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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!
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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.
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.
How Many Calories per Serving?
This recipe is only 456 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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KL Hokkien Mee
Ingredients
- 200 g pork belly (skin and excess fat removed and sliced into 1cm pieces)
Marinade for Pork:
- 2 cloves garlic (crushed)
- White pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon oyster sauce
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon corn starch
Condiments:
- shrimp (allow about 3-4 per person)
- white fish balls (allow about 2-3 per person)
- 4 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
- 1 small baby Chinese cabbage
- 250 g thick hokkien noodles
- Chu yau cha (recipe below)
Seasoning:
- 2 tablespoons pork flavoured oil (recipe below)
- 4 tablespoons dark soy sauce (sounds like a lot, but this dish is suppose to be dark)
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce (adjust if the stock is salty or to your taste)
- 3/4 cup chicken or pork stock
- 2 teaspoons white sugar
- white pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon corn flour
- 2 tablespoons cold water
Instructions
- 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 sterilized and airtight glass jar to store.
Nutrition
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
I followed your recipe exactly and it tasted almost 100% like my favourite hokkien mee in PJ. Keep it up !
Obviously the “wok hei” taste is hard to emulate in a home setting.
Awesome!
thank you! good recipe!
The dark soy sauce you’re using in the seasoning, is that kicap pekat (cooking caramel)? And if so, do you happen to know whether kicap pekat is more or less the same as Thai black soy sauce?
Thanks!
Fred
Yes it’s about the same you can use it.
Made this noodle dish yesterday with the Thai black soy sauce. Included lard oil, crispy lardons and sambal belacan as suggested. We loved it. Added 1/2 tsp Japanese (hon)dashi powder as well, since I read that in earlier days Malaysians added dried Sole powder or dried Flounder powder (not available where I live) to this dish.
Awesome please try more recipes on my site!
Used boiled spaghetti and baby octopus instead. Tasted as good as ah hwa. No sambal belacan required
Hi Bee,
Thanks for the links to Citrus and Candy and Karen Low, and as well for your recipe for K.L, Hokkien Mee.
Adding the “KL” to the title, I feel, is important since food, like spoken language is never really straight forward. It is rife with regional dialects, idioms, slangs, etc. As a professed die-hard foodie and a darn good cook, I have traveled extensively but in regards to Hokkien Mee, I’ve lived in China (Beijing and Guangzhou), southern Thailand, and although I didn’t live in Malaysia, I crossed the northern Malay border enough times to qualify. My best friends in the world, Anne and Simone Skelchy are from K.L., and we’ve eaten at many places (my favorites are in Bukit Bintang and places in Penang…especially the Jaya).
As you undoubtedly know, Hokkien Mee was originally a Fujian Chinese recipe that…evolved. My two friends Annie and Simone and I have had some interesting discussions (and arguments) about Hokkien Mee we’ve eaten at various places, including Malacca (Anne and Simone’s reltives are Portuguese / Chinese).. Many differences! But, my go-to recipe that I’ve experienced in K.L. involves two different kinds of noodles, both egg noodles (similar to soba) and rice noodles, and of course prawns and squid, with Chu yau cha cut into cubes, fried, and sprinkled over the top. But, nobody should dispair since there are many different versions to this dish.
If you will allow Bee, I’d like to make a tiny suggestion. Some people who are not from K.L., have never lived or visited Malaysia or Asia and / or southeast Asia may not understand some things. One that first stood out is the typical use of the word corn flour. The point should be made that a difference does exist and makes a definite difference in the consistency of the final outcome.
I understand what you mean, but others may not (I’m living in New York City now after spending 14 years in southeast Asia) and here in the states, what you guys call corn flour, is actually corn starch. A thickening agent. This is important since true corn starch is made of the endosperm of corn, whereas true corn flour is both the endosperm and gluten of corn. Both can be used as a thickening agent, however, you will need twice the amount of true corn flour in a recipe in comparison to the smaller amount of corn starch for the same effect. So, you can just imagine the semi-disaster this little glitch can create.
The first time I noted this was on Maggie Zhu’s “Ominivore Cookbook’ site. Maggie’s a Chinese cook born and raised in Beijing, but living in Texas now. Her recipes are awesome and simple. But many Asian cooks use the term ‘corn flour’ when they in fact mean what we know to be ‘corn starch’. Just a little tip. Most Americans, like me, are easily confused anyway LOL!
Not long ago I was speaking with a friend at a restaurant in Chinatown in Manhattan and I mentioned fish balls. We were yakking away when a woman from another table who was listening to our conversation leaned over and said, “I’m sorry for eavesdropping, but I’m fascinated with your conversation and want to know…’What is a fish ball?’ ” It was then that I realized you’d have to be shopping at a specialty Asian market to even find one. And if a person had never been to Asia, they wouldn’t know.
There was a time when I would post recipes. I enjoyed it for awhile, but it was on a blog and I gave up trying to answer all the questions of people who were (I’m trying to be nice here…) ‘out of the loop, so-to-speak’. People exist (belive me) who can’t boil water correctly, so you adjust to carefully explaining every minor detail and that takes all the fun out of it. My old friend Anthony Bourdain, may he rest in peace, was in agreement on this.
Thanks again Bee!
Thanks for your comment!
The photos and descriptions of this iconic KL dish make me drool and I have flash backs of loads of memories squatting by the roadside eating kl noodles after working late overtime in the early 1960s when I was working there. It cost only RM1. Often I will indulge on pay day to add a raw egg on top. Of course without the crispy pork lard it is never complete. Slurp!
I love KL Hokkien Mee with the chilli sauce that is usually served with it. Been looking for it. Could you post the Chili recipe?
Oh, yes. I want the Malaysian chili recipe too please?
I like the lighter gravy version better of Hokkien mee. Some cafes cook this way its much too sweet haha, I still like horfun better :) So they use different sauces?
Hi! Just wondering what should be done with the 4 cloves of garlic that is listed in the condiments section. I assume it just goes in before the pork? I scanned through the method many times and couldn’t find anything on it.
Hi Karen, I tried your recipe today and found it to be very salty. May I please check if the use of 4TB dark soy sauce and 2TB light soy sauce in the seasoning is the reason? Would it help if I used thick soy sauce instead of dark soy sauce? Many thanks for your reply.
Hi Bee Yinn I have been following Rasa Malaysia for awhile now. Loved every recipe in it. Can you please add recipe for the sambal that goes with KL Hokkien Mee. So complete with it. Thank you so very much.
Hi Judy, thanks for your suggestion.