Mee Siam

Yesterday, I cooked  mee siam for the family. This time, it's the Malay version. Unlike Mee Siam Mamak,  this version is more commonly found in eating outlets here in Singapore. Just look for any Malay stalls that sell rice or noodles & they are likely to sell mee siam.

Mee siam is different from the regular fried bee hoon. While the latter is dry,  mee siam is served with sweet, sour & spicy gravy. For this recipe, the noodle is cooked using mainly onions for its flavour. So you definitely need to add the gravy when serving in order to relish the robust flavour of Mee Siam.

Mee Siam

For the fried mee:
300 g dry rice vermicelli
150g bean sprouts (tauge)
20-30 dried chilli (cut & soaked till soft)
2 medium onions
3 cloves garlic
salt to taste
2 tbsp cooking oil

Method:

1. Soak rice vermicelli in a big bowl of water until soft for about half an hour. Drain & set aside.
2. Blend chilli, onions & garlic to become paste. (Add water if needed.)
3. Heat oil & sauté blended ingredients until fragrant. Add salt.
4. Add vermicelli & fry until cooked.
5. Add bean sprouts & fry for a few more minutes. Remove from fire & set aside.

For the gravy:
300g  fresh prawns - shelled & set aside the heads
20-30 dry chilli - soaked until soft.
2 onions
5 cloves garlic
3 tbsp dried shrimp - soaked till soft
1 tsp belacan (shrimp paste)
3 tbsp taucu (fermented soya beans) - rinsed & mashed coarsely
2-4 pieces of asam gelugur (You may replace this with tamarind paste.)
4-5 cups of water
1/2 cup toasted peanuts - skinned & coursely ground
1/4 cup sugar
salt to taste
3 tbsp cooking oil

Method:

1. Combine prawn heads & some water in a pot & cook until boiling. Strain & set aside the water. Throw the heads away.
2. Combine chilli, onions, garlic, dried shrimp & belacan & blend to became paste. Add water if necessary.
3. Heat oil in a pot. Sauté blended ingredients until fragrant.  Add in taucu & continue frying.
4. Add in water (including the prawn head stock), prawns, asam gelugur, peanuts, sugar & salt until the gravy is boiling. Reduce heat & leave gravy to simmer. Add more salt, sugar &/or asam gelugur, if necessary.

For garnishing:
hard-boiled eggs
chives (kucai) - chopped
small limes - cut
fried tofu (bean curd) - cut into small pieces

To serve:

1. Place fried mee in a bowl.
2. Pour gravy onto the mee.
3. Garnish & serve.

Notes: You may adjust the amount of any of the ingredients to your liking, especially the chilli, salt, sugar & asam gelugur. The amount of water used also depends on how thick you want the gravy to be.

Adapted from Junaidah Jaafar's recipe from Resepi Pesta Perut.

I'm linking this post to Asian Food Fest #11 Sept 2014 : Singapore, hosted by Grace Phua of Life Can Be Simple.
I'm also linking this post to Cook-Your-Books event no. 16 hosted by Kitchen Flavours.