chap chye

When not sure what to eat and don't feel like cooking, chap fan is one of the best thing to get. Back in M'sia lah. Here a bit sien. No matter where you go, it is the same choices - burgers, wraps, pizza, subs - all got some kind of flour - Chinese, Mexican, Korean, Japenese - a bit high on the price scale and they usually serve enough to feed half of a family in M'sia.

Chap fan is also known as the economy rice in M'sia. It is suppose to be a pretty cheap dish but it seems to be getting more expensive, at least in KL. They usually have about 20 different type of dishes laid out - from vegetables to different kinds of meat to seafood. They will give you a plate of rice and then you can pick any combination of the dishes. Chap fan is very convenient because when you're hungry, you can ask for more rice, when you're not so hungry, you can ask for less rice. It is also one of our family favorite choice because all of us get to eat our favorite dish instead of all of us eat the same thing. Ping used to eat chap fan for lunch everyday during high school because it is also faster and mummy only get one hour lunch break. The best one in Penang is the corner one at one of Green Lane's kopitiam. Didn't go there the last trip home as there's also chap fan near our house at Sungai Emas but Ping still prefer the one at Green Lane - more choices.

Last week, Ping wanted to char tang hoon (glass noodle, 冬粉) - like the regular ones that you can get from a char kuew teow stall. But then Ping started to think about chap fan and one of Ping's favorite dish from chap fan is the chap chye - tang hoon stir fry with or bok nee (black fungus, 黑木耳) and tau kee (beancurd strips). So Ping made a trip to Oriental Mart and get some stuff to make chap chye!

Ingredients:
tang hoon (soaked in hot water for a few hours)
or bok nee (soaked in water overnight)
hiow kor, black mushroom, 香菇 (soaked in water for a few hours)
kim chiam, lily bud, 金針 (soaked in water for 10-20 mins)
tau kee (soaked in water overnight)

or tau eu, black soy sauce
dissolved chicken stock

First stir-fry the tang hoon (mummy, the tang hoon didn't liam lah, instead was easily chooi, maybe chim chui siow ku) with the dissolved chicken stock. Add the tau kee and allow it to simmer until soft. Then add in the rest of the ingredient and stir-fry.
Easy leh. Actually, Ping didn't like the kim chiam at all but without it, seems like something is missing so Ping add it in but always pick it out. It would taste even better if there is teak gah kee (no idea what it is called in English or what exactly it is so Ping haven't found that here) - another one on the list for stuff to bring back. Keke..