Oldie but Goodie
During schooling days, I was taught to write essays based on certain descriptive words. Most of the time, these adjectives were location-based and usually referred to Port Dickson, a seaside town in the state of Negeri Sembilan. However, I have never been there until recently.
It's quite a quiet place. And picturesque too but since this is a food blog, on to the food. I have a colleague who raves about a certain stall selling mee sotong (cuttlefish noodles) at the Seremban (the state capital) market. It is the only hawker in Malaysia selling the dish, or so I was told.
Arriving there, I was told the stewed pork, to go with the noodles, was sold out. Just my luck but an ordered was still placed. No way am I missing this dish after all the hype.
My bowl of noodles arrived quite quickly for such a popular stall. A runny but starchy gravy enveloped the pan-fried bee-hoon. Accompanying the dish was blanched greens, slices of cuttlefish and a saucer of sambal.
I was told (again by said colleague) the gravy is made by stewing the cuttlefish to extract the flavour. Having ate it, I cannot disagree. The key to the dish is the gravy the shade of roasted peanuts. It coats every strand but still light enough to slurp and has a flavour reminiscent of a light but tasty seafood broth.
I took the first bite with an open mind. Not mind blowing but if you grew up eating this bowl then this is the taste of nostalgia. I cannot remember tasting anything like this although I can begin to understand why this dish is a local favourite.
Eating this gooey (in a good way) and humble noodle dish conjures up memories of grandma bustling about in the kitchen while grandpa reads the newspaper in the living room. A bite of this is a slice of time-before, a savour of what-was, and the relish of trying to recall a good memory.
All in all, it was quite a satisfying bowl of noodles. Paired it with a cup of hot tea and all is well. And this is not all, here's my thoughts on Fish Noodle Soup.
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