One of the most amazing trips I have ever been on was to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, when I was 24. My best friend and I travelled together—two girls without a lot of money and nary a sense of fear or awareness. I remember one night when we wanted to go to a hip district with all the nice bars, cafes and specialty shops. We took a taxi. ‘It says 15 minutes max with no traffic.’

We hopped into this taxi near our hostel (US$9 a night) and pointed to our destination on the map. The driver nodded and drove off. 40 minutes later and we were still in the car. It was pitch dark outside but whenever he drove by a street lamp (there was probably one isolated flickering lamp every five minutes), we could make out some paddy fields of sorts. ‘Ok, this was not what we signed up for,’ we both murmured. For the first time in a long time, we started to panic. We tried to ask the driver if he was going the wrong way, but it was pretty obvious English wasn’t his first language. Thinking back, he probably couldn’t even read our destination on the map!

He continued driving for another ten minutes before stopping in what seemed like a local wholesaler district and insisted we get out. The place was dingy and dark, with locals going about pushing barrels of fish, chicken, innards.. you know, rustic stuff. There was no way that this was the hip enclave we had intended to go. We tried desperately to get a taxi but in a place like this, everyone had their own transport. Thoughts raced through my mind: Could we even get back? What if we met bad people? And who the hell speaks English?

It took us close to an hour wandering the streets before spotting an empty cab which finally took us where we wanted to go. We lucked out—the first driver didn’t drive us to our destination but he was not a bad person. What if he had ill intent? I always relate this story to young people in my country who are just starting to travel—to remind them to never take safety for granted.

And when we finally settled for dinner at a beautiful café, I craved something comforting, homely and delicious. I immediately ordered Bo Kho (stewed beef with tomato and lemongrass), served with a crusty baguette (Vietnamese baguette is phenomenal!). The bestie and I gobbled it down in five minutes flat.

From then on, Bo Kho has always been that wee bit special to me. So when WORLDFOODS invited me to take part in their International Fusion Recipe Swap and sent me a selection of Asian sauces, I knew that I needed to cook something with their ‘Vietnamese Five Spice ‘Bo Kho’ Stir-Fry Sauce. I made a simple minced meat and carrot stew topping to go with my home made tomato noodles. The tomato-based sauce is fragrant with lemongrass, onions, gingers and chilli with heady notes of spices. I mixed everything together—the topping, garnish (coriander and chilli flakes) and noodles—and enjoyed slurping up every slippery strand. I made my noodles from scratch with tomato juice and flour using the Philips noodle maker. You can use any noodles or even pasta of your choice. I loved how easy it was to put this together. I hope you like it too!

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WORLDFOODS sauces are available worldwide, with a different selection available in each country. To find out the selection of sauces available in your country along with stockist details please visit: http://www.worldfoods.com.my/wf/where_to_buy/index.php

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With the Philips Avance Collection Noodle Maker, I made my own tomato noodles for this gorgeous stewed pork noodle soup.

I was excited to try my toy out! My 75-year-old aunt was even more excited than me. She kept eyeing it but was scared to spoil it, so she waited til today for me to demo while jotting down notes. So cute! Basically, her notes went like this:

Step 1: Pour in the plain flour (250g for 2-3 people). Close the cover.
Step 2: On the machine.
Step 3: Pour in the tomato juice (85ml).
Step 4: Get a plate ready.

Simple? If my aunt can do it, anyone can! The entire process didn’t take ten minutes as promised. It took LESS THAN ten minutes. Show you some pictures.

Easy or what? The noodle maker comes with four attachments to make Penne, Angel Hair Pasta/Mee Kia, Fettuccine/Ban Mian, and Spaghetti/Yellow Noodle. I used the Spaghetti/Yellow Noodle attachment for these tomato noodles. There is also no need to weigh flour and measure liquid as Philips also provides two containers- one for flour (just fill to the brim!) and one for liquid (fill to indicator).

What about the washing up, you ask? All need-to-wash parts are detachable and almost non-stick for easy washing. The tiny noodle holes of the attachment seem tricky to wash, but use the special cleaning tool for easy one-push cleaning. Basically, there is a separate ‘cover’ for each noodle attachment with needle-like protruding tips. So all you need to do is clasp the ‘cover’ to the round noodle attachment, give it a push, and most of the dough will come out. I used a toothpick to clean it even further. I also really like it that there is a ‘drawer’ to store all the noodle attachments and cleaning tools.

And now for the recipe! I was craving some noodles in hot soup as it is the ultimate comfort food.

The first dish that I thought of was Taiwanese Beef Noodles. As the husband doesn’t take beef, I substituted with pork collar. Pork shoulder/collar is the best part for slow cooking. The bits of fat melt to create a fork-tender texture that leaves you wanting more! The recipe might seem long but you don’t really need to do a lot. Most of the cooking time is effortless- just leave it on the stove top to cook.

How to resist this again? The hearty broth is so rich and flavourful that my aunt said we should set up a stall selling this. This kinda reminds me of soup kambing, but much lighter. I really like how the slippery tomato noodles went with this! You can also choose to have this with spaghetti, ban mian or even mee kia.

p/s- I bought ready-packed mixed spices for $0.50. This is what it looks like:

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