I am on a mission. I think I’ve been a really permissive parent and I’ve allowed my kids to grow up with very firm food preferences. I’ve spent many years navigating their food preferences, often cooking more than one dish just to accommodate their wishes. Kid#1 doesn’t eat seafood and kid#2 doesn’t like spicy food. Hubs doesn’t eat pork or eggplant and my dad doesn’t eat squid. Thankfully my mom is really easy although she does have some dairy intolerance.
Over the past 2 years I have been cooking quite a few spicy dishes, gradually grading the level of heat up and I’m pretty proud of the fact that I have sneakily increased kid#2’s ability to tolerate spice. In fact she is now a willing companion to places like Banana Leaf Apolo where hubs and I go for our once in a while curry fish head fixes. And she no longer blinks an eye at my spicy Mexican beef chili.
Kid#1’s seafood aversion is my next target. He grew up not eating fish mainly because he had multiple food allergies as a kid and fish happened to be one of them. He’s definitely outgrown the allergies but has retained an aversion to seafood. Or at least most seafood because he is actually able to eat fish if it comes as fish and chips and likes calamari, scallops and octopus. But you won’t see him eating shrimp or steamed fish. Or tuna. There was an occasion when he thought I hade made chicken puffs but I had actually made tuna puffs. His disgusted look was memorable. Over the years I’ve tried to accommodate him, cooking with beef and chicken as the main meats. Recently however I’ve been rediscovering how much I love fish and I’m becoming more reluctant to avoid it when cooking. This seafood recipe actually contains a decent amount of chicken so that kid#1 wouldn’t feel deprived. I would have loved to have squid in this recipe too but unfortunately my dad thinks he’s allergic to it, which is why the recipe only has prawns and mussels.
One of the key components of the noodle sauce is kecap manis or sweet soy sauce. I have another post on how to make a sugar-free version; I have a bottle handy in the fridge most of the time.
The family thoroughly approved this noodle dish. Kid #1 did enjoy it although he picked out the prawns and mussels and passed them over to dad and I to eat. At least it didn’t stop him from enjoying the meal as a whole.
Seafood Mee Goreng
Ingredients
- Braising sauce
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 2 tbsp sugar-free kecap manis
- 2 tbsp sugar-free ketchup
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 2 tsp sambal belachan
- 1/2 tsp fish sauce
- 1 packet of low carb pasta
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 cup chopped cabbage
- 1 cup bean sprouts
- 1 cup of chinese chives (koo chye), cut into 2 inch lengths
- 3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
- 150 g chicken breast, sliced thinly
- 150 g prawns, peeled
- 100 g mussels
- 1 packet of tofu puffs, cut into 1 cm wide strips
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground white pepper
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 cup peanut oil
- 1 sprig of spring onions, chopped into small pieces
Noodle ingredients
Garnish
Directions
- Mix the braising sauce ingredients and set aside.
- Marinate the chicken in 1 tsp soy sauce and 1/2 tsp ground pepper and leave in fridge for 10 minutes.
- Cook the low carb noodles according to directions and set aside.
- Heat up 1 cup of peanut oil in a wok over medium to high heat. Fry the tofu puff strips till crispy and drain on kitchen towels. Set aside.
- Pour away all but 2 tbsp of the peanut oil and heat the wok over medium beat. Add the garlic and stir fry till fragrant. Add the chicken meat and stir fry till half cooked. Add the prawns and stir fry till the prawns are just becoming cooked through and less translucent. Push the meat to one side of the wok then add the lightly beaten eggs. Scramble the eggs and when cooked, mix together with the meat.
- Add the cabbage and stir fry for a minute or 2 till lightly cooked. Add the beansprouts and chinese chives and lightly stir fry till barely wilted, then add the braising liquid and noodles and mix well. Add the mussles and stir fry for another minute till the mussels are cooked through.
- Put the fried noodles into a large casserole dish and top with the tofu puffs and chopped spring onions. Serve hot.
Still Feeling Peckish 