Sluuuuuuurp!

Since I haven’t posted a thing since before Christmas it would seem my brain is spent on ideas. Luckily there are readers and chums and yoga teachers out there who’ve been kind enough to think for me and come up with topics.  Today’s first topic is Noodles. It’s 11 degrees outside here – That’s cold as fuck. Pressing your cheek against a window is like descending to very bottom circle of Dante’s Inferno, where the blaze switches to the eternal ice locking Lucifer at the midsection and you become wedged in the frozen sump between two gritty snowballs of divine retribution.  Brrrrrrrrrr – think how a nice, steaming plate of Singapore Noodles would raise your nippy soul at least as far as the temperate climes of Purgatory.

Now, a disclaimer: Singapore Noodles are more of a concept than a traditional, and specific, recipe. The ones here are sort of Singapore by way of Saigon – the Vietnamese influences make them a lighter, brighter version. They’ll perk up the heart without weighing down the belly like a bowl of adobe batter.

Singapore Noodles- 

2 tbs sesame oil

1 onion, thinly sliced

3-4 Thai Bird’s Eye chiles, or serranos

3 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped

1.5 inch ginger root, minced

6 Scallions, sliced diagonally

1 skinless chicken breast, in small strips

4 oz lean pork, in small strips

4 oz medium shrimp, shelled

2 tomatoes seeded and chopped

2 tbs tamarind paste – see note

1 tbs nuoc mam (Vietnamese fish sauce; nam pla in Thai) – sub light soy sauce

Grated rind and juice of 1 lime

1 tsp sugar

2 tbs hoisin sauce

½ cup chicken stock or water

4 oz dried rice stick noodles, cooked according to package. Or 8 oz fresh noodles

Salt & Pepper

Small bunch Thai Basil, just the leaves

Small Bunch Mint, ditto 

1. Heat a wok, or wide pan, over high heat and add oil. Just as it begins to smoke add the onion, garlic, chiles and ginger. Cook 30 sec or so, just until onions/garlic beging to change color. Stir in chicken and pork, cook 1-2 minutes, then add shrimp and scallions
2. Add tomatoes, tamarind, nuoc mam, lime parts, sugar, hoisin and stock. Continue to cook for another 3 minutes to thicken it a bit
3. Add cooked noodles, season with salt & pepper and toss well. Serve immediately with basil and mint leaves scatter over the servings

 Tips - 

Tamarind Paste is probably the most difficult ingredient to acquire for those w/o nearby Asian or Latin markets. If you can’t get any, substitute Ketchup and omit the sugar.  Don’t worry about authenticity, they use ketchup in traditional dishes all over SE Asia. Matter of fact, the origins of our favorite hamburger paste lie in the Malay Peninsula – and so do these noodles!

The pork/chicken/shrimp trifecta is standard but don’t get bogged down by it.  Toss in Chinese sausage, lobster, squid, beef, duck or even bacon for fun new variations.

Wanna make it vegetarian? Ditch the meats and replace ‘em with chopped baby bok choy, spinach, nappa cabbage, zucchini, eggplant, sprouts, sliced shiitake or oyster mushrooms or chanterelles or red peppers or asparagus and so forth.