Before each 6-hours road trip to my grandparents’ house in Malacca, my parents would bring us to a popular wonton noodles stall in Penang to fill our tummies before hitting the road.
I know what you are thinking? Noodles for breakfast? That’s a pretty heavy breakfast!
Well not if you grew up in Asia.
My go-to order was a plate of kolo mee and a cup hot Teh O (which means black tea in Malaysia). As unconventional as it may sound, this combination has somewhat helped me through motion sickness during the hours long road trip.
I am sharing one of my favourite childhood dishes with you – kolo (or konlo) mee. It basically means dry toss noodles. The typical accompaniments for kolo mee are Chinese barbecue pork or boiled/deep fried wontons. Sometimes you get both wontons and poached chicken.
It is my lazy take on the dish which is poached chicken and blanched choy sum as accompaniments. To me, the real star of the dish is the fresh egg noodles. At the risk of sounding like a weirdo, I really love the floury and “eggy” scent of the noodles in its raw form. I love its chewy and bouncy texture when it is cooked properly (see my 1-minute video tips below on how to cook fresh egg noodles perfectly). Hence, I don’t really require any other fancy accompaniments to distract my taste buds.
Ingredients
- 500g chicken breasts fillets
- 2 inches thick ginger, peeled & sliced into 3 pieces
- 2 spring onions (1 knotted for the broth, 1 finely sliced for garnish)
- 2 litres of boiling hot water
- 3 cloves of garlic, peeled & finely chopped
- 1/8 cup cooking oil
- 2 tsps sesame oil
- Kecap manis - homemade version here
- Soy sauce
- Ground white pepper
- 500g fresh egg noodles - I used this one
- 1 bunch of Asian greens e.g. bok choy, Chinese broccoli or choy sum, blanched
- Fresh red chilli, thinly sliced
Instructions
- In a pot, add chicken breast fillets, ginger, 1 spring onion (knotted) and boiling hot water. Cook over medium flame until the chicken breast fillets are cooked through. Transfer the chicken breast onto a plate and shred the chicken with two forks. Set aside and keep warm. Season the clear chicken broth with salt and white pepper.
- In a pan, add 1/8 cup of cooking oil and garlic. Fry the garlic over low flame until it turns golden brown. Add sesame oil and set aside - no need to drain the oil from the garlic.
- In each serving bowl, add 1 Tbsp soy sauce (or to taste), 1 1/2 Tbsp kecap manis (or to taste), 1/2 Tbsp garlic oil, a dash of ground white pepper.
- Fill a large pot with boiling water. When the water is boiling, add noodles and cook according to packet instructions. When the noodles is cooked to your desired texture, divide them in the prepared bowls. Mix the noodles with sauce.
- Garnish the noodles with shredded poached chicken and thinly sliced spring onion. Serve with the clear broth (garnish with garlic oil and sliced spring onion). I also like to have the noodles with sliced fresh chili in soy sauce. Enjoy!
I have also made a 1-minute video on how to properly cook fresh egg noodles. A knowledge I have acquired from my waitressing days in a noodle shop when I was studying. Like many fresh noodles, there are techniques to avoid soggy noodles and I hope you’ll find the tips to be useful.
Ooohhhhhh thank you sooo much. Not only have you brought back my childhood memories but they will now be part of my children’s memories too.
This recipe is fantastic! I made it this evening after searching for wonton noodle recipes since I bought them without knowing how and where to use them. Thanks!