Originally uploaded by zannnielim

Bak chor mee in short is BCM, so if you say BCM to some local Singaporean, they know what you mean. 'Bak chor' is delicious minced meat and the marinate use in this recipe is simply some soya sauce, ground garlic powder and some flour. This version of mee pok is served with minced meat, sliced mushrooms and shredded lettuce. Will need meat balls, beansprouts, bits of deep-fried lard to get closer to the traditional taste. The bits of deep-fried lard is the most magical ingredient. Will also place a few small pieces of fried crispy sole fish as garnishing if you can manage to get them in Europe.

Nabeyaki udon is a hot udon noodle cooked and served in an earthenware pot/iron pot. Udon is usually served hot as noodle soup in a mildly flavoured broth, in its simplest form as kake udon, served in kakejiru made of dashi, soy sauce (shōyu), and mirin. It is usually topped with thinly chopped scallions.

Other common toppings include tempura, often prawn or kakiage (a type of mixed tempura fritter), or abura age, a type of deep-fried tofu pockets seasoned with sugar, mirin, and soy sauce. A thin slice of kamaboko, a halfmoon-shaped fish cake, is often added. Shichimi can be added to taste.

The flavor of broth and topping varies. Usually, dark brown broth, made from dark soy sauce (koikuchi shōyu) is used in eastern Japan, and light brown broth, made from light soy sauce (usukuchi shōyu) is used in western Japan. This is even noticeable in packaged instant noodles, which are often sold in two different versions for east and west.