Somehow, I got my hands on this. Sibu Instant Kampua Noodles. So is it any good? Read on to find out.
C:\> Instant Local Delicacy Craze
It all started when MyKuali came out with the instant Penang White Curry Noodles. This thing sells like Apple selling iPhone. People all over the country went crazy hunting one of these noodle packets down. Soon, others like maggi, ibumie, uncle sun, kim curry etc started to follow.
But.... let's just say, none of these are actually very good.
C:\> Instant Local Delicacy with Different Approach
Lately when I returned to Kuching for the new year break, I saw supermarkets are flooded with Instant Kuching Kolo mee and instant Sibu Kampua mee. Following a not so good experience with the sub-standard recreation of the Penang curry mee, I at first didn't give much damn about the instant kampua noodles.
But maybe I've been away from this corner shop cafe (Hiek Lik Cafe. A freaking must stop place for a good bowl of Kampua noodles if you happened to stop by at Sarikei) for far too long. So I decided to take a shot.
The packaging for the instant kampua noodles is simple. No fancy colorful package. Just a see through package. Simplicity is one thing. But I think the main selling point of this is the noodles itself. One packet consist of one serving of dried kampua noodles, a packet of soy sauce and a packet of vegetable oil, lard and shallots.
Pictured is my 10 inch plate with the packet ingredients.
C:\> Time to Recreate the Glorious Kampua Mee
Cooking is very easy, just add hot water and boil for 3 minutes. Then drain the water off until dry and mix well with the seasoning. Sound familiar? Exact step on how you make maggi mee goreng.
C:\> The Verdict
Here's the outcome. A good plate of kampua noodles. The noodles itself is a spot on. As good as what you'll get around the streets of Sibu or Sarikei.
However, there's a few problem....
First, there's not enough umph in the seasoning. The lard did much of the fragrance out of the noodles. But, I grew up at the stronger taste part of town. But luckily, there's a quick fix by adding some extra chili and soy sauce. With the extra soy sauce, the kampua noodles have a much livelier color, and looks much more delicious. Like what foochow people always ordered - kampua-dou-yiu-lak.
C:\> There's More!
However, a plate of kampua will not be considered perfect without slices of char siew and minced pork. But I can't really find those ingredient in a short time so... time to compromise. Char siew and siew bak.. on top of this glorious noodles.
C:\> The Summary
The noodles itself is already a good recreation of the original kampua noodles. But that is all you need. The rest, is up to your creativity to decorate the noodles. For me, it's some extra chili and soy sauce plus a generous serving of char siew and siew bak.
C:\> What's Next?
A good plate of kampua noodles has get my engine going. So next time, I should experiment with other instant recreation of Sarawak authentic delicacies.
