This is one of my favourite food when I was young. I hated eating rice and I loved noodles and I also loved fresh fishballs so this naturally became my favourite dish!

It is a very simple dish, but it is difficult to obtain the taste if you do not have the fresh ingredients from Singapore: the first is the giant fishballs and the other is the fresh oil noodles. I laugh so hard when friends tell me that noodles always are dry and you always need to cook them in water to expand them. Yeah but that is because you do not have fresh noodles shop in your country. Just like in Italy where fresh pasta is made, so are noodles all over Northeast and East Asia.

Here are the ingredients you’ll need:

Garnish:

  • Coriander
  • Fried shallot
  • Deep-fried pork lard, cubes (optional)

Dip sauce:

  • Thai dragon chili, chopped
  • Light soy sauce
  • 2 calamansi/calamondin (replace with green lime if you don’t have that)

Steps:

  1. Marinate your minced pork with salt, pepper, light soy sauce and a bit of corn flour. Set aside for 10 minutes.
  2. Heat up your wok with a bit of oil. Stir-fry your garlic, once it is golden and crispy, add in your minced pork and fry until the pork is cooked. Made sure the pork is not lumped together by slightly tossing it around with your spatula while stir-frying.
  3. Add in water and cover your wok. Bring to boil. Add your fresh fishballs and allow the soup to simmer under medium heat for 10 minutes to bring out the taste of the fishballs. Add salt as necessary.
  4. Boil a pot of water and cook your fresh oil noodles in them. Do not over cook them as they become too soggy. Once cooked, take them out of the pot but do not pour the hot water away. Dip your piping hot noodles in cold water. The sudden temperature difference makes the noodles springy and add a splendid texture to the dish. Drain the cold water away and bring the pot of water to boil and cook your noodles some more until they are piping hot again.
  5. In your serving bowl, place two leaves of green lettuce. Drain your noodles and place your noodles beside the lettuce. Pour your soup with the minched pork and fishballs into the bowl. Give it a dash of pepper. Garnish with some coriander leaves and fried shallots. Traditionally, you can add deep-fried pork lard as a garnish but this is optional.
  6. To give some spicy kick to your meal, place your chopped chili in a saucer with some light soy sauce, cut your calamansi into halves and squeeze the juice over it. Enjoy!