Bak Chor Mee, Dry Mee Pok with Minced Pork and Black Vinegar

What you need

• 50 g (2 oz) dried shiitake mushrooms
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 2 tsp light soy sauce, divided
• 1 tsp rock sugar, or white sugar
• 160 g (6 oz) minced pork
• white pepper, ground, a few pinches, to taste
• 1 tsp cornflour, cornstarch
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 l (4 cups) anchovy stock, ikan bilis stock, or light chicken stock
• 12 fish balls
• 4 tsp Chinese black vinegar, Chinkiang, plus more to taste
• 2 tsp fish sauce
• 4 tbsp sambal chili paste, sambal tumis or chili paste
• 4 tsp lard oil, or shallot oil
• 4 tsp crispy pork lard bits, optional
• 280 g (10 oz) fresh mee pok noodles, flat egg noodles, or thin mee kia
• 40 g (1/2 cup) bean sprouts
• 4 leaves lettuce, torn
• 2 spring onions, chopped

Method

Restated from the original video

1. 1

   Soak the mushrooms in hot water until soft, about 30 min. Squeeze them dry, keeping the soaking water, cut off the stems and slice the caps thinly.

2. 2

   Put the mushrooms in a small pot with 750 ml (3 cups) of the strained soaking water topped up with fresh water, the dark soy sauce, 1 tsp of the light soy sauce and the rock sugar. Simmer until tender and the liquid is dark and slightly reduced, about 30 min.

3. 3

   Meanwhile, mix the minced pork with the remaining light soy sauce, a few pinches of white pepper, the cornflour and the sesame oil. Chill for at least 10 min.

4. 4

   Bring the stock to a boil, add the fish balls and simmer until they float and are hot through, a few min. Keep the stock barely bubbling.

5. 5

   Bring a separate large pot of water to a rolling boil for the noodles.

6. 6

   In each of 4 serving bowls, stir together 1 tsp black vinegar, 1/2 tsp fish sauce, 1 tbsp sambal, 1 tsp lard oil, 1 tbsp of the mushroom braising liquid and 1 tbsp of the hot stock. Add the crispy lard if using.

7. 7

   Drop a quarter of the noodles and bean sprouts into the boiling water and cook until just tender, 30-45 seconds. Lift out, rinse briefly under the tap, shake dry and add to a bowl. Repeat for each bowl.

8. 8

   Add a quarter of the pork to the simmering stock, breaking it into small crumbs with chopsticks. Cook until no pink remains, 1-2 min, then lift it out with a slotted spoon onto the noodles. Repeat for each bowl.

9. 9

   Top each bowl with braised mushrooms, 3 fish balls, the lettuce and the spring onions.

10. 10

    Ladle the remaining hot stock into small bowls to serve alongside. Toss the noodles well with the sauce at the table and add more black vinegar to taste.

Imported from noobcook.com. Recipe Grab pulled out what you need to cook it; the video stays where its author put it.