I’m so glad the A levels are over! It’s been a long year for kid#1 and nail biting for me to see his vacillations through the year. Kid#1 is not a typical Singaporean kid. He doesn’t study at long stretches in seems to spend an inordinate amount of time dancing and watching videos when he actually comes home. For 2 type A personality doctor and science-brained parents, it has not been easy to hold our tongues at his various outrageous requests e.g. “Can I take a gap year now to explore my art?”…(what? In the middle of your A level year???). His frontal lobe is definitely not myelinated yet as his decisions often give many heart-stopping moments to his fuddy duddy parents.
Anyway since kid#1 chose to do all humanities subjects for his A levels, there was no way hubs or I could contribute in any way in helping him study. So when it came to the actual exam period, when the kid asked for me to prepare breakfast for him, I readily agreed. Then it got a bit tricky because kid#1 wanted a hearty low carb breakfast so that the carbs would not make him feel sluggish. Cooking low carb is not an issue at all, but kid#1 does not eat eggs and that narrowed down the options. He didn’t want anything with cream in case it worsened his nervous diarrhea. He also is fussy in the sense that he likes variety and doesn’t want to eat the same thing 2 days in a row. So this took quite a bit of head scratching to come up with a variety of dishes to keep him happy.
From top left clockwise: sausage and bean stew, cheddar cheese waffles, fried shirataki noodles, yakiniku beef with cauliflower rice. Needless to say there were a lot more dishes than this e.g. Cauliflower fried rice and fried tempeh which I forgot to take pictures of!
So after about 3 weeks of 5 am mornings to get his breakfast ready, I’m so grateful his exams are over and I can go back to my usual routine of lolling in bed and playing Hay Day until I’m ready to get out of bed. The funniest thing is that after his exams kid#1 asked me (with a sad face) if that meant that I wasn’t cooking him a decent breakfast anymore. Needless to say I told him straight that he could fix his own breakfast since he would only wake up in time for brunch or lunch and I would be well out of the house before then! 😂
Anyway here is a quick breakfast noodle that is low carb. It is reminiscent of the kind of economical breakfast noodle you can find in many hawker centers that serve breakfast. But the noodle is garnished with lots of fried tofu and smoked duck which is filling and gives enough protein to last a hungry teenager through a grueling morning of brain activity. I’m happy to say that kid#1 never said that he got hungry or sleepy in any of his papers.
Clockwise from top left: fry tofu and then minced garlic; add the smoked duck and mushrooms; add the cabbage and finally add the shirataki noodles for a good fry up.
Low Carb Breakfast Noodle
Ingredients
- 2 packets of shirataki noodles, drained and dry fried
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 100g smoked duck breast, sliced thin (bacon can be used instead)
- 2 blocks of firm tofu, cut into small cubes
- 100g white mushrooms, quartered
- 4 leaves of cabbage, sliced thin
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 2 tsp dark soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1/2 tsp ground white pepper
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 – 2 tbsp chopped spring onions (optional)
Method
- Heat up the oil in a large saucepan or wok over medium heat.
- Pan fry the tofu, browning all sides.
- Add the garlic to the pan and stir fry to one side of the pan till fragrant.
- Add the smoked duck and mushrooms to the pan and stir fry till the mushrooms are slightly softened.
- Add the cabbage and continue to stir fry for another minute.
- Add the shirataki noodles, light and dark soy sauce, fish sauce, sesame oil and pepper to the noodles and mix well while frying.
- When well mixed, tale the noodles off the heat and serve on a large platter and top with spring onions.
Still Feeling Peckish 
Ohhhh how delicious this looks!
Yes and quick and fast!