Singapore Noodles / Singapore Mei Fun
This has been one of my favourite Asian dishes since I was a boy. You can get it in Asian restaurants all over the world except in Singapore. The dish was created by Asian cooks in western countries. So then story goes.
This is a Lego dish, assembled from a few building blocks. The essentials are protein, noodles, Asian sauces, colourful veggies, egg, curry powder and aromatics. The rest is flexible; it’s a leftovers dish made from food left in the fridge, and condiments from the larder.
Variations on the theme
All the recipes out there insist on rice vermicelli, but you can use other Asian noodles of your choice and even angel hair Italian pasta (my choice).
The protein is your choice too – prawns, pork, chicken or tofu, or all of these. Most recipes call for sticky char siu (Chinese barbecued pork), but that’s not easy to find where we live so I use bacon. I tried char siu sauce in a jar not long ago, but was too sweet and gloopy for my taste.
I avoid sugar in cooking, and use Balsamic reduction instead which works well with Asian dishes. Great fusion! Same with wine: I use cheap McWilliams medium sherry instead of Rice wine or Shaoxing wine or sake – again it’s your choice.
One more thing: I find chopping up garlic and ginger really boring, so I use Masterfoods for convenience – the contents resemble a thick sauce, which is easily blended with Asian dishes.
Basic Ingredients
- Prawns
- Bacon / pork /
- chicken
- Shallots / leek
- Snow peas
- Sweet peas
- Capsicum/peppers
- (Bean sprouts)
- Eggs
Image source: Saveur.com
The Rest
- 2 tsp Keen’s curry powder
- 1 tsp tumeric
- Garlic
- Ginger
- Standard soy sauce
- Oyster sauce
- Medium sherry
- Sesame oil
- Rice wine / Shaoxing wine
- Wine or water if you need more liquid
PROCESS
Mix the sauce before you begin to cook. You’ll need soy sauce, oyster sauce, Sherry, sesame oil, lime juice, seasoning and balsamic reduction instead of sugar.
- Cook the noodles, set aside
- Chop up the protein and the veg
- Make a 2-egg omelette and chop into bite-size pieces
- Prepare the sauce – 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp oyster sauce, 2 tbsp medium sherry, dash of Balsamic reduction, seasoning
- Make a paste with ginger, garlic and chopped shallots, add curry and tumeric powders and a tsp or 2 of sesame oil
- Fry in a hot wok until fragrant (a minute or two). Set aside
- Put everything together in the wok – start with the veggies, then add the protein, the paste, the omelette and the sauce, then mix in the noodles.
Don’t overcook the veggies, we want the colours to stay fresh to provide contrast to the yellow noodles.