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How to make Ke Jia Mian the old-fashioned way, in a recipe one home cook has been perfecting over some 50 years

From the kitchen of: Mrs Lam (nee Lim Tai Moi), age 88.



Read her story here.



This recipe feeds 15 people.



Prefer to watch the video? Click here



You will need:



Noodle/Pasta maker. Mrs Lam uses the Italian Ampia Tipo Lusso 150.





For the noodles (makes 12 clusters):



1 kg of wheat flour



1 tsp potassium carbonate



450ml water



For the minced meat:



1 cup cooking oil



500g minced pork



10 cloves of garlic, finely chopped (or to taste)



3 - 4 tbsp fish sauce (or to taste)



3 tbsp Dark Soya sauce



Garnish:



500g Bean sprouts, cooked

Spring onions, chopped



Fried garlic + garlic oil

Mrs Lam has been using this pasta maker for decades.

MAKE THE NOODLES



1. Place the flour in a big mixing bowl.



Dissolve the potassium carbonate in the water to form the lye water mixture.



“If you use too much it’ll become bitter. But if you don’t use it at all, the noodles won’t be nice. It becomes mee sua.”



2. Add the lye water to the flour one bit at a time, using your fingertips to gather the wet clumps.



Knead into fist-sized balls.



“Too much water and it’s not good; not enough water and it’s not good. You just need to agak-agak (estimate). You’ll get it with experience.”

3. Flatten the dough balls with your palm. Make sure it’s thin enough to fit into mode “1” of the machine.



“Use the soft part of your hand, and don’t use too much force, or you will hurt the dough."

My grandmother puts a sheet of dough through the pasta machine.

4. Put the flattened dough ball through mode “1” of the machine, take it out and fold the sheet in half, coat with a thin layer of wheat flour if too sticky. Do this step 3 times.



“Remember, don’t use tapioca starch for this, It’ll become very starchy and sticky if you do that. You have to use wheat flour.”

5. Then put the sheet through mode “2” once. The sheet should get thinner and longer.



“Just do it as many times as you need to make it look pretty.”



6. Then put the sheet through slot 3 to make noodles.



Sprinkle some tapioca flour over the noodle clumps.



You can keep the noodles for up to one week in the fridge.



Swirls of noodles on the table.

MAKE THE MINCED PORK

1. Heat the oil up for three minutes.



Throw in the garlic and fry until golden brown.



“Not too hot or it’ll burn. Use more garlic for more flavour.”

2. Add the fish sauce and minced pork. Fry for about 5 minutes, or until oil has “disappeared”.



“Use a lot of oil. Otherwise, you won’t have any gravy for the noodles.”



The minced pork topping.

TO SERVE



In a pot of boiling water, cook the noodles for about a minute.



“Once the noodles start floating, take it out.”



On a plate, serve the noodles with a helping of minced meat.



Garnish with boiled bean sprouts and spring onions.



Flavour with fish sauce and garlic oil.



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