29 March 2011: At last we could eat our dinner without feeling depressed by the images and news reports running via the NHK channel. The situation in the north-eastern region of Japan has stabilized to a certain extent, although tremours and minor earthquakes continue to be felt and the radiation issue still lingers on.
Juggling between work, meals and study, preparing the easiest meal without resorting to sandwiches has always been a challenge for me. My Swiss friend once mentioned that "Asian meals are difficult to prepare and take a long time to do so". Not necessarily so if you know some quick and easy dishes. Such dishes take just 15 minutes to wash, cut and slice, and another 15 to cook. The prep and cook time is thus 30 minutes.
Here I have just discovered a dish by accident which I think is worth sharing: it's the rice noodle with threadfin fillet.
Ingredients:
(1) Slice one threadfin fillet/one red grouper fillet/any fish that is used for soup. (SGD 7.00 for a medium-sized slice, on the average)
(2) Rinse dried anchovies to remove small stones /dirt. (One 1-kg pack costs SGD3.00)
(2) Get ready thin rice noodle that cooks in less than five minutes. Those that are available locally are the mee sua (lit. 'rice thread'; looks like combs of dried white noodle and tastes like somen) and the "Okinawa champa style noodle. (Mee sua: one packet costs SGD1.10 with 6 pieces. Use 3 to 4 for a couple.)
(3) * Slice any amount of young ginger root,leek/spring onions, garlic and shallots/onions, etc.
(4) Optional:One teaspoonful of powdered dashi (Japanese bonito fish stock).
(5) Optional: One egg.
Method:
(1) Boil a pot of water. About five medium-sized bowls.
(2) While boiling, heat some oil in a frying pan. Shallow fry ginger, then onions followed by garlic. Cook them separately if desired. Remove from pan and serve them on smaller plates. If adding an egg, stir it around the pan and remove it. Put it aside.
(3) Boil fish slices and some dried anchovies. If using leek, throw in leek as well.
If desired, add in dashi.
(4) When the soup has come to a boil, throw in the rice noodle. Then add in the egg, if desired, at this stage.
(5) Boil it for about two minutes and it's ready.
Serve it hot with Ingredients * (3) sliced ginger, shallots, etc. Vary the ingredients if you like according to your taste.
Note: The ground white pepper adds magic to this dish.
Bon appetit.
