#zi char

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It is takeout dinner for the three of us tonight starting with mum’s Singapore Fried Noodles (星洲米粉) from the tze char (煮炒) stall while my sis and I went for Economy Rice (经济菜饭). First box had cabbage & bean curd stir-fried, creamy pork chop and chicken with soya sauce reduction. The second box came with sweet & sour pork, same creamy pork chop and stewed eggplant.

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Har Cheong Gai (prawn paste chicken) 虾酱鸡

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It was raining that day so I had to wait until the deluge turned into a drizzle before venturing out to buy dinner. Mum went for the Mixed Fried Hor Fun (河粉) with seafood, sliced pork and fishcakes. Sis asked for Sweet & Sour Pork Rice with a fried egg while I took the Salted Egg Chicken Rice plus fried egg.

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One of mum’s favourite Singapore Fried Noodles (星洲米粉) dish is available in many countries around the world sharing the same name but differ in how it is cooked or the ingredients/condiments used.

I went for Economy Rice (经济菜饭) as I can choose the dishes I like. Here I picked stewed eggplant, sweet & savoury crispy ikan bilis & peanuts with fish nuggets in dark soya sauce reduction over white rice for sis. I chose egg tofu, stewed potato slices and a herbal chicken drumstick for my own.

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Bought a medium portion (S$8 + S$0.20 for container) of Silky Egg Hor Fun (滑蛋河粉) to be shared by mum and sis. The flat rice noodles comes with slices of pork, prawns 🦐, squids 🦑, fishcake slices and vegetable 🥬 in a starch thickened gravy. Me, I just settled for a box of Economy Rice (菜饭) with three dishes of egg tofu, stir-fried bitter gourd 🥒 with egg and kung pao chicken (宫保鸡丁) over white rice.

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Sis called to ask if we wanted dinner. Since mum not cooking, we let her decide on the dishes to buy. She came back with Hotplate Tofu (铁板豆腐) which is typically served on a sizzling hot cast iron plate if you were to dine in. The other dish was Herbal Chicken swimming in herbs infused broth that you can drink or drizzle over the rice.

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Specifically asked for the Mongolian Chicken because mum love it but the staff mistakenly keyed in Prawn Paste Chicken (虾酱鸡) for my order. Doesn’t matters it was the wrong order as we sink our teeth into this deliciously flavoured, crispy battered chicken. This medium serving size portion is priced at S$15 which is more than enough to share between the three of us.

The fluffy Fu Rong Omelette (芙蓉蛋) (S$8) is beaten eggs with a medley of ingredients like barbecue pork (Cha Siu), shrimps, spring onion (scallion) and onion. At least these are the typical ingredients used by local Tze Char (煮炒) stalls in Singapore.

Young tender leaves are used in this Sambal Sweet Potato Leaves (叁峇番薯叶) (S$8). If using the older leaves, you will need to peel off the tough membrane covering the stems. In US, the sweet potato leaf is marketed as Yam Leaf.

Paired the crispy and succulent har cheong gai, egg and the vegetable with home-cooked white rice. The spicy sweet potato leaves went so well with the rice as does the fluffy omelette for a satisfying Dinner.

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Tonight we are having takeout meal again, this time from the Zi Char (煮炒) stall near to my place. Mum actually wanted her Mongolian Chicken (蒙古鸡) but alas, the stall ran out of chicken drumettes. The staff recommended me the boneless Mongolian Pork Ribs (蒙古排骨) done in the same style as the chicken. Ordered a medium portion (S$18) since there are 3 of us.

The next two dishes are all vegetable items like the dry style stir-fried String Beans with Dried Shrimp (干煸虾米四季豆) which still retained the crunchiness of the beans but with added fragrant of the minced shrimps. This small portion is priced rather dearly at S$10 which is the case when ordering vegetable dishes at these stalls. It is actually more economical to order meat dishes than veggies. Strange but true.

Next dish is the spicy Sambal Kang Kong (马来风光) aka water spinach or water morning glory depending on your locale. A big bunch of this vegetable can be had for a couple of dollars at the wet markets but this cost me S$8. I have discussed this observation with my colleagues and we came to one conclusion. Since the price of meats/seafood in Singapore are already quite high, the sellers can’t price them much higher or risk alienating the average consumers. So they sells the lower priced items higher and make more profit to even out the earnings.

My stall bought Dinner with home cooked white rice. Love the creamy sweet flavours of the pork which are tender and juicy. The string beans were so yummy with basically just two ingredients if you don’t count the oil and condiments. Kang kong is tender with a spicy kick from the sambal. Overall, a good meal for the night.