KL Hokkien Mee
January 21st, 2010 | Malaysian Recipes | 44 Comments
Remember I told you that there are many talented Malaysian food bloggers? Today, I would like to introduce you to Citrus and Candy—a fantastic and gorgeous food blog by the very talented Karen Low, who is based in Sydney. Citrus and Candy is choked full of beautiful food photography and her dessert recipes are to-die-for. Anyway, for this guest post, I’ve got Citrus and Candy to share her favorite recipe with us—KL Hokkien Mee, or stir-fried dark noodles commonly found in Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia, which tops The New York Times “31 Places to Go in 2010.” Dig in, albeit virtually, and enjoy!
I absolutely love Malaysia and I’m so proud of our amazing cuisine. I have never really lived in my home country so I made the most of my holidays to KL with plenty of overeating! But it still doesn’t ease the constant cravings and homesickness.
Recently I started learning how to cook Malaysian at home. I’m still very much a beginner of course, so when Rasa Malaysia invited me for a guest post, I admit I was a little surprised (and scared) but excited! I knew I wanted to do a dish to showcase my home city of Kuala Lumpur and there’s only one so far that I know so well— KL Hokkien Mee…(get Karen’s KL Hokkien Mee recipe after the jump)
Not to be confused with Singaporean (which is lighter in colour) and Penang Hokkien Mee, the KL version (a.k.a Char Mee) is famous for the dark, fragrant sauce that the noodles are braised in. It’s the first dish that I seek out as soon as I touch down in KL!
The secret to an authentic KL Hokkien Mee is the pork fat (which should be available from your butcher). Pork fat makes any dish tasty but of course I try not to indulge in KL Hokkien Mees too often! If it isn’t available on its own, then a piece of pork belly with a good layer of fat on the top would be fine.
I hope you enjoy it! A huge thanks to Rasa Malaysia for allowing me to share one of my favourite hometown recipes with you all.
(for approximately 2 people)
Ingredients:
200g of pork belly, skin and excess fat removed and sliced into 1cm pieces
Marinade for Pork:
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
White pepper to taste
1 TB of soy sauce
½ tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp of cornflour
Condiments:
Shrimp (allow about 3-4 per person)
White fish balls (allow about 2-3 per person)
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 small baby Chinese cabbage
250g of thick hokkien noodles
Chu yau cha (recipe below)
Seasoning:
2 TB of pork flavoured oil (recipe below)
4 TB of dark soy sauce (sounds like a lot, but this dish is suppose to be dark)
2 TB of light soy sauce (adjust if the stock is salty or to your taste)
3/4 C (180ml) of chicken or pork stock
2 tsps white sugar
White pepper to taste
1 TB cornflour
2 TB cold water
Method:
Mix the sliced pork belly pieces into the pork marinade and set aside for 30 minutes.
In the meantime, prepare the rest of your ingredients and set aside within reach of your cooking area:
Shrimp – peeled, deveined, tails removed
Baby Chinese cabbage – washed and sliced into 1cm strips (discard the really thick stems)
Fish balls – halved
Noodles – prepared according to your packet’s instructions. Mine was placed in boiled water until the noodles have separated, then drained thoroughly.
Mix the cornflour and cold water in a little bowl until smooth and set aside.
When everything is ready, preheat a wok over a high flame and add about 2 tablespoons of pork oil and heat until smoking.
Add the marinated pork belly and fry briskly (be careful of hot spitting oil).
When just browned, add the shrimp, fishballs and garlic and fry for half a minute. Toss in the chinese cabbage and fry for a further 30 seconds or so.
Add in the noodles and give it a quick toss.
Add the dark soy sauce and light soy sauce and mix to coat the noodles. Add more dark soy sauce if the colour isn’t dark enough.
Add the stock, sugar, white pepper and a small handful of chu yau cha (crispy pork lardons) and fry to combine. Taste the sauce and adjust the saltiness and sweetness to your preference.
Add in the cornflour/water mixture and toss until the sauce has thickened and the noodles are coated in the gravy.
Serve the noodles onto plates and spoon over the gravy. Garnish with more chu yau cha if you wish and a spoonful of sambal belacan.
To make the pork oil and chu yau cha:
Dice your pork fat into small cubes (or lardons). If using just pork belly, remove the skin and then trim off the excess fat from the top of the belly and dice.
Place the diced pork fat in about 2 tablespoons of peanut oil over medium-low heat. I used a deep pot and covered it partially with a lid to prevent the pork from spitting oil all over my kitchen!
Render the fat until the little pork pieces are crispy and golden. Depending on the size of your lardons, this could take 30 minutes to an hour. Check it regularly to make sure it’s not browning too much.
Remove the chu yau cha from the oil and drain on paper towels. Once it’s completely cooled, you can store the chu yau cha in an airtight container or jar.
Drain the pork oil into a sterilised and airtight glass jar to store.
Related Recipes:
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I was in Singapore this past summer and I must have eaten hokkien mee every other day! Do you think the KL version is very different from what they serve next door in Singapore?
I’ve never been to Singapore so never had the privilege of trying the Singaporean version but sources have told me that it is lighter in colour, whereas the KL version uses a lot of dark soy sauce.
I think I might have to try one for research :P
Hi, What kind of dark soy sauce should be used on hokkien mee? And, what type of mee is that? Please let me know the brand name. I hope I can find the right sauce and mee in USA. Thanks for your help and hope to hear from you. Have a blessed day! -Peggy
Oh my… gorgeous photos!! How much I miss Hokkien mee, sitting at the coffee shop late at night digging into a plateful. I eat it with a side of raw chopped garlic in dark soy and the girls won’t kiss me after :)
LOL, I’d love to try the minced garlic with it too… and I don’t mind the garlic breath at all :D Thanks so much!
Wow, this dish looks so good. I haven’t tried this KL Hokkien Mee but if I ever go to KL, I will be on the lookout.
And I hope you enjoy it! You must try one from the street hawkers in KL. *drool*
If I’ve ever chosen the wrong time to look at your blog,it’s now, 10pm at night over here and I am starving. Wonderful looking dish,everything from the recipe to the color, look perfect, I want right now.
I totally understand your dilemma, which is why I avoid looking at food blogs during prime snacking hours :P Thanks so much for you comment!
OMG…THAT’s my FAVORITE dish!! When my mom was expecting me, the only food/dish that could sooth her was KL Hokkian Char (we call it Hokkian char instead of mee). And of course I grow up loving it too! :) My only problem here in Oregon is that I can’t get the true Hokkian Mee (yellow noodle — the ones we have isn’t “fat” enough! :P) Nonetheless, I HAVE TO TRY this recipe! Do you eat it with the raw minced garlic & dark soy sauce?? ;)
I hope you enjoy it! And clearly I’ve been deprived because I’ve never had it with minced garlic (for shame!). I think things will change from now on :D
I use spaghetti as a substitute for the yellow noodle.
I’ve heard that udon is also a good substitute due to its thickness. Thanks for your tip Tom!
Update: I just made it today for lunch. I forgot that I didn’t have pork, so I sub with chicken breast sliced thinly and used bacon for the chu yau cha! I also used spaghetti as suggested. All I can say is Y-U-M-M-Y!!! ;) Thanks Karen and Tom, for the recipe and the tips.
Wowo i can just eat them righ now looks so so delish. You did write the dish is dark in colour, does adding so much soysauce makes the dish taste very salty.
The salty flavour of the dish will come from the light soya sauce (and maybe the stock, depending on what type of stock you use). The dark soya sauce is only there for the colour and a little bit of the sweetness so the amount used isn’t going to affect the saltiness.
Hope this helps!
Love it, but fishball shouldn’t be in there.
I have come across fishballs in KL but you’re right, it isn’t a very common ingredient. But I love it so much in this dish and it was all I had at home :P
Of course, I never claimed this to be a truly authentic hawker version so let’s just say that it has been ‘Australianised’ :D
Karen – I agree, I love my fried noodles with fish balls and fish cakes!!! Yummy.
Hokkien char! This looks amazing – thanks for the recipe, will have to try making it soon! :)
Thank you! Hope you enjoy it :)
Wow, love the fried pork fat bits on top of the KL Hokkien noodles!
Hehe the more the better! They are heavenly :D
Wow, I haven’t had this KL Hokkien Mee since like my college days in KL. I love the ones across from Petaling Street, it has the best wok hei and glad to discover yet another fantastic food blog Citrus and Candy.
Oh I love Petaling Street and I 100% agree – best wok hei for hokkien char!
Thanks for your comment :)
Yum! You know as a kid I used to pick out the pork fat, I used to hate it! Now I think, what a waste of all that lovely pork :) (Oh and the stall we used to go to always had fishcakes (flat fishball! :))
Thanks Shaz! I suppose everybody would have their preferences as to what to throw in the wok with the noodles! I love fish balls and cockles (which are hard to find here) and the occasional fish cake!
And the most important thing now is that you love the pork fat now :P
Gorgeously sinful stuff. :) I’m not a fan of Hokkien Mee myself, though staying here in Malaysia. But those lards they generously serve the noodles with ….. SINFUL.
Hehe anything to do with pork and fat is sinful indeed. But oh so good!
Is hokkien noodles same as the thick Shanghai noodles? If not available, would E-fu noodles work?
The important part of this dish is the sauce, not the noodles so substitute with anything you like. Thick is always better than thin and though I personally prefer egg noodles, any wheat noodle will also be fine. Shanghai noodles would be perfect and udon is also a popular substitution.
OMGGGG. Heavenly!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE this especially on a cold rainy day, dunno why. I love eating it with pickled green chili or a dollop of sambal. Sadly, I cant even get yellow noodles where I live now :( What more fishballs and the like :( :(
My hubby is in Malaysia now for a business trip (the lucky &%^#@*) and I’ve given him a list of things@foodstuff to bring back for me.
Bee and Karen, what do you think I should get him to bring me, besides the usual soy sauce, sesame oil. Im honestly salivating looking at the pics above, and compensating by eating shortbread cookies is just NOT the same. Sobs.
Thanks a million by a Msian-food-deprived girl.
Hi Ivy! Oh no – must be hard not finding certain Asian groceries where you live! Other than soy sauce and sesame oil, I’d request dried belacan, jars of sambal, dried ikan bilis and Malaysian/Indian branded curry powders and bases :P But that’s just me.
I always find myself bringing back biscuits, dried cuttlefish and all the naughty Malaysian treats that I miss out on in Australia.
Ivy, you could also request pre-fried salted fish (if you like salted fish). I usually get my mom to pre-fry them then seal them in a plastic bag, and into a tightly seal container, and then triple packed in plastic bags again. I have them pre-fried cos’ that way my neighbors here in Oregon won’t pengsan, if I have to fry them!!! LOL.
Pork fat must be one of the key secret ingredients to hawker food! That’s why it taste good! Yes, the Singapore version is a light-colored version. But in Singapore, the Hokkiens have another darker-colored version – usually braised. Have not tried a real KL hokkien mee though.
Oh pork fat is like a magical elixir but it’s so bad for you LOL! I definitely can’t wait to visit Singapore and try the hokkien mee.
Look tasty! Thanks for sharing your recipe
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Mmm, what a gorgeous color! I love dark glossy things, especially when they have pork belly in them:-)
I love hokkien mee and tried this recipe. I find it is a bit salty and need to improve the taste. Is still not as same as I had in hawker stall. Maybe is just me.
Hi Sheryl,
Of course, I’ll never claim this to be anywhere close to the hawkers. I myself, think that nothing will ever beat the hawker flavour. When it comes to cooking, recipes only serve as a guide and never as a rule, so adjust seasonings to your own tastebuds.
Thanks for the feedback :)
Hi Karen
Wow, I just love this site ;-) The only problem is I am in Bulgaria and can’t get most of the ingredients for most of these recipes. I liked the idea of substituting pasta for the noodles, but what can I use for the thick soy sauce? Also when you say pork fat, is it just the fat or is there meat attached to it?
Great site and thanks for the recipe for one of my fav foods :-)
Hi Anne, you’re very welcome :)
Sorry for the late reply! From the top of my head, I can’t think of what you could use in place of dark soy sauce – it’s a very unique ingredient because of the sweet flavour and the caramel-like thickness. Sorry :(
And yep it’s just the fat that you use for the oil and chu yau cha because there is already the pork belly for the ‘meat’.
the color of the sauce is so intense. this looks great.