Nyonya Chap Chai (Nyonya Mixed Vegetable)

This is a Nyonya style mixed vegetable which uses preserved bean paste. This dish is normally served during Chinese New Year and is associated with festive dishes. Since I have all the ingredients, I gave this dish a go (first time trying). My glass noodle disintegrated and almost melted following the recipe in the cook book (not sure brand of glass noodle plays a part or not). The taste did not come out well too and something was missing. In the end, I had to add a few more seasonings to bring out the taste and had to change the method in the cook book for my own record, so that one can still see the glass noodle once this dish is cooked. Believe it or not, I always refer back to my blog for my own recipes because most of the recipes I created out of the blue and often time I forgot what I put into the dish. So, these recipes are not only for my girls but for myself as well.



Ingredients:

1/2 small Cabbage, shredded, or cubed
1 small Carrot, cut into flower shapes
1/4 cup Dried Lily Buds, soften in hot water, drained and cut off the hard tip and tie a knot
1/2 cup Wood Ear Fungus, soften in hot water
5-6 Dried Shiitake Mushrooms, soften in hot water, drained and sliced
4 Dried beancurd sticks (tau kee), soften in hot water, drained and cut
2 bundles Glass Noodle (tang hoon), soften in room-temp. water and drained
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/4 cup Dried Shrimps (you can use shrimps)

Seasonings:
3 Tbsp. Preserved Bean Paste (tau cheo)
1 tsp. Chicken stock granules
Salt to taste
1 tsp. Sugar
1 to 2 cups Water

Method:

1. In a pot, heat up some oil. when heated, add in dried shrimps, garlic and tau cheo. Stir-fry until fragrant. Add in cabbage and carrot, stir-fry until soften.

2. Add in shiitake mushrooms, wood ear, lily buds and beancurd sticks. Stir- well to mix. Add water and the rest of the seasonings. Let it simmer, covered for 10-15 minutes, check water level if need to. Open cover, add in glass noodle and mix well. Turn off the heat and serve.

P/S The cook book asked to add the glass noodle with the rest of the ingredients and simmer it for 20 minutes. Bad move as I learned later. I was trying to trust the cookbook and follow the instruction for once, but guess not. Seasoning was off too. Received a great tips, that is to soften the glass noodle in room-temp. water instead of hot water to prevent it from broken out when cooking.