[Recipe] Dry Mee Siam

My mum makes the best nonya style mee siam. It's true! Those who have tried it would vouch for it. She learnt to cook it from my mama (how I called my paternal grandmother), who is a true blue peranakan. Very naturally, it's also one of my favourite childhood dishes - because I really really like my bee hoon (vermicelli). And I am very happy that I have kept this recipe in my notes section of my phone all these years. Yes, I jotted down the recipe while I was out with her for lunch one day. Though it's only this year that I experimented cooking dry mee siam instead of the original mee siam with gravy.

Just like my mum, many things that I cook usually have no particular measurement of ingredients as we learn to adjust the flavors etc. to our taste while cooking. But after cooking this dish twice already, and getting the consistency right with correct proportioning, I am ready to share the recipe which a few have asked about. One other thing to note is that I am making this fast and easy with the rempah (blended spices) using pre-made ingredients so no blending or grinding is necessary here.

Preparation time : 20-35 minutes  Cooking time : 10 minutes  Serving portion : 4

Ingredients to prepare :
- 1/2 a packet of bee hoon, cooked
- 12 pcs of medium sized prawn, boiled with shell on. Set prawn stock aside. De-shell the prawns.
- 10 stalks of chives, sliced to finger length
- 1 rice bowl of bean sprouts, optional (I didn't use it in mine as I foresaw there will be leftover mee siam for breakfast, and you can't keep it overnight with bean sprouts as it will spoil)
- 4 pcs of puffed fried bean curds, sliced (or you can use firm beancurd, a.k.a.tau kua)
- 2 eggs, for omelette
- 4 calamansi lime

For the sauce :
- 3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
- 1 bowl of prawn stock
-1 tbsp fermented soya bean paste (tau cheo)
- 1/2 tsp fermented prawn paste or belachan (ready made from bottle)
- 1 tbsp dried chilli paste (ready made from bottle)
- 1bowl of tamarind juice (or assam juice, derived from about 1 tbsp of tamarind paste)
- 1 tbsp coconut cream
- 1 tbsp brown or white sugar
- 1 tbsp cooking oil

Cooking steps :
-  fry up the omelette first and set aside. You can sliced it into strips when it's cooled down.
- using the same wok/pan, heat up the cooking oil.
- stir fry the garlic, taucheo, chilli and belachan paste together for a few minutes till fragrant.
- add the tau pok and chives and continue to stir fry for 2 minutes.
- add in the prawn stock, tamarind juice, coconut cream, sugar and let it simmer for 5 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and mix in the bee hoon. Mix well so that all the sauce is fully absorbed into the bee hoon.

 

Your dry mee siam is now ready to be garnished with prawns and egg strips. Don't forget to squeeze the calamansi lime on your mee siam before serving! 

Enjoy!

Till the next post, have a wonderful day!