The name Mee Siam means “Siamese Noodles“. Said to be of Thai origin, it is now probably more popular in southern Johor and Singapore. Cooked with rice vermicelli or bee hoon as what the locals prefer to call it, Mee Siam is great for parties as it is cheap (ingredients costs little) and tasty at the same time.

Mee Siam uses a few main ingredients which brings out its peculiar taste - tau cheo (preserved soya beans), chilli and dried prawns. The more elaborate Mee Siam calls for the pouring of tamarind gravy over the cooked Mee Siam whilst mine is a simpler version which uses freshly squeezed calamansi (limau nipis) juice. The combination of spicy, sweet and sour taste makes this Mee Siam dish appealing to many.

The key to cooking Mee Siam is using a stove which produces high heat and to use the thinner type of rice vermicelli. Why? You use high heat because you don’t want to cook the Mee Siam for too long. Otherwise, the rice vermicelli will break into tiny pieces. At the same time, you use the thinner type of rice vermicelli (I use the Erawan brand which shows an elephant logo) because it does not taste as nice when thicker or coarser rice vermicelli is used.

This is my recipe for Mee Siam (for 2 persons) Read the rest of this entry »

Sometimes I need a break from Asian food - I will cook Italian instead

What I like most about noodles is the versatility of this staple food. You can cook fry noodles, stew them or even cook them in soup. Recently, I had with me a couple of slices of pork loin and some french beans and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try out something new again. Hence, Pork Chop Noodles was created. In Melaka, there is this famous Taiwanese Pork Chop Noodles but that is different from what I have cooked here. Whereas the Taiwanese Pork Chop Noodles uses soya noodles, I have used the dry noodles bought from Sitiawan instead.

This dish is pretty due to the use of french beans and carrots for the contrast in colour. It is also healthy as it contains carbohydrate, protein, fat and fibre. The french beans and carrots lend a crunchy bite to the otherwise springy noodles whilst the aromatic pork chop (which is cut into strips) becomes the highlight as far as the taste is concerned. Give this dish a try. You can use all kinds of noodles really. I would suggest soya noodles, instant dried noodles (eg. Vit Mee) and even soba for this dish.

This is my recipe for Pork Chop Noodles Read the rest of this entry »

At some wet markets or stalls in Malaysia, you will find hawkers selling fried noodles at an economy price ranging from RM1.00 to RM1.50 per plate / pack. These noodles usually sell well because of the pricing and simpleness in the ingredients used. The type of noodles used are the yellow noodles which are commonly available in the markets themselves.

For home cooking, I have cooked this type of noodles once in a blue moon and the usual ingredients which I use are garlic, sliced fish cake, eggs and bean sprouts. Sometimes I do add in a little chinese green mustard leaves (sawi). It is pretty simple to cook though the preparation of the bean sprouts can be a little time consuming when removing the tail / root.

This is my recipe for Economy Fried Noodles Read the rest of this entry »