New Year New You healthy eating. Valentine’s Day is in 12 days. Love is in the air. Forgot to get your loved one flowers, and chocolates never mind. Get in the mood for romance with Asian culinary of colourful main meal that will put sparkles in your loved one eyes.

From breakfast to dinner is all the celebration of love this Valentine’s Day. Keep it simple with budget in mind. If your loved one love to eat noodles. Then jump on board this is the best sure win your loved one over.

Remember the movie the lady and the tramp? The two dogs shared a plate of spaghetti, both slurping the same spaghetti. Why not make noodles. According to Chinese wiseman eating noodles have longevity life, well, let eat noodles so your love last forever and made in heaven.

This is a new flavoured noodle that I found in a Chinese grocery a bit further from my usual. The noodles is flavoured with spinach and looks green. So, I decided to stir fry it with minced pork and carrots, then add some more healthy vegetables that are on sale. Along with fish balls and pork balls, fungus and more spinach.

This meal is healthy, colourful, delicious and speak Love language on the bowl. You will be dining in the air. Perhaps, dancing to your lovely romance music. Let’s cook!!!!

Ingredients

Marinade pork

300 g minced pork
1 Tbs Shoa Xing, Chinese cooking wine
1 Tsp soy sauce
1 Tsp sesame oil
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 Tsp dark soy sauce
1 Tsp fish sauce (OPT)

Sauce and other ingredients

1 chicken drumsticks, for flavouring stock
250 g Spinach flavoured noodles
120 g dried thinly cut black fungus
8 Chinese cabbage leaves, washed and cut into strips
3  small carrots, thinly sliced
6 fish balls, thinly cut
6 pork balls, thinly cut
1 pkt baby spinach, wash, dry and cut into strips
2 Tsp garlic minced
3-4 slices ginger
1 c chicken stock
1 Tbs oyster Sauce
1 Tsp light soy sauce
1 Tsp thick caramel black sauce
2-3 Tbs black fungus liquid with 2 dashes of pepper to fry the vegetables
1 Tsp salt, extra
1 Tsp white pepper, extra
1/2 Tbs cornflour
1 1/2 Tbs water
1/2 Tsp sesame oil
oil for frying

Method

Soak dried thinly cut black fungus overnight and reserve the soaking liquid.

The next day add pork and marinade into a bowl and mix well, then cling wrap and refrigerate for later about 30 minutes. Bring drumstick, ginger, sauces, sesame oil, salt and pepper and stock up to a simmer, make sure chicken is cooked about 20-25 minutes. Check seasoning. Once stock and chicken done, removed chicken onto a plate to cool and keep for another dish.

Blanch spinach flavoured noodles in stock for about 3 minutes, turn off heat. Drain and set aside keep warm. Then add corn flour to 1 1/2 Tbs water in a bowl and mix well, making sure there are no lumps. Set aside.

Heat up 1 Tbs oil in the wok and fry garlic until golden brown. Next add the carrots and fry for a minute. Then add Chinese cabbage leaves, and black fungus; stir fry for another 1-2 minutes until slightly softened. Transfer to a plate.

Next add another 1 Tbs of oil into the wok over high heat, add pork with the marinade in until cooked and pour in about 2 ladles chicken stock. Once cooked, pour corn flour mixture into the chicken stock in the minced pork and simmer until the gravy thickens. Pour back carrots, Chinese cabbage leaves, black fungus and liquid and spinach flavoured noodles and stir well to warm up again. Next add spinach, fish and pork balls stir toss for about 4 minutes or until spinach turn soft and noodle are cooked. Serve with a glass of white wine.

Note: I prefer to refrigerate marinated pork until ready to be cooked to give pork a more crunchy texture as well as absorb the marinade. You can set it aside on bench top. You can soak black fungus in hot water for 20 minutes. You can use dried shiitake mushrooms and cut yourself into thin slices. When the remaining stock has cool down. Transfer to a container and keep in fridge or if you like in freezer. I keep in fridge about 3 days.

https://helenscchin.com/2021/02/02/stir-fry-spinach-noodles-with-minced-pork-carrots-and-vegetables/

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