How to Copy Cat a Ngoh Hiang (Five-Spice Meat Roll)

One of the most frequently asked questions I found in my blog is "Do you feel homesick?" To be honest, both my wife and I sufferred bouts of homesickness during our decades abroad: "The smell of the durian and the lingering of the aftertaste on the tongue after you have eaten the whole durian ... that what we miss." There are two things and it's helpful to know about overcoming homesickness while you are living away from home. The first is that, once you get the hang of cooking a basic meal and with the help of Google, you properly able to duplicate most recipes and secondly, trying to mimic a traditional Singaporean dish with local available ingredients is just the kind of challenge home cooks love. Besides, you get heaps of praise from fellow homesick Singaporeans and gets high marks for coming close to the real thing.
Here is my copy cat version of my mother's Ngoh Hiang (Five-Spice Meat Rolls) recipe.







2 pcs beancurd skin
750g coarsely minced pork
2 large onions (finely chopped)
150g fresh water chestnut chopped (if unavailable use canned or frozen water chestnut)
1 smal carrot cut into fine shreds
3 cloves of garlic chopped
1 1/2 tbsp five-spice powder.
1/2 cup plain flour
3 tbsp sugar
2tsp salt
2 tbsp soya sauce
1/2 tsp pepper
2 eggs
500 ml oil

Cut the beancurd skin into 15x 20 cm rectangles. Mixed the minced pork, carrot, water chestnut onion and garlic in a large mixing bowl.Add salt, sugar, pepper and soya sauce. Sprinkle in the five-spice powder and stir in the flour and eggs. Spoon the mixture onto the beancurd skin and roll up tightly like a cigar. Twist the end of the beancurd. Deep fry the meat rolls over a medium heat until golden brown. Drain and leave to cool. Sliced diagonally and serve with sliced cucumber and sweet chilli sauce. For a halal version, use chicken or beef mince.