Yikes!

What an incoherent post from me the other day. Haha! Serves me right for blogging when the 3 monsters are around! I just can’t quite concentrate, with all the incessant complains and whining and screaming and shouting… Aiyoh!

Anywayyyy, fried hokkien mee.

Bet some of you expected the super black fat noodle with copious amount of deep fried pork lard eh? But not in Singapore! In Singapore, when you mention Fried Hokkien Mee, this is it. It is also known as Fried Prawn Noodle sometimes.

“It may be called Hokkien Mee, but you will not find it in Fujian, China. Its old-time name was Rochore Mee, so called because it was created in the 1930s by a Hokkien ex-seaman who had his stall on Rochore Road. This is a late-night dish, sold by stalls that operate only after dinner time” — Singapore Heritage Food.

Fried Hokkien Mee

(serves 4)

Ingredients
15 medium prawns, head and shell removed
2 squids, cleaned and cut into rings
1 huge fishcake, sliced
1 tbsp chopped garlic
150-200g fresh yellow noodle
152-200g fresh thick beehoon
2 eggs, beaten
100-150g bean sprouts
fish sauce, to taste
a few dashes of pepper
a handful of Chinese chives, or spring onion, cut into short lengths

Prawn stock
2 rice bowls of prawn heads, approx 3.5 cups
4-5 rice bowls of water, approx 6 1/2 cups water

Boil for 20 minutes using low heat. Switch off fire and rest for 5 minutes. Drain the stock out into a big bowl.

Method
1. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a large wok — i love using my well-seasoned cast iron wok, the traditional type, for wok hei.
2. Saute garlic till fragrant. Add fishcake and stir fry for a little while before palming off the squid rings and prawns in. When the prawns turn a little pink, ladle half the prawn stock in and let it simmer for a 30 seconds using low heat.
3. Shake in pepper and fish sauce.
4. Mix in both noodles. Ladle in the rest of the stock or to just enough (go with your gut feel). Simmer for a minute or 2 (depending on how soft u like your noodle to be) on medium heat.
5. Pour in the beaten eggs, scramble them and toss well before stirring in bean sprouts and chives.
6. Toss to combine.
7. Serve HOT.

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If there is one hawker food i would miss should i leave Singapore one day, it will be this, Fried Hokkien Mee. I love fried hokkien mee to bits!

This local hawker fare is a MUST EAT for all tourists if you ever come to Singapore. You can find this noodle everywhere, almost at all the hawker centre and food courts. But of course, the exceptionally good ones are just a few though.

For my version here, i have omitted pork completely because of my Indonesian helper who can’t take pork. But to be honest, it tastes almost as good as my favourite stall, pork or not. Darcy had no qualms wolfing down a huge plate on his own for dinner — he shuns heavy dinner, so that says a fair bit. ;)

PS : pardon my not so wet noodle. it was my first attempt. however, the recipe is a revised version.