Cooking Exploration ::: Longevity Noodles 长寿面 (Chang Shou Mian) - Minced Pork with HK Style Noodles

Some traditions should be kept, some probably can be ignored. I choose to keep this as I see there is a meaningful purpose to have this still running in the family line. Many families have given up this tradition and followed the western style just blow a candle, have a cake, and sing a birthday song. Some still keep to have 2 hard boiled eggs will do. I love to start every lucky love ones birthday with 2 hard Boiled Eggs and Noodles.



Why suddenly I am blogging about this? It's because it's deary birthday today!
Happy Birthday to deary!!!

I woke up extremely early this morning to fix these cupcakes up! **smiles**
Are they pretty enough to be marketed and sold?


Let's get back to topic!

My grandparents and my parents used to tell me that birthday boy/girl must have noodles as a blessing to have Long Life, Good Luck, Prosperity, Happiness and Abundance. I know it sound superstitious, but it's a good wishes so why not let's follow? Also, it reminds me of my ancestors teaching. Even in Chinese restaurants they serve this noodles too! Probably different restaurants serve different types depending on their chef style. This is one of mine style. The one i cooked for dear when we was in Mauritius, too bad there is no pictures of it if not i would have shared the recipe here.

Click here to read about some hidden meaning of food to Chinese cultures. That I do find it interesting!

First, you need to prepare this early to flavor the minced pork.

200g of Minced Pork

Minced Pork Marinate:
1 teaspoon of Sugar
1 teaspoon of Cornflour
1 teaspoon of Sesame Oil
Dash of White Pepper

Mixed well and let it sit to marinate for at least 30minutes!

1 tablespoon of Cooking Oil
2 diced Shallots
3 cloves of Garlic
2 tablespoons of Xiao Xing Chinese Wine
Dash of Soy Sauce

Heat the pan along with the cooking oil and put in the Shallots and stir fry till it's semi-transparent, immediately add in the Garlic and continue to saute till the garlic is slightly browned. Place the Marinated Minced Pork in and use the spatula to chunk it up. Add in the Xiao Xing Chinese Wine and Soy Sauce, and continue to saute till the pork are all cooked. Dish in a small plate and set aside for later use.

Using back the same pan. Heat up the Noodles Mixture.

Noodle Mixture:
1.5 tablespoons of Shallot Oil
1 tablespoon of Pork Lard
1.5 tablespoons of Light Soy Sauce
1.5 tablespoons of Oyster Sauce

When done pour it in the bowl. The reason i would like to separately measure this later is to ensure that the noodles are not overly seasoned.

Leave the empty pot there to toss the noodles later, so there will be less things to wash at the end of the day.

3 rolls of HK Style Fresh Egg Noodles

Fill a pot small enough to stand your sift (so you won't need to hold it) with water 3/4 full. Keep a big tub of cold water beside this pot.

Take the water to a boil. Place the loosen noodles in the sift and let it cook till the noodles seems averagely cook. Remember you have to use your chopsticks to on off loosen up the noodles so it will cook evenly. When 1min is done, remove the sift from the boiling water and shake it off. Dunk it in the cold or room temperature water and loosen it to cool all down, then again! put it back in the boiling water for a while more to warm the noodles up. Drain it and put in the other pan. Continue with the next bunch of loosen noodles till you're done.

I like to do it one by one for this step as I was taught from my previous restaurant "master chef" of wan tan mee, how to handle this correctly. He made me eat all my noodles and he tries it too. Guess how many bowls I need to make till he was satisfied with my handling of noodles? (answer will be right below of this post.)

Here are some pointers:
**different type of noodles takes different timing to cook.
**don't be afraid to test out and throw one away when it's over cook.
**learn how to see with your naked eyes when your noodles are ready. (this is hard)

2 tablespoons of chopped Spring Onion
3 sliced Cherry Tomatoes for refreshing bites

After all your noodles are in the pot, measure the Noodle Mixture by tablespoons. 2 tablespoons of it for 1 roll of noodles used. Toss it to mix well then add in the Minced Pork, Spring Onions, Cherry Tomatoes and toss again.

Then dish to serve!



You might notice there are 2 hard boiled eggs served along with the Longevity Noodles. This is another Chinese good wishes for the birthday boy/girl. However, I do not remember what meaning it actually brings. Please do tell me if you know.

Haha! Here is the answer you've been waiting for!
I only was able to succeed after making 10 bowls that I have to eat myself for my meals. =.=

There are still more tricks that i learn back there. Hope I will be able to share it here.

Click here for our blog page Cooking Classes for more recipes. Hope you will be inspired~