What is wat tan? Well, it’s silky soft sauce that is great on just about everything from the smoke-filled pan of seafood or meat and vegetables with flat white noodles (hor fun). It is enticing to most Asian table. Most Asian would serve it with pickled green chilies dipped in soy sauce. The secret ingredient is corn flour and beaten egg to thicken the gravy and make it smooth and silky. When adding the eggs, you need to swirl it to have broken strands of egg.

Today, my wat tan is a twist to the one my grandma and mom had always made them. Without fried hor fun, I have added more stock to make it a soup and bought pork balls, fish balls, more egg, using Shin ram yun noodles and different vegetables than the usual wat tan hor fun style. I have omitted bean sprouts, and fish cakes.

I always like to create food that suits my palate, and it has got to be satisfying, comforting, and delicious. Let’s cook!!!

Ingredients

1 packet Shin ram yun noodles
hot boiling water

Drumsticks stock

12 drumsticks
4-6 c water, just enough to cover the drumsticks slightly above 1”
4 garlic cloves
6 c extra water, divided
3 Tsp chicken powder stock
1” ginger
salt
black peppercorns

Pork marinade

2 Tsp cornflour
1 1/2 Tsp light soy sauce
2 Tbs oyster sauce
1 Tsp ginger powder
1 Tsp sesame oil
1 Tsp chicken stock powder
4 Tbs water

Pork ingredients

250 g pork, cut to bite size
1 1/2” fresh ginger diced
1 shallot, minced
1 Tbs minced garlic
oil
salt
pepper

Wat tan soup

4 eggs, lightly beaten
6-8 cabbage leaves, cut to bite size
2 bunches bok choy, washed and cut into bite sized
2 stalks of spring onion, cut about 1 inch long
2 packets pork balls, cut into bite size
1 packet fish balls
2 Tsp garlic minced
2-4 Tbs oyster sauce
1 Tsp salt, extra (OPT)
1 Tsp white pepper, (OPT)
4-6 Tbs cornflour
4-6 Tbs water

Method

Do chicken stock one day in advance

In a pot, add drumsticks, 4 c water and bring it to a simmer on low heat about 35 minutes. As it simmers, skim the foam (impurities) off the top with a fine-mesh skimmer or a spoon. When it is done, strain stock through sieve into another pot (I usually line it with a muslin cloth).

Add remaining stock ingredients into pot with drumsticks. Simmer very gently for 1-2.5 hours. The longer the stock, the more flavour it will have, but the drumsticks will lose flavour. Remove the drumsticks from the pot once it has cooked.

Let it cool and remove meat from bones. Keep in an airtight container in fridge. Add in 3 extra c of water and 3 Tsp powder stock into stock. Bring it to boil to make soup and check seasoning. Switch off hob. When the stock had cool completely, spoon into sterilized jars with tight lids, label name and date make before you refrigerate them.

When you want the chicken pieces, use a clean dry spoon to scoop the amount you want. You can add the chicken pieces with anything. At least you have ready cook meat. Save you time. You can freeze them if you want to keep them for more than 4 weeks to 6 weeks.

The next day

Marinade pork and cook

In a large bowl mix the marinade for pork until well combined. Add pork, tossing it in the marinade to make sure all sides of the meat are covered. Let stand at room temperature for about 10-15 minutes.

Heat wok on medium high heat and add 1 Tbs oil. When the oil is hot, add one Tsp garlic and fry until fragrant. Then add shallot and ginger. Stir fry for 1-2 minutes, until it softens. Add the marinated pork and let brown briefly. Then add marinade and season with some salt and pepper, cook until pork is cooked about 8-10 minutes. Transfer pork back to the marinade bowl and set aside.

Cook wat tan soup

Bring the leftovers 4 c drumsticks stock to a boil. Add corn flour to 4 Tbs water in a bowl and mix well, making sure there are no lumps and set aside. Once drumsticks stock had boiled, and add garlic minced, cabbage leaves and buk choy; cook for about 5 minutes until soft.

Next, add fish balls and pork balls; stir to mix well for about 5-7 minutes. Now add oyster sauce, light soy sauce, and dark soy sauce. Stir to mix well. Pour 3 extra cups of water into the stock. Pour in the corn flour mixture and simmer until the soup thickens about 5 minutes.

Now add in cooked pork, spring onion, to warmed up for about 5 minutes. Finally, pour in the beaten egg, swirling it over the soup mixture for about 30 seconds until the egg is 3/4 cooked. Then remove from heat.

Put kettle on. Open the shin ram yun noodles, empty it into a bowl. Once boiled, pour it into the prepared bowl with noodles. Cook for 5-7 minutes until noodles are cooked. Drain. Now add in the condiments that comes with the noodles. Ladle enough of wat tan egg soup on the prepared bowl. Stir to mixed well the condiments. Serve immediately and with a glass of white wine. Enjoy!!!

Note: Once the soup had cooled completely. Place them in containers, label the container with the name of soup and date. Place in freezer for 2-4 weeks. In fridge 1 week. You can add carrots, fish cakes, bean shoots, baby corns, choy sum, chicken meat and beef meat.

https://helenscchin.com/2016/04/11/shin-ram-yun-noodles-wat-tan-eggy-soup/

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