If you cook a lot, you have to get creative with using up what’s left over in your kitchen and fridge to prepare your meals. Last week I made Kerabu Bee Hoon in celebration of Hari Merdeka (Malaysia National Day). That being said, I now have a half pack of vermicelli remaining.
What to do, what to do.
It’s the perfect time to try making Fried Vermicelli, Xiamen Style (厦门炒米粉. I visited Xiamen earlier this year and fell immediately in love with the island and more importantly, the food. Located in the Fujian province, Xiamen is a beautiful island with abundant fresh produce and seafood. The food in Xiamen is very similar to the Chinese food in Malaysia since many of the early Chinese settlers in Malaysia came from the Fujian region. Other than rice, noodles and vermicelli are heavily consumed as daily staples. One of their common dishes is Xiamen Fried Vermicelli, a simple meal easy to prepare…
The key to making great Xiamen Fried Vermicelli lies in Wok Hei, which translates literally to “The Breath of Wok.” To get Wok Hei, your wok has to be super-hot. It’s this high heat that gives your fried vermicelli that special taste and aroma. While it’s not easy to have Wok Hei in an American kitchen without setting off the smoke detector, I managed to capture the essence with the generous use of cooking oil. Here is what I did:
Ingredients:
1/2 pack of Vermicelli/Bee Hoon
Some chicken breast meat (cut into thin strips)
6 shrimps (shelled and deveined)
2 stalks of scallion (cut into 2″ length)
2 cloves garlic (chopped)
2 teaspoons of light soy sauce
1 teaspoon of oyster sauce
1/2 teaspoon of dark soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
A dash of white pepper powder
A dash of sesame oil
Some cabbages (julienne)
Method:
Heat up the wok until it starts smoking (but before your alarm goes off!). Pour in generous doses of cooking oil and wait for the smoke again (again, before the alarm goes off!). Add in the chopped garlic and quickly stir a few times, then follow by chicken strips, shrimps, and julienne cabbages. Stir and mix the ingredients well with the garlic until you smell the sweet aroma from the ingredients. Add vermicelli, soy sauce, oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar, chopped scallions and stir fry vigorously over high heat. Just when the vermicelli starts to burn, add in a dash of white pepper powder and sesame oil, stir for 1 minute. Serve hot with a spoonful of roasted chili paste.
If you do not pay attention to these cooking directions, you won’t have to worry about washing the dishes; the fire sprinklers will take care of that for you!
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Can I use bean sprouts instead of cabbage?
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I believe in KL they call this dish singapore fried beehoon ?
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Rose - you can use bean sprouts instead of cabbage. Cooking is really a personal expression of your creativity - as long as you stay authentic and true to the original recipe. :)
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Tonixe,
Singapore fried beehoon uses ketchup and eggs and tastes sweet and sour. I believe the origin of our version of fried beehoon in Malaysia came from Fujian province. However, a lot of them are slightly “modified” to fit our palate.
In the authenthic Chinese restaurants in the US, this kind of fried vermicelli are always called Xiamen Fried Vermicelli.
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‘Alo there. Won’t d whole house smells after such vigorous oil frying or did u do it in d open? BTW, great pix + posts!
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Hi Tummythoz,
Yes, it did smell but in a good way. The Wok Hey with a little bit burned smell is great for this dish.
Thanks for dropping in Tummythoz. :)
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Hi:
I’ve been looking for a VERY long time for the Sing Chow Mei recipe that is done in KL/PJ. A VERY long time ago, I had an amazing Sing Chow Mei from a shop there. It did not have curry powder in it like the way the Sing Chow Mei recipes in the US have. I feel the curry powder drowns the actual taste of the recipe. Someone mentioned that Sing Chow Mei has ketchup in it. Is this true? I cannot remember exactly what was in the sauce of that amazing Sing Chow Mei I had. It was more than 18 years ago. I don’t believe the Sing Chow Mei that is in the US is “authentic” at all because of the curry powder. Does anyone know what the actual Sing Chow Mei (KL/PJ style) recipe is? Thanks a lot.
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I so love fried vermicelli! I will definitely try your fried vermicelly recipe. They sound easy enough for me.
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