52
INGREDIENTS
1
/
2
cup raw peanuts (or
cashews)
1
/
4
cup pinto beans, soaked
overnight and drained (other
larger beans with skin like
navy beans or chickpeas work
well too)
1
/
4
cup red lentils or similar
small lentils
8 dried shiitake mushrooms,
soaked for at least 30 minutes
4–6 pieces black fungus
2 blocks firm tofu
300 g plain seitan
40 g Chinese pickled
mustard (optional but highly
recommended)
4–6 sheets dried tofu skin,
roughly 30g, soaked until soft
4 pieces tofu puffs (
tau pok
)
2 sprigs coriander, chopped
GRAVY (
CHAP
)
1 Tbsp oil
1 Tbsp black peppercorns
1 stick cinnamon
1
/
2
Tbsp five-spice powder
2.5 litres (10 cups) water,
or more as needed
5 cloves garlic, peeled and
crushed
40 g ginger, roughly a 7-cm
knob, peeled and sliced
1 Tbsp Chinese black vinegar
3 Tbsp dark soy sauce
6 Tbsp premium soy sauce, or
to taste
2 Tbsp sugar, or to taste
RICE NOODLES(
KWAY
)
2 servings of rice noodle
sheets or flat rice noodles
500–750 ml (2–3 cups) water,
or more as needed
kway chap
Serves 2
METHOD
1.
To make the gravy, heat oil in a stock pot over medium heat
and add peppercorns, cinnamon and five-spice powder. Fry
until fragrant, then add the water and bring to a boil.
2.
Add garlic, ginger, vinegar, soy sauces and sugar. Boil for
2 minutes.
3.
Add peanuts, beans, lentils, shiitake, black fungus, firm tofu,
seitan, pickled mustard and tofu skin, and simmer over low heat
for 1–1.5 hours until the liquid is reduced by almost half. Add tofu
puffs and cook for another 20–30 minutes. If the stock starts to
dry out, add 60 ml (
1
/
4
cup) water to prevent this. When it’s done,
turn off the heat, cover and set aside to rest for 30 minutes.
4.
Blanch rice noodles, drain and portion into bowls. If you are using
rice sheets, be sure to cut them first. Strain the stock and set
aside ingredients. Transfer about 1 litre (4 cups) stock (or more if
needed) into another pot. Add water and bring to a boil. Taste soup
and adjust seasoning with some soy sauce if preferred. Ladle over
noodles and garnish with chopped coriander if preferred.
5.
To serve, slice shiitake, firm tofu blocks, tofu puffs, tofu skin
and pickled mustard into bite-sized pieces. Arrange braised
ingredients on 2 plates. Place pickled mustard, cooked peanuts
and pinto beans on the side. Drizzle 60 ml (
1
/
4
cup) braising stock
or more over and serve.
6.
Leftover braised items can be refrigerated for up to 5 days
or frozen.
NOTES
•
If you don’t have access to ready-made rice roll sheets (
chee cheong fun
),
you can use any other type of rice noodles. The braised side dish goes
fantastic with plain rice too!
•
Lentils aren’t a traditional
kway chap
ingredient. Here, it will dissolve after
cooking, thickening and improving umami flavour in the soup.
•
Chinese vinegar also isn’t a traditional ingredient, but it helps tenderise
the proteins and add a bit more umami to the soup.
•
Don’t throw away excess braising stock because its packed with so much
flavour. Just add stock or water to it, as you would in making the soup for
kway chap
, then add noodles and other toppings for a quick meal. It can
even be used as a topping for rice, porridge or base sauce for dry noodles.
•
If you can find Chinese pickled mustard (
mei cai
), I highly recommend
adding it as it boosts the savouriness of the stock.
•
Allium-free options: the garlic can replaced with more chopped celery and
ginger, spices and pickled vegetables.
•
Gluten-free options: swap the soy sauce for tamari or liquid aminos, and
use rice or balsamic vinegar instead of Chinese vinegar.