Swallowing Clouds ~ The Essence of Won Tons

I have fond memories of a 60 something silvered hair couple (they are probably the first generation of Chinese migrants to Malaysia). They run a little food stand in a coffee shop selling noodles with won tons and Chinese barbecue pork across the street from my house.
You can either get the noodles and won tons in soup or have the noodles "dry" mix with some oil, soy sauce, sesame oil. They served this with pickled sliced green chillies in light soy sauce.


The noodles are freshly made wheat ones, each serving is rolled into a ball and lined neatly in the display glass cabinet. I remembered that he was very particular with cooking the noodles in a big pot of boiling water and he has another big stainless steel basin of cold water in which he immersed the cooked noodles to remove any excess starch. He will then immersed it back in the hot water to just warmed it up before tossing it with sauce or serving it with soup. Fresh water is consistently added to the big pot so that the noodles can be cooked in lots of water "the best way to cook any pasta".




I always stood in line fascinated by their almost ritualistic way of preparing their dish, I found it most entertaining, there was never a dull moment watching the meticulous way they prepare the dish. I get the feeling that they do enjoy cooking and selling noodles and really took great pride in what they do.


Through the years of patronizing their small noodle store and time spent waiting for my turn - I feel like I have captured the art of cooking "Won ton Noodles". I have eaten numerous plates of their noodles and come to understand and appreciate the essence of what a good Won Ton noodles and Won Ton is all about.


Little did I know that years later, all the watching I've done will help me in preparing good Won Ton noodles of my own. They have been one my first cooking teachers as I grew up around a whole world of foods at the GLUTTON SQUARE.

 Dry -Mixed Won Ton Noodles with Char Siew (BBQ Pork)

...hmmm just the way I remember it to be.

This photo is to give you a better idea of how the their food stand looks like.