Malaysian Chicken Noodle Soup with Asian Greens and Chili-Soy Sauce

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Malaysian Chicken Noodle Soup is called Ipoh Sar Hor Fun in Malaysia. “Ipoh” is the town that this dish originates from.

I’m a bad, bad blogger. One who eats crumbly chocolate chip cookies while editing photos on a very expensive laptop with nose 2 inches from screen, thinking out loud “is this shade of green more greener than that shade of green?” I never take the time to back up even now I’m a subscriber of multiple backup websites. And I read your very funny blog posts while drinking wine which sometimes results in a spontaneous spew of red, staining liquid that lands on my keyboard.

I’m a bad blogger because Chef Robert Danhi it took the time to chat with me on the phone a couple of weeks ago and I have yet to post the podcast. In fact, I don’t even know where the damn audio file is. It could be because of my upload-then-delete-on-harddrive-without-checking-upload habit that I accidentally slingshot (slingshotted? slingshoot? slungshot?) our recorded phone convo into a gazillion cyber-bytes, each zipping in separate directions.

I’m praying that Google will somehow come across the files, scoop it up and just stick it in his shirt pocket, at least just until I can figure a way to harness that “beam me up” technology to come claim my podcast.

-Jaden

p.s. I have some winners to announce! The winners of the Club Med vacation and the $50 Sur La Table Gift Card will be announced as soon as my jet lag decides it’s had enough (hopefully tomorrow)

But I still have one more giveaway going on – Dr. BBQ Cookbook Giveaway (ends June 21st 12pm EST)

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Southeast Asian Flavors Cookbook

This morning we returned from a week in California, and all I wanted to eat was Chef Danhi’s Malaysian Chicken Noodle Soup. Warm, rich broth with silky-juicy chicken. Slippery fresh rice noodles and snappy shrimp. So I thought I might as well post this recipe without the podcast, before I lose this recipe and the photos too.

While the recipe is from Robert’s new book Southeast Asian Flavors Cookbook, the photos above are mine when I had made his recipe two weeks prior. It’s a stellar recipe that I know you will absolutely enjoy. The James Beard Foundation nominated Southeast Asian Flavors among the finalists for a 2009 Book Award in the international category and it contains over 100 authentic recipes from Southeast Asia and over 700 color photographs that Robert Danhi took himself.

Southeast Asian Flavors Cookbook is a must-have in your Asian cookbook collection, because not only are the recipes authentic (Danhi has been traveling and studying Southeast Asian cooking for over 20 years) but the book also incudes anecdotes about the culture and history of Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore. Also make sure to visit Danhi’s website for this book – tons more photos.

This particular recipe for Malaysian Chicken Noodle Soup is virtually fool proof and one of the best recipes I’ve seen for an Asian noodle soup. The reason is because the chicken is slowly poached, resulting in meat that is tender and never overcooked. This is also the same technique that I use for Hainanese Chicken (recipe is in my upcoming cookbook)

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A few notes for Malaysian Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe

A few notes on the ingredients and techniques:

• This method of poaching involves bringing the pot to a boil and then turning off the heat (keep the lid on!) and let the chicken slowly, gently poach in the very hot water until cooked through. It’s almost impossible to overcook the chicken this way, and you’ll get a very silky texture. Once the chicken is cooked through, immediately plunge it in ice-water to stop the cooking process and firm up the skin. Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, you’ll use your hands to shred/pull the meat. Whether you keep or discard the skin is up to you (I personally love the skin.) You won’t be using the entire chicken for this Malaysian Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe – reserve the rest for another meal.
• Try to get a small chicken, if your chicken is larger than 3.5 pounds, you will have to increase your poaching time. If your chicken is over 4 pounds – once you’ve finished your 45 gentle poach, return the pot to a boil and immediately turn off the heat. Let the pot sit for another 5 minutes, then check for doneness.
• If you don’t have white peppercorns, just use whole black peppercorns
• I love using fresh rice noodles that you can find in the Asian markets (refrigerated section). If they are super-fresh they don’t need to be boiled…just soak them in warm water until softened. If they are still a bit hard, try soaking them in hot water for a few seconds. If you don’t have access to fresh rice noodles, then use dried, wide rice noodles and follow the instructions on the package for soaking/cooking times.

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