serves
8
prep
30 minutes
cook
1 hour
difficulty
Easy
serves
8
people
preparation
30
minutes
cooking
1
hour
difficulty
Easy
level
Ingredients
- 300 g (10½ oz) dried rice vermicelli
- 125 ml (4 fl oz/½ cup) neutral-flavoured cooking oil
- 200 g (7 oz) fermented soybean paste (taucu)
- 200 g (7 oz/2¼ cups) bean sprouts
- 100 g (3½ oz) Chinese garlic chives, chopped
Noodle spice paste
- 50 g (1¾ oz) dried red chillies, seeded, rehydrated in warm water for 15 minutes and drained
- 60 g (2 oz) red Asian shallots, chopped
- 30 g (1 oz) garlic
- 60 g (2 oz) dried baby shrimp, rehydrated in water for at least 15 minutes and drained
- 100 g (3½ oz) raw prawns (shrimp)
Gravy spice paste
- 100 g (3½ oz) red Asian shallots, chopped
- 50 g (1¾ oz) garlic
- 30 g (1 oz) dried red chillies, seeded, rehydrated in warm water for at least 15 minutes and drained
- 65 g (2¼ oz) dried baby shrimp
Gravy
- 125 ml (4 fl oz/ ½ cup) neutral flavoured cooking oil
- 200 g (7 oz) fermented soybean paste (taucu)
- 100 g (3½ oz) sugar
- 2 tsp salt
- 20 g (¾ oz) tamarind slices (asam keping)
- 120 g (4½ oz/¾ cup) peanuts, skins removed, toasted and finely ground
To serve
- Firm tofu, fried and diced
- Chinese garlic chives, chopped into 1 cm (½ in) lengths
- Boiled eggs, halved
- Calamansi limes (substitute with local limes), halved
Soaking time: 30 minutes.
Instructions
- To prepare the vermicelli, soak them in cold water for about 30 minutes until softened. Drain.
- To make the noodle spice paste, peel and devein the prawns and chop them into pieces. Blend with the rest of the ingredients in a high-speed blender until smooth.
- Heat a wok over a high heat then add the oil. Fry the spice paste, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes until fragrant.
- Add the soybean paste and mix well. Put the vermicelli in the wok and use two spatulas to dig in from the sides and lift the mixture up into the middle, coating the noodles with the spice paste along the way. (Try not to break the noodles apart when doing this.) Add the bean sprouts and chives and mix through.
- At this stage, should you wish to have the dry version of mee siam, transfer the noodles to a serving bowl and garnish. If you wish to have the wet version served with gravy, continue with the recipe.
- To make the gravy spice paste, blend all the gravy spice paste ingredients and 1.5 litres (51 fl oz/6 cups) water in a high-speed blender until smooth.
- To make the gravy, heat a wok over a high heat then add the oil. Fry the gravy spice paste until fragrant and the oil separates – this should take 3-5 minutes. Mix well then add in 100 ml (3½ fl oz) water, soybean paste, sugar, salt and tamarind slices. Just before it comes to the boil, add the ground peanuts. Bring it to the boil over a low heat for about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat.
- To serve, transfer the noodles to a serving bowl, spoon over the piping hot gravy and garnish with tofu, chives, egg halves and lime halves.
This is an edited extract from by Diana Chan published by Hardie Grant Books (HB RRP $50). Photography by Armelle Habib.
Cook's Notes
Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.
