Prawn Mee (Hae mee)
Overview
Prawn mee is a rich, spicy noodle soup from Penang in Malaysia, known locally as Hokkien mee. Its deep red-orange broth is made by frying prawn heads and shells until they are fragrant, then simmering them with pork bones, dried chillies and shallots. Yellow egg noodles and thin rice vermicelli are blanched with bean sprouts and water spinach and put in a bowl, then topped with halved prawns, slices of pork, half a boiled egg and crispy fried shallots. The broth is poured over and each bowl comes with a spoon of sambal. The flavour is sweet, briny and hot.
History
Hokkien immigrants from southern China brought noodle soups to Penang and Singapore in the 19th century, and prawn mee grew from these, using the cheap shells and heads left over by fishermen. In Penang it is a breakfast and hawker centre favourite, and in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur it is usually called prawn mee or hae mee.
Main ingredients
Yellow noodles and rice vermicelli, prawns, pork slices, bean sprouts, water spinach, boiled egg. The soup is built on prawn head and pork bone broth and is usually served hot. Diet: contains meat; not usually gluten-free.
Explore: Pork soups · Fish and seafood soups · Noodle soups · Egg soups · Spinach and greens soups · More soups from Malaysia
Recipe
Method
- 15 min
Fry the prawn heads and shells in oil until red, add the chilli paste and fry for 5 minutes.
- 21 h
Add the pork bones and 3 l water and simmer for 1 hour, then strain and season.
- 3
Poach the prawns in the broth and slice them.
- 4
Blanch the noodles, vermicelli and vegetables and put them in bowls.
- 5
Top with prawns, pork and egg, pour over the broth and add fried shallots and sambal.
- ✓
Serve. About 2 h from start to bowl.
Sources
Description, history and recipe written by SoupWiki and checked against the sources above. Calories and times are rough estimates.
