots raw, but I don't think you want to eat nappa cabbage raw.

• Step 5, throw in the garlic and when you can smell the fragrance of garlic, throw in the nappa cabbage LEAVES.
• Step 6, when the leaves in the saucepan softens, drain the stems and carrots from the pot (try to keep the water) and mix them into the saucepan.
• Step 7, add more water into the pot and place over the fire to boil. 

By keeping the water, the noodles get the slight vegetable flavour of the water and the water also boils faster.

• Step 8, when the water starts to boil, place the rice vermicelli in. 

Vermicelli cooks fast so I usually keep a close eye on it. You don't want the noodles to be so soft that they just break off everytime you try to pick them up.

• Step 9, throw the pieces of chicken in to the saucepan and mix.
• Step 10, when the vermicelli has softened till al dente or almost al dente, drain the water and mix the noodles into the saucepan. 
• Step 11, season with the different soy sauce and make sure it is well mixed. 

Best way to check if you dish is well mixed is the colour. If you're using dark soy sauce, it is immediately noticeable as you will have very dark and light areas. If using light soy sauce, it may be harder to differentiate as everything looks so light.

• Step 12, double check if the chicken is cooked and serve :)

Cooking chicken is difficult. It's a very versatile meat, but it is difficult to cook to perfection. If you don't grasp the timing right, it gets overly tough, if you don't cook it long enough, it's still raw. After a while you get used to it and you can gauge and estimate the timing. 

Just for ideas~ It's always good to envision the end product you want to create. The other ingredients that can go well with this recipe... Corn, pork, beef, broccoli (you could try :p), peas, dried shrimp (if you want that flavour in the dish), peanuts ( the chinese can peanuts that are soaked in sauce). Well just some ideas. I regret not putting corn in though, A slight burst of sweetness from the corn would have been nice.

I was thinking of adding photographs with the steps but half the time I make dishes on impulse and I don't really know how they would turn up. Almost everything I think of making is based on how I feel that day and I usually have never tried the recipe before. The pasta bake and this recipe was just something I thought of doing up on the spot and both these recipes are something I thought of along the way.

 

Usually I think of the main ingredient I wish to use for a particular dish and then I start to wrap my head around the different things I can make with it. I hardly do a recipe more than twice. I do the basic foundations of the recipe but I swap the seasoning or ingredients to see what different flavours I can bring out of the dish. 

 

It's not fun to always stick to same recipes and keep doing them over and over again. They may taste like the most amazing thing ever, but I want to try all different tastes in my mouth and have fun exploring the different combinations of food. I think cooking is like life, always moving forward and always changing. That's what makes it so exciting! Two ingredients that you never thought wouldn't be able to compliment each other, tastes so amazing. It's like a every little bit you take is a little secret that you share with the food and your tongue. 

 

Haha I know, I sound crazy. But I absolutely love food. It's the one thing that puts a smile on my face no matter how bad my day has been. It allows me to be creative and express myself. It sounds weird because people express themselves with art and crafts and then there's me. Expressing myself with food. :p 

Hugs for everyone! Have fun expressing yourself through food :3