Fried Kway Teow

POINT TO PONDER

On my table, there is a photo of all my children. They have all grown up. My girls are at the tertiary level. My twins are in the secondary school while the youngest is in standard five. But I still put their baby picture on my table.

            Personally, I did not feel that I was a good mother when they were young. I was very strict, got to admit that. Things must be done accordingly and I would go berserk if it went otherwise. (but that does not mean I love them less.) My voice...even thunderstorm cannot beat my ability to increase the volume. I remembered my neighbour's mocking me when I came over one day. (The mother was of course embarrassed. Still, I bet the mother did the same thing behind my back.)

           My first ten years of marriage was not an easy one. Not easy because of my expectation in life. I wanted to give my children a lot of things and, to be able to do that, I had to take a lot of part-time job. My priority was, of course, my full-time job but still I would give my whole body and soul for all my jobs - may it be part-time or full-time. Thus, time was rather limited. There was at one time, apart from my full-time job, I had three different part-time jobs.

           When I say 'time was limited', it was really limited. The first eight years, I was without a maid. I would send my children over to a neighbour's house. So, you could just imagine how busy I was once at home. I had to cook, clean the house, wash the clothes, fold the clothes etc etc etc. The house chores did not seize - even weekends. (My husband did give me a helping hand. He too was as busy as I was.)

           To make the matter worse, all my jobs required me to teach. Teaching means that you need to have lesson plans, prepare teaching materials, set test questions and marking assessment as well as exercises. (Looking back, I don't understand why I put myself in such a stressful life as life is short.)

          It is true that money was not a problem for me then. I could buy expensive clothes for my children and we could even go for holidays. The only thing that I could not buy was quality time spent with my children.

          Now, I only have one part-time job. Sometime, other places would call me but, if my children need me, I have no choice but to turn down the offer. Only now I realize that being with my children and husband is very important. I rarely spend long hours in the office even. Instead, I would plan my work so that I would not become so stressful. (Beside the fact that I have a maid to help me with the housework.)

          My maid will be leaving us next year. How will I cope after that?

INGREDIENT

1kg Kway Teow (soak in hot water for a few minutes)
4 medium-sized cuttlefish (cut them to bite-sized)
2 cups of prawn (peel off the outer layer leaving the tail)
1 fish cake (slice it not so thinly.)
3 cups of chicken (just the flesh)
6 cups of beansprouts (peel off the so-called tail. If you have a lot of beansprouts, it will taste better.)
3 toufu (cut them into small cubes and fry them.)
spring onion (for garnishing)
salt
1 cup of chilli
2 cloves of garlic (pound them)
white peper
soya sauce
oil

1. Heat the wok.
2. Pour the oil. The amount should not exceed the amount of the chilli.
3. Add in the chilli and garlic. Fry until the chilli curdles.
4. Add in the chicken. Let it cook a bit before putting in the prawn and fish cake. Lastly, put in the cuttlefish.
5. Add in the Kway Teow, beansprouts, fried toufu,  white pepper and soya sauce. (Make sure that it is not too black. So do not put a lot the first time. Add more if you need the colour. You have to JUST get rid of the red colour. That should mean you have enough of soya sauce.) Mix them well. The burner should be on low.
6. garnish with spring onion and omelette.

MY THOUGHTS

I love to have the Fried Kway Teow with pickled green chilli. It just tastes great.

Fried Kway Teow is my second son's favourite.