← Nouns Cooking · Malaysian & Singaporean

Ingredients

• 500 g firm white fish fillet (grouper, snapper or snakehead), cut into thick slices
• 3 tbsp Rice flour
• 3 tbsp Cornflour (cornstarch)
• ½ tsp Salt
• 500 ml oil, for frying
• 400 g thick rice vermicelli (lai fun or bee hoon), soaked until soft
• 6 slices Ginger
• 3 cloves Garlic, chopped
• 2 Tomato, quartered
• 1.5 l chicken or fish stock
• 200 ml Evaporated milk
• 1 tbsp Fish sauce
• ½ tsp Sugar
• ¼ tsp White pepper
• 200 g Choy sum (Chinese flowering cabbage), cut into lengths
• 3 tbsp Crispy fried shallots

Method

1. Toss the fish with the salt, rice flour and cornflour. Heat the oil in a wok to 180°C (350°F) and fry the fish in batches for 3–4 min until golden and crisp. Drain on paper.
2. Pour off all but 1 tbsp of oil. Fry the ginger and garlic over medium heat for 1 minute, then add the tomatoes and fry for 2 min until they soften.
3. Pour in the stock and simmer for 10 min to bring out the ginger. Add the evaporated milk, fish sauce, sugar and pepper and bring back to a gentle simmer (do not boil hard).
4. Blanch the vermicelli in boiling water for 1 minute and divide between bowls. Cook the choy sum in the broth for 1–2 min.
5. Ladle the broth and greens over the noodles, top with the fried fish and fried shallots, and serve with cut chillies in soy sauce.

Tips

• Many stalls add a splash of brandy to the broth at the end; the evaporated milk is what makes it creamy and white.
• Contains fish and dairy.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

What To Cook Today Nomadette