The Wok of Fury!Penang Char Kway Teow~~

Char kway teow,炒粿條 literally "stir-fried ricecake strips", is a popular noodle dish in Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and Singapore. The dish was (and still is in some places in Malaysia and Singapore) typically prepared at hawker stalls especially in Penang, Malaysia.

It is made from flat rice noodles (河粉 hé fěn in Mandarin Chinese) of approximately 1 cm or (in the north of Malaysia) about 0.5 cm in width, stir-fried over very high heat with light and dark soy sauce, chilli, a small quantity of belachan, whole prawns, deshelled cockles, bean sprouts and chopped Chinese chives. The dish may commonly be stir-fried with egg, slices of Chinese sausage and fishcake, and less commonly with other ingredients. Char kway teow is traditionally stir-fried in pork fat, with crisp croutons of pork lard, and commonly served on a piece of banana leaf on a plate.
Char kway teow has a reputation of being unhealthy due to its high saturated fat content. However, when the dish was first invented, it was mainly served to labourers. The high fat content and low cost of the dish made it attractive to these people as it was a cheap source of energy and nutrients. When the dish was first served, it was often sold by fishermen, farmers and cockle-gatherers who doubled as char kway teow hawkers in the evening to supplement their income.

from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Char_kway_teow

Ingredients:
300g kway teow (flat rice noodles)
200g prawns (shelled)
50g chives (cut into 3cm lengths)
150g beansprouts
1 chinese sausage (sliced)
3 eggs
2 cloves garlic (chopped)
4 tbsp cooking oil
1-2 tbsp chilli paste
Seasoning:
2 tsp light soya sauce
1 tsp dark soya sauce
a pinch of salt
a dash of pepper
Method:
1.  Heat 4 tbsp oil in wok until hot, add chopped garlic and fry until fragrant.  Turn up the heat and add the chilli paste (if used) and continue to fry until fragrant.
2.  Add prawns, chinese sausage slices and beansprouts and fry for a while.  Push all the fried ingredients to one side and add the kway teow (flat rice noodles) and stir-fry quickly for a few seconds.
3.  Add seasoning, sprinkle with a little water and stir in all the fried ingredients.  Push ingredients to the sides of the wok to create an empty space in the centre.  Add a tbsp of oil and crack in the eggs.  When the eggs start to set,  cover the eggs with the noodle mixture and stir-fry evenly.
4.  Finally, add the chives and stir-fry for 20 seconds before dishing up.
Chilli Paste:
2 tbsp chilli paste
10 shallots
1/2 tsp salt
5-6 tbsp oil
Method:
1.  Blend skinned shallots and mix with chilli paste.
2.  Heat oil in wok and fry the chilli paste over slow fire, stirring constantly until fragrant and until the oil separates from paste.  Season with a little salt.

from:http://roseskitchen.wordpress.com/2007/04/25/penang-char-kway-teow/

Yong Tau Foo

Yong tau foo ( also spelled yong tao foo, yong tau fu, or yong tau hu yong tofu) is a Chinese soup dish with Hakka origins commonly found in China, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. There are also Teochew and Hokkien variations.
In Malaysia, the Ampang region of Kuala Lumpur is particularly famous for this dish. It is ubiquitous in Singapore food courts, too. Essentially the dish originated in the early 1960s in a restaurant called "Chew Kuan" as tofu stuffed with a meat paste of fish and pork, thereby earning the dish its name "Yong Tau Foo," which means "stuffed bean curd." Since then all variety of vegetables and even fried fritters have been similarly stuffed, and the name Yong Tau Foo has thus been used liberally to apply to foods prepared in this manner.
Yong tau foo is essentially a clear consomme soup containing a varied selection of food items including fish balls, crab sticks, bittergourds, cuttlefish, lettuce, ladies fingers, as well as chilis, and various forms of fresh produce, seafood and meats common in Chinese cuisine. Some of these items, such as bittergourd and chili, are usually filled with fish paste (surimi). The foods are then sliced into bite-size pieces, cooked briefly in boiling broth and then served either in the broth as soup or with the broth in a separate bowl. The dish is eaten with chopsticks and a soup spoon and can be eaten by itself (served with a bowl of steamed rice) or with any choice of egg or rice noodles, or bee hoon (rice vermicelli). Another variation of this dish is to serve it with laksa gravy or curry sauce. Essential accompaniments are spicy, vinegary chili sauce, similar to Indonesian sambal oelek, and a distinctive brown sweet bean sauce or hoisin sauce for dipping.
In Malaysia, the Malay Muslims have taken to yong tau foo in a big way. As pork consumption is prohibited for Muslims, halal yong tau foo is generally soy based or stuffed vegetable fritters or steamed bean curd with fish paste stuffing. To prepare the dish, these, a steamed rice-flour roll (similar to that used for chee cheong fun) and a vegetable called kangkong are boiled to heat and soften them. The food items are drained and eaten with sprinkled toasted sesame seeds, chili sauce and a hoisin based sauce. Another version commonly found in Perak state is the soup type where the food items are served in a broth and provided with chili sauce and hoisin based sauce dipping. Halal yong tau foo is normally sold by Malay vendors at night markets (pasar malam) and at halal food courts by non-Muslim vendors.

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Yong Tau Foo is a Chinese soup dish with Hakka origins. It is essentially tofu stuffed with a meat paste of fish and pork, thereby earning the dish its name “Yong Tau Foo,” which means “stuffed bean curd.” Apart from bean curd, other food items including fish balls, crab sticks, bitter gourds, ladies fingers, brinjals and chillies are also used. The dish is usually served with soup. It can be eaten with white rice or with any choice of egg or rice noodles. Chilly and sweet sauce are used as dipping.


 

from:http://www.myampang.com/2010/08/vote-for-best-ampang-yong-tau-foo/