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Penang Hokkien Mee is a beloved prawn noodle soup hailing from Penang, Malaysia. Often sold by street vendors and hawkers, it's a favorite dish enjoyed throughout the day by locals and visitors alike. If you're searching for the best and most authentic recipe online, look no further!
Hokkien Prawn Noodle Soup
Crafting this divine bowl of Penang Hokkien Mee (福建虾面) was no small feat—it demanded months of unwavering dedication and patience. I emphasize months, not days, and certainly not mere hours.
To achieve the signature flavor of this Penang hawker delicacy, one must amass a generous heap of raw shrimp heads and shells. Yes, I’m referring to a sizable Ziploc bag of them!
While I’m no stranger to enjoying shrimp in various dishes, there’s a distinct commitment involved in meticulously saving up their heads and shells for this culinary endeavor.
The Best Penang Hokkien Mee Recipe
Finding good Prawn Mee here in the US is impossible. So, for the past few months, I’ve been purchasing only head-on shrimp. I’ve patiently saved up their heads so I could make this at home.
This past weekend, the Ziploc bag was finally so full that I could no longer zip it up. I quickly rushed out to the nearest Asian supermarket and bought all the other ingredients: shrimp, pork ribs, bean sprouts, noodles, etc.
The end result was a pot full of real prawny stock that closely resembled what you get from hawkers and street vendors in Penang. It was incredibly satisfying slurping up the soup and having unlimited toppings of pork ribs that fell off the bones!
The Origin Of The Dish
While Hokkien Mee is a renowned Penang hawker dish, its origins trace back to the Fujian province in China, hence the name “Hokkien” (which means Fujian in its dialect) and “Mee” (meaning noodle).
During my visit to Xiamen in early 2006, I confirmed this fact firsthand. I encountered Fujian Xia Mian (福建虾面) food stalls in local coffee shops on the island of Xiamen.
Though the taste was similar, the Hokkien Prawn Mee in Malaysia surpassed it by far. Malaysia’s version boasts richer, spicier flavors, superior ingredients, and toppings.
Beyond Penang, Malaysia, this noodle dish goes by various names, such as Har Meen (Cantonese dialect for Prawn Mee) or Heh Mee (in Hokkien dialect). Additionally, there’s KL Hokkien Mee, noodles stir-fried with dark soy sauce, originating from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital city.
Frequently Asked Questions
This recipe is only 405 calories per serving.
What To Serve With This Recipe
For a complete Penang street hawker food experience, I recommend the following recipes.
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Penang Hokkien Mee
Ingredients
Stock:
- 1 bag shrimp heads and shells, Ziploc Easy Zipper Bag
- 15 cups water, reduced to about 12-13 cups of water after hours of boiling and simmering
- 2-3 pieces rock sugar, about the size of a small ping pong ball each, or to taste
- 1.5 lbs (750g) pork ribs, cut into pieces
- salt to taste
Chili Paste:
- 30 dried red chilies, seeded and soaked to soften
- 10 shallots, peeled
- 5 cloves garlic, peeled
- 2 tablespoons water
- 6 tablespoons cooking oil
- 1 pound (500g) yellow noodles, scalded
- 1 pack rice vermicelli, scalded
- kangkong , or water convolvulus, scalded
- bean sprouts, scalded
Toppings:
- 1/2 pound (250g) lean pork meat, boiled and sliced thinly
- 1/2 pound (250g) shrimp, shelled and deveined
- 6 hard-boiled eggs, shelled and quartered
- fried shallot crisps, store-bought
Instructions
- Blend the chili paste ingredients in a mini food processor until finely ground and well blended. Heat a wok and add cooking oil. Stir-fry the chili paste for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- In the same unwashed wok, add a little oil and cook the shrimp topping. Then, add a small amount of chili paste, sugar, and salt. Pan-fry the shrimp until slightly browned. Remove from the heat, let them cool, and then slice them in half.
- Add 15 cups of water to a pot and bring it to a boil. Then, add all the shrimp heads and shells, and simmer on low heat for about 2 hours or longer, until the stock becomes cloudy and has an intensely prawn flavor.
- Strain the stock through a sieve and transfer it to another pot, discarding the shrimp heads and shells. Remove and discard any orange foam that forms on the surface of the stock.
- Bring the stock to a boil again and add half of the chili paste. You can add more chili paste if you prefer a spicier flavor.
- Add the pork ribs and continue to simmer over low heat for another 1 to 1.5 hours, or until the pork ribs are thoroughly cooked. Add rock sugar and salt to taste.
- To serve, place a portion of yellow noodles, rice vermicelli, water convolvulus, and bean sprouts in a bowl. Ladle hot stock over the noodles and vegetables. If desired, add a few pieces of pork ribs. Top with sliced pork, sliced shrimp, egg quarters, and sprinkle with shallot crisps. Serve immediately, and add more chili paste to taste if desired.
Notes
- Traditionally, the shrimp heads and shells are stir-fried with oil until aromatic before being added into the boiling water. You can opt for this extra step if you like.
- Hawkers in Penang also blend the shrimp heads and shells after briefly boiling them to extract all the flavors from the shells. I’ve tried this step before and found that it’s not necessary if you have plenty of shrimp heads and shells.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
What can you use in place of water convolvulus?
Just skip if you don’t have it.
If I were to purchase chili paste what is the closest brand/type?
If you can get chili boh from the market, that would be the most authentic, but the brands adabi and thai kitchen are good substitutes.
Hi Bee – can you please clarify size of the shallots you were referring to? In Australia, shallots normally means French Shallots, and they are slightly smaller than red onions, but still huge compared to the ones in Malaysia. 10 shallots made my sambal paste too sweet and overpowering the flavors.
Malaysian size.
The other day I tried your Penang Char Kuay Teow and now I tried your Penang Hokkien Mee. You are the bomb! Love both recipes :)..and true to Penang style. Thank you :)
Thanks.
My soup didn’t come out as red as a normal bowl, its more pale yellow from the chili paste. I halved the recipe and used 15 small dried chilis and a tsp of hot chili powder, tastes very spicy, just lacks the color!
You need shrimp heads to have the color.
The following ingredients were placed under Chilli paste and the instruction in step 1 : Blend the chili paste ingredients with a mini food processor until finely ground and well blended.
1 pound yellow noodles, scalded
1 pack rice vermicelli, scalded
kangkong or water convolvulus, scalded
bean sprouts, scalded
All the above needed to be blended as well?
No.
Lol. The blended list ends at 2 spoonfuls of water. All the ingredients listed before that are for chilli paste, and I’m thinking the 2tablespoons are added into the blender/food processor.
As for the yellow noodle and rice noodle(bee hoon if you will), there are to be blanched or scalded before pouring in the readied(cooked) soup onto it and after, you can mix in your toppings before serving.
PS: I cant see the date of this post; and not entirely certain if this still helps but for other future “confused” readers.
Hi Bee, what size Ziploc bag did you use. Do you have an idea how many prawn heads you ended up using?
I use the big size ziplock bag. The more the better.
Dear Bee, is it possible for us to make just the soup stock (prawns and pork belly) one or two days beforehand?
Sincerely,
Gaya
Yes.
What kind of dried chilies do we use for the sauce?
Dried red chilies.