How sua koo of me. I didn’t even know that there’s such a dish until my friend Mr Soo ordered it at a coffeeshop at Kovan last Friday night. I liked it so much that I decided to try cooking it myself.

I’m not sure if it works well with standard French beans, but the type used by the zer cha stall was the slender type shown above.

The dried shrimp tasted crispy, so I figured they must have dried it thoroughly before frying. I microwaved a packet of dried shrimp until it was bone dry, then put it in the food processor with a couple of chilli padi. In retrospect, I think I should have processed it before drying.

I heated up some oil, enough to wet the dried and ground shrimp, then added some curry leaves. French beans went in last and without the moisture, it was a bit difficult to cook. Not a single grain of salt was added here.

Nevertheless, I think it came out OK for me. The French beans I had at the coffeeshop at Kovan were a bit soft and limpy. Mine were still crunchy. The fried dried shrimp was crispy just like what I had at the coffeeshop, but you’ve have to eat it fresh. My maid like the dried shrimp so much that she saved it up for the next meal (even after all the French beans have been eaten). It was still fragrant, but not crispy anymore. Go ahead, try it.

© Chan Joon Yee

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