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Penang Hokkien Mee (Prawn Noodle Soup) / 福建虾面
This divine bowl of Penang Hokkien Mee took me months of hard work and patience. I mean months, not days, and certainly not hours.
To concoct a pot of pure shrimpy stock that is signature to this Penang hawker food dish, one has to have heaps of shrimp heads.
Yes, I am talking about a big Ziploc bag full of raw shrimp heads. While I eat shrimp all the time, it’s a completely different matter when it comes to saving up their heads.
It’s impossible to get good Hokkien Mee here in the US, so for the past few months, I bought only head-on shrimps. I saved up their heads patiently 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 got myself all the other ingredients: shrimp, pork ribs, bean sprouts, noodles, etc.
The end result was a pot full of real prawny stock that was as close as what you get from hawkers and street vendors in Penang. It was really satisfying slurping up the soup and had unlimited topping of pork ribs that fell off the bones!
The Origin of Penang Hokkien Mee
While Hokkien Mee is a famous Penang hawker food, it originated from the Fujian province in China, and hence the name “Hokkien” (which means Fujian in its dialect) and “Mee” (meaning noodle).
When I was in Xiamen in early 2006, I did validate this fact. I found Hokkien Mee (福建虾面) in coffee shops there.
While the taste was almost the same, the one I had in Xiamen paled in comparison. The Hokkien Prawn Mee in Malaysia is so much better, with rich and spicy flavors, better ingredients and toppings.
Penang Hokkien Mee is the only hawker food that I seriously can’t do without. You should really try my recipe!
P.S.: Outside of Penang, Malaysia, Penang Hokkien Mee is called Har Meen (Cantonese dialect for Prawn Mee), Heh Mee (Hokkien dialect) or Mee Yoke. There is also KL Hokkien Mee, which is a a noodle dish in dark soy sauce. KL is the abbreviation for Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia.
How Many Calories per Serving?
This recipe is only 405 calories per serving.
What Dishes to Serve with This Recipe?
For a wholesome meal and easy weeknight dinner, 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 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 with a mini food processor until finely ground and well blended. Heat up the wok and add cooking oil. Stir fry the chili paste for 5 minutes. Dish up and set aside.
- On the same wok unwashed, add in a little oil and cook the shrimp topping. Add in a little chili paste, sugar, and salt. Pan-fried the shrimp until they are slightly burned. Dish out, let cool, and sliced them into halves.
- Add 15 cups of water into a pot and bring it to bowl. Add in all the shrimp heads and shell and simmer on low heat for about 2 hours or longer until the stock becomes cloudy and tastes really prawny.
- Strain the stock through a sieve and transfer the stock into another pot. Discard the shrimp heads and shells. Scoop up and discard the orange "foam" forming at the top of the stock.
- Bring the stock to boil again and add in half of the chili paste. You can add more chili paste if you like it spicier.
- Add in the pork ribs and continue to boil in low heat for another 1-1.5 hour 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. If desired, add a few pieces of pork ribs. Top with sliced pork meat, sliced shrimp, egg quarters, and sprinkle with shallot crisps.
- Serve immediately with more chili paste to taste.
Notes
Nutrition
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
Luv all your recipes :)!
I live in SF and can never find a good yellow noodles particularly for Hokkien & Loh Mee. All the local yellow noodle here have no “texture”! Do you know of any brand that you can recommend?
Thanks
This is incredible. I have tried a few prawn noodle recipe that i have googled, and so far this is the simplest and taste the best! it tastes exactly like the Penang version. I love this recipe. I am definitely going to keep this recipe. i kept the broth overnight and serve prawn noodle for breakfast. oolala, breakfast Msian style!
Hi Bee! Do you know how long I can freeze the broth for once I make it? In Singapore we call the dish Hay Mee (in Hokkien) and I really crave it a lot living in NYC. My only source for the dish has lately lost its quality pretty drastically so now I have to attempt to make it at home. I would love to make enough to store in the freezer and just take out some when I need to. Thanks for the recipe!
Yes you can freeze the stock for sure. Make a big batch and just use it whenever you have a craving!
When I came to the US from Malaysia, I would improvise Malaysian recipes since a lot of the ingredients were not available in the city I lived in. I would use the ingredients I brought from Malaysia and when I ran out I would modify with what is available here. Ever since I got on your website I felt like I was able to cook and taste the authentic Malay and Chinese food. So thank you for your recipes. You brought home food away from home. Your mouth watering Hokkien Mee reminds me of Pasar Malam. That is where I would go to get Hokkien Mee. I miss the hawkers food a lot. Nothing taste best like street food. Thank you again. I hope you will continue to post a lot more mouth watering recipes for your readers to try.
Seems so incredibly easy! Who knew..
Hi there, thank you for your recipe. I can’t figure out the portion of shrimp shells and heads,can’t find the size of the ziploc bag mentioned either. May I know how many kilos roughly? Thanks.
Use the large ziploc bag.
On the collected prawn heads I suppose they are uncooked? Do you store them in the freezer or fridge meanwhile?
Yes, in the freezer.
No I’d rather just make ramen noodles with salad shrimp…OF COURSE I WANT A BOWL!!!! What time are you coming by???? My 4 year old daughter is banging her fist for some too!
LOL, so funny!
Oohhh yum!! Definitely have to try this. What size ziplock bag did you use? (Quart, Gallon, etc.)
Love love har mee…. it’s literally mouth watering just looking at your pics…seriously.