Red chicken mee sua

This dish is known as Ang Zhao, or Red Rice Wine, and is usually cooked with Mee Sua and chicken. Many of my friends and people of similar age have never eaten this dish before, and some may have never heard of it at all. To me, Ang Zhao Mee Sua is a special dish that my family eats during special occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, or any other special days on the calendar. It is eaten on birthdays because of the mee sua, which symbolizes long life by its length. To be honest, it really is one of my favourite dishes, and I would always ask my mother to cook it for me on my birthday every year. At this, she would ask me whether I was sure that I did not want to go out to a restaurant to celebrate my birthday, and I have always told her that would rather have Ang Zhao Mee Sua instead. It was my grandmother who taught my mother to make this special dish, and it was my great grandparents who brought this traditional recipe over from China. They came from Fu Chow, China, and they brought this recipe with them when they came to Singapore. The full recipe is a long and complicated one, which takes a few months to complete. The main ingredient of the Ang Zhao mee sua is the red rice wine and its residue. The rice wine is brewed in a large urn of about a metre tall, and is left in a dark room for about 3 months. My grandmother uses red yeast as well as rice and some other ingredients to make the wine. I have watched her make the wine only once, but it was a really interesting experience as she described the way the ingredients of the wine were prepared. She lined the entire dining table with a plastic wrap and poured the yeast and rice together to mix them well, before carefully putting them into the large urn to ferment for the next 3 months. The urn cannot be touched for the period of 3 months. The taste of the dish depends greatly on the amount of time that the wine is left to ferment. The longer the wine is left to ferment, the sweeter the taste of the soup; and if the wine is taken out from the urn too soon, the soup is slightly more sour. When the time is right for the wine to be taken out, my grandma would prepare many clear glass bottles to store the rice wine. The rice wine is red in colour and it should be relatively clear. Following the collection of wine from the urn, the residue from the fermentation of the wine is collected from the bottom of the urn, and stored in glass jars. When my grandma cooks the Ang Zhao Mee Sua, she will make chicken soup and pour the red rice wine into the soup for the flavor. The alcohol will boil off when the soup boils, leaving the flavor of the rice wine in the soup. She will then add in a few tablespoons of the residue into the soup to give it more flavor and its red colour. In the past, my great grandparents would eat this dish ever so often, and my grandparents would say that it is the reason why they lived to a ripe old age. My great grandmother lived till age 98. Scientific research has also shown that red yeast rice has anti-aging effects and has effects on longevity. If I eat a lot of this dish, I might just live up to as old as my great grandparents did! This dish has always been special to me and my family, and we would celebrate special occasions with this dish. For those who have never tried this dish before, do try it before the traditions die out! For me, I promised myself to learn how to cook this dish someday, so that I can pass it on to my children too when I grow up. Here’s to my great grandparents’ Ang Zhao Mee Sua recipe! Ruth Anne Keh, 17. Victoria Junior College Picture taken from: http://annieambriel.wordpress.com/2010/04/13/part-b-red-rice-wine-chicken-soup/ Credits: Ling, A. (2010). Part B – Red Rice Wine Chicken Soup. ANNIE LING - My Colours of Life.