Easy Pan Mee with different way of eating

Pan Mee is the hawker food that I eat very often growing up in Kuala Lumpur. It is basically egg noodles with mushroom minced meat and fried anchovies. It reminded me of a very famous Pan Mee stall near The Store in Jalan Ipoh.

I had my primary, and secondary education along this street, so I've pretty much tried every stall along this road. I'm not sure if it is still around but this used to be the stall where me and my mum will get our lunch fixed. I always go for the soup based Pan Mee and love their crazily spicy lime chili dip. My mum will get their 'Lor Pan Mee' or the dried version.

While I was in my secondary school, Chili Pan Mee become a hit in KL. The original stall was along the same street as well but the chili pan mee gives you a totally different taste and experience compare to the soup based.

I was craving for some Pan Mee the other day. However, the minced pork you get from the groceries here comes in standard weight i.e. 400g. Initially my plan was to use half for Pan Mee and the rest for meat balls. I ended up feeling lazy and cook everything because you can eat Pan Mee in many different ways.

So here's the recipe for different vrsion of Pan Mee that lasted me for 4 meals. LOL

First Version- Dried Pan Mee

Ingredients:
Dried Shitake Mushroom x5
Minced meat x 400g
Shallots x 1
Garlic x 4 cloves
Spinach x 1 cup
Sauce: Dark Soya Sauce, Soya Sauce, Oyster Sauce, Sugar, Salt, Corn Starch
Egg noodles x 1
Sesame oil
Fried Anchovies (Fried-less tips here)

Directions:
1) Soak Shitake Mushroom in warm water and cut them into small pieces.
2) Keep the water that you use to soak the mushroom. Stir in all the sauces together with mushroom water.
3) Minced shallots and Garlic
4) Pan fried shallots and garlic with some oil, until it is fragrance
5) Add in minced meat and pepper. Cook until the meat turn white (Add in some Chinese cooking wine if you have it, they are not available in Oslo)
6) Add cut mushroom and stir for awhile
7) Stir in all the sauce and water
8) Cover and cook it for 10mins or until the sauce become thicker or lesser
9) Lightly cook one cup of spinach in boiling water
10) Boil your egg noodles until it is soft (drain under cold water when it is half done to get better texture)
11) Place your cooked noodles in the serving bowl/plate with sesame oil and dark soya sauce,  If your minced meat is very salty you may just add sesame oil.
12) Place 2 big spoon of minced meat, spinach, and anchovies on top of your noodles.
13) Garnish with some Spring onions

Cook notes: I don't usually measure my sauce as that is very personal. Some like it more salty, some like it sweeter, and some like it less salt. You may adjust it according to your own taste. This is what I usually do when I read a recipe. You can adjust the color of your minced meat by adjusting your dark soya sauce amount as well.

Second Version- Chili Pan Mee

The second way of eating it is to add Chili oil to it. Basically this is to give the noodle a spicy kick with the fragrance from the Chili oil. This Chili oil I made is different from those Chili oil you use for Chili Pan Mee. I love the smell of Sze Chuan Pepper, so I would say my version is a fusion of Chinese cooking with Malaysian style. Click here for the Chili Oil recipe.

Directions:
1) Cook another Egg noodles in boiling water
2) Lightly boil some spinach
3) Mixed the noodles with  reheat leftover minced meat, anchovies, spinach and Chili Oil.

Third Version: Soup based Pan Mee

At this point of time i'm starting to get tired of the egg noodles, since I have some Soba Noodles at home, I just replace the egg noodles with Soba. So it turn into a delicious Soba. :)

Ingredients for the soup:
Anchovies 1/2 cup
Small Carrot
Water x 3 bowls
No Seasoning require

1) Wash and clean the anchovies, carrot cut into small cubes.
2) Boil water with anchovies and carrot for 30mins.
3) In a bowl, place your cooked noodles with minced meat and spinach.
4) Pour in anchovies soup and serve fried anchovies separately.

Enjoy!