Seafood Gnocchi Goreng

I love mee goreng of any style, be it the dry and smokey Indian “mamak” version or the slightly moister yet full of “tze char” way of frying mee goreng which became popularly known as “Punggol Mee Goreng” here in Singapore. We cook it quite frequently at home too, pulling together elements which I like from the various versions I have tried before into a single plate. When I was given two packets of Casa Rinaldi’s gnocchi to create recipes with distinct “local taste” the first thing that came to my mind was “Seafood Gnocchi Goreng”!


Mee Goreng is a malay name to mean “fried noodles” but it is vastly cooked and enjoyed by Singaporeans (and Malaysians of course) from all walks of life. It is eaten throughout the whole day quite literally as breakfast or dinner and even supper. The breakfast version is usually simpler with noodles fried in sambal alongside simple ingredients, sold by Malay or Indian muslim gerai makanan or even the Chinese economic char beehoon stalls. The
“later in the day” versions get progressively richer in terms of the variety and quality of ingredients used which includes seafood as well, like the ever popular “Punggol Mee Goreng”…

So the choice of ingredients to be used in a plate of mee goreng can be quite versatile. To experiment with my gnocchi version, I’d chosen the standard ones like bombay onions, prawns, squid, firm beancurd aka taukwa, not forgetting the veggies. The magic of a good plate of mee goreng likes in the sambal used and every eatery or restaurant have their own “homemade” version. If it is too trouble to make your own, the ready sambal paste from supermarkets are also acceptable but do choose one which has dried shrimp added. And instead of the standard yellow noodles, I’d used gnocchi of course!

The process of frying the ingredients is fairly straightforward but one must constantly maintain the flame at high heat most of the time if you want the final dish to be nice and smokey. 2 servings can be fried each time at most. Mass produced and you get the “morning breakfast” version which ain’t bad eating at all, just not quite I have in mind of a good goreng dish.

Seafood Gnocchi Goreng (serves 2-3)

Ingredients
500g gnocchi (I’d used Casa Rinaldi’s)
6-8 large prawns, peeled and deveined
2 medium squid, rinsed and quill removed, cut into thick rings
2-3 eggs, cracked and lightly beaten
1/2 piece of taukwa, cut into 1 cm cubes
1 medium bombay onion, peeled and sliced
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
a handful of fresh beansprouts
a handful of green vegetables like xiao bai cai or chye sim
2 red chilies, deseeded and sliced
1 sprig of spring onion, cut into 3-4 cm long pieces
2 heap tbsp sambal chili, preferrably with dried shrimp
2-3 heap tbsp tomato sauce
A generous dash of ground white pepper
salt and sugar to taste
1/4 cup of stock
3-4 tbsp cooking oil

Method
Bring a pot of water to boil and add gnocchi. Cook until they just begin to float. Drain and set aside.
To a heated wok over medium high heat, add cooking oil and panfry the gnocchi until the surface turns crisp and lightly brown
Push the gnocchi to one side and add prawns and squid. Saute until just cooked and the surface of the prawns turn lightly brown. Dish up the seafood and set aside.
Add Bombay onions and saute until translucent. Add minced garlic and saute until fragrant.
Add taukwa and mix the onions and garlic with the gnocchi. Add sambal and tomato sauce. Turn up the flame to high and stir fry until the ingredients are uniformly coated.
Add eggs and lightly scramble them before mixing with the other ingredients. Add sliced red chilies, green vegetable and beansprouts and stir fry all the ingredients to mix well. Add a bit of stock from the edge of the wok if a wetter version is preferred.
Season with ground white pepper, salt and sugar.
Return sauteed prawns and squid to the wok and give everything a good stir.
Add spring onions, stir and plate up.
Serve with halved calamansi lime and a dollop of extra sambal on the side.

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