Ngo Hiang

This is mom's recipe, a favourite of mine and I believe a favourite "snack" amongst Singaporeans as well. Mom is so good in rolling this meatrolls, it makes mine look under-nourished and insecure! Even hers taste different eventhough we put in exactly the same ingredients. I believe it has something to do with the pork. In Sweden, the pork is very different. It's lean, not an ounce of fat insight, and it has an odour, a porky body odour. In Malaysia and Singapore, pigs are castrated (neutering) for several reasons :
- to increase growth rate
- to improve the quality of meat - meat from entire male animals often has a very strong, unpleasant smell and taste
- to reduce dangerous behavioural traits - for example, entire bulls can be dangerous to handle compared to neutered bullocks.
- to prevent unwanted breeding - farmers only want to breed from the best genetic stock.

And exactly for the reasons above especially point 1 & 2, that pork in Asia are fatter and has no unpleasant odour. In Europe (and even Australia), you would have the animal-rights group protesting and demonstrating outside your farm it is deem cruel to animals, thus no castration is being done here. And thus my less than tasty ngo hiang.


Ingredients
800gm mince pork
200gm minced prawns (raw)
half a carrot, chop finely
a few sprigs of coriander, chop finely
3 shitake mushroom (soak in water till soft), chop finely
4-5 pcs water chestnuts, chop finely
1 shallot, chopped and fried
white pepper
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp dark soya sauce
1-2 tsp five spice powder
1 egg

Beancurd skin to roll.

Deepfrying oil.



Method
Mix all the ingredients above evenly (except the beancurd skin). Use a clean, damp cloth and wipe the beancurd skin thorougly. This takes away the saltiness of the skin. Cut the beancurd skin into big A4 size sheets. Put a substantial amount of meat onto the sheet, arrange it in a way so the meat is nearer to your side of the beancurd sheet. leave some space on both sides so you could roll it later.

First, fold the sides on your left & right, then fold the sheet nearest to you. Roll it like how you would roll a popiah/springroll/fajitas (or whatever that mexican dish is called). Then seal the end of the beancurd sheet with beaten egg.

Put all the ngo hiang rolls in a plate and steam it for 10 minutes. Let it cool. When you are ready to eat it, take one roll, cut it generously and thickly across and coat it with corn flour. Then deepfry them until golden brown.

Altenatively, you can also coat the whole roll of ngo hiang in corn flour and deep fry it, and then cut it into bite-size pieces after that.

You can also deep freeze the rest of the rolls after you have steamed them. Thaw them when you want to eat them and then deep fry them.