Hokkien Mee – Penang Prawn Noodle Soup

Serves:        4-6
Difficulty:   Intermediate
Cost:            ££
Time:           30 mins prepare, 30 mins to cook

I used the shell of the crab recipe ( previous post ) to cook the soup. I usually use prawn shells. If you do not usually use raw prawns for cooking, you might want to freeze the shells until you get a big enough portion to make the soup base. One large bowl will be sufficient, and together with the prawns that you are using for the recipe, it should be ok.

There are many variations to the Hokkien Mee recipe. In Malaysia, there are now many restaurants and gerai’s that sell Hokkien Mee, or popularly known a Prawn Mee.

One of my Grand Uncles who lived in Butterworth used to run a famous Hokkien Mee stall years ago. And my uncle, who lived with us used to complain that Hokkien noodles are now ( and also at that time) made  with a lot of chillies to make the soup look reddish and hence more attractive and appetising. He insisted that the real colour is from the prawns, which means that not enough prawns are now used in the commercial preparation of Hokkien Mee!.

So here is my take on the Hokkien Mee, using the left over crab shells.

Ingredients

Prawn shells / or crab shells

10 Raw prawns – shelled or you can get ready shelled frozen prawns

2-3 tbsp Dried prawns – soaked

2-3 pcs Rock sugar or normal sugar – to taste

1 pc Pork loin or belly pork

3-4 Hard boiled eggs – shelled and slice with a slicer

1 pkt Yellow / or fresh egg noodles ( about 400g)

1 bunch Water convolvulus or Eng Chye or normal Spinach

1 pkt Bean sprouts

1 pc Fish cake – optional

Salt and Pepper to taste

Chicken stock or Water – about 1.5 to 2 L

 To make the chilli sauce

Crushed Chil

Crushed shallots

Shallot Crisps

Method: 

First you need to make the soup.

But before you do that, it is better to make the chilli sauce. In this occasion, I did not bother to make the chilli sauce as my children do not like the soup to be too hot. I just added a teaspoon of the crushed chilli to the soup.

To make the chilli sauce:

Fry the crushed chilli and shallots with some oil until it is dark and have a lovely smell. Dish out. Then you can continue with the procedure below using the same pan/pot.

To make the soup:

1. Heat up 1 tbsp of cooking oil and add in the prawns and fry over low/medium heat until the prawn turns pink and the oil is coloured. Make sure the prawns are firm and not over cooked. Dish out and set aside to cool.
2. Add in all the shells to the pan and fry for a few minutes until the shells turn red
3. Add in enough water – about 750ml to cover the content. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 20 minutes stirring occasionally.  Make sure the ‘goodness’ of the shell is boiled out.
4. Strain the liquid into a clean pot large enough to hold the stock. Place the chicken or pork in the stock and bring to the boil and simmer until the meat is cooked. Dish out and set aside.
5. Blend the stock in a blender (you have the dried prawns in there), and sieve again. Refresh the pot and put in the stock again.
6. Season the stock with salt and some rock sugar until you get a slightly sweetish soup, but not too sweet.
7. Season with some white pepper powder.

To serve:

The garnish: 

1. Sliced the prawn into thin slices.
2. Slice the eggs in an egg slicer
3. Thinly slice the pork or chicken
4. Thinly slice the fish cake

Heat a pot or large pan of water for blanching the bean sprouts and noodles.

For One portion:

1. Take a handful of the noodles and place it in a sieve and blanch in hot water for a few minutes.
2. Add a handful of the bean sprouts and some spinach. Blanch.
3. Drain and tip the contents into a bowl.
4. Garnish with slices of prawns, chicken/pork and fish cake.
5. Pour the stock over it and garnish with slices of egg and lots of shallot crisps.
6. Serve with the chilli sauce if you are using it.
7. Enjoy.