Homi Kitchen - Wanton Mee

1. If you do not have pickled green chillies, you can pickle fresh green chillies the day before by leaving 100g of sliced, boiled green chillies in a mixture of 1 cup of Chinese rice wine vinegar or white wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon of salt and 0.5 teaspoon of sugar. Stored well, the pickled chillies can last for at least 2 weeks.
2. Begin by soaking 8 large dried shiitake mushrooms in a small bowl with 3 cups of boiled water - we will come back to this later.
3. Slice the pork belly thinly (roughly the thickness of a £1 coin). Massage 3 tbsp of dark soy sauce and 2 tbsp of runny honey into the pork belly slices in a bowl, then set aside - we will come back to this later.
4. Mince the 6 garlic cloves and fry on a medium-low heat with 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil, stirring occasionally, until it turns golden (this will take approximately 1 minute) - then immediately turn off the heat and set aside.
5. By now, the dried shiitake mushrooms should have softened. Remove the mushrooms from the bowl and squeeze out any excess water but do not throw away the warm water which was used to soak the mushrooms. Slice the shiitake mushrooms and return to the bowl of water.
6. Prepare the mushroom sauce by putting the mushrooms and the mushroom water on a high heat for 5 minutes in a small pot, then lowering and adding 2 tablespoon of oyster sauce, 2 teaspoons of light soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of chicken bouillon powder (optional), salt and ground white pepper to taste. Prepare a cornstarch mixture by mixing 1 teaspoon of cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of water. Once you are happy with the flavour of the mushroom sauce, add the cornstarch mixture gradually, stirring constantly, until the sauce thickens to your desired texture. Do not add the cornstarch directly without first mixing it in water, as it will clump up! Remove from the heat and set aside.
7. Blanch the vegetables before setting aside. If your chosen vegetables have a thick stems like the Chinese broccoli (gailan) we favour, cut these off and cook these first before adding the leafy parts, to avoid overcooking the leafy parts of the vegetables.
8. Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil, then boil as many frozen wantons as desired, according to the instructions on the packet.
9. Before the final steps of boiling the noodles and grilling the pork belly, prepare the sauces for each serving of noodles. In each serving plate or bowl, mix together 1 tablespoon of kecap manis, 1 teaspoon of sesame oil, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, 2 teaspoons of garlic oil and salt to taste.
10. Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil, then add the egg noodles and cook according to the instructions on the packet. If you do not have a large enough pot to accommodate the egg noodles, cook them in halves instead, as overfilling the pot may result in the noodles becoming clumpy and unevenly cooked. While the noodles are cooking, add 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil to a frying pan on medium-high heat, then once the oil is hot, add the pork belly slices. Initially, do not stir the pork belly slices in the pan. This is so that the marinade will caramelise - after approximately 2-3 minutes, stir to ensure that the pork belly slices are entirely cooked through and remove from heat (this should take a total of 5 minutes). As soon as the noodles are cooked, drain the noodles using a large sieve and rinse briefly under cold water to stop the cooking process.
11. Finally, bring all elements of the dish together! Portion the cooked egg noodles onto each serving plate or bowl. Add the sliced mushrooms, cooked wantons, pork belly and vegetables. If desired, pour a small amount (approximately 0.5 teaspoons) of any remaining garlic oil over the noodles for presentation. Serve with pickled green chillies and our Giga Chilli Sauce!

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