Char Hor Fun

To Penangites, char hor fun (炒河粉), has a special place in our life. In my aunts younger days, their boy friends' first visit to my grandma were wisely accompanied with a pack of char hor fun, not just any char hor fun, but the best in town. So what is so special about a plate of fried vermicelli mixed with fried rice flour flat noodle in thick broth? Shamefully, I don't know.

All I know is: a plate of perfectly fried until slight burnt fragrant 'encapsulated' noodles, topped with sliced roast pork (char siew), pork liver (some don't use it anymore), prawns, fish ball / fish cake, Chinese mustard green, in thick gravy (with or without egg), served with vinegar marinated chili in soy sauce...oh...I wish I'm sitting in the hawker food center with my plate of penang char hor fun right in front of me, piping hot.

Unfortunately, reality is cruel. I'm a thousand miles away and none of the Chinese restaurant in Copenhagen, I repeat NONE, serves char hor fun! Fortunately, recent efforts of browsing other food blogs yield positive result. I found a promising recipe on char hor fun: http://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-penang-char-hor-fun_29/

Chinese mustard green which cost Rm1.40 in M'sia costed RM10 for the same amount in Copenhagen (and some of the leaves are already turning yellow already after being kept in the supposed air tight plastic bag for air freight purpose); each fish ball cost slightly above RM1 (and they're only available frozen, RM25 for 20 fish balls) but these 'investments' are a must in my attempt to reproduce Penang Char Hor Fun.

Following the recipe with a little modification (I fried my noodles with some minced garlic) and here's the result:-

I won't say it taste as good as home, to be honest, I think it can be much better if I have the right hor fun (I replace it with Cantonese flat noodle due to lack of availability). However, it taste almost as good...plus some nostalgic & points to my effort, it was a warm hearty meal for me, thousands miles away from home :)