Pan Mee (板面) is a popular Hakka noodle dish in Malaysia, especially in central and southern part of Malaysia where most Hakka people reside. Hakka Pan Mee is made with a simple flour-based dough, with anchovy broth, and topped with crispy fried anchovies, ground pork, shiitake mushrooms, and some vegetables. Pan Mee is also known as Mee Hoon Kuih (面粉糕), which is commonly prepared at home.
I will be honest, before I develop this Pan Mee recipe here, I have had Pan Mee once. Yes, once, some twenty years ago while I was visiting Kuala Lumpur. While I was growing up in Penang, Pan Mee was never sold in the hawker centers or street food stalls, so it has never been in my culinary dictionary.
Anyway, what prompted me to develop a recipe for Pan Mee? Well, it all started with a HUGE bunch of mani cai (马尼菜), or cekur manis/sayur manis in Malay. Mani cai, my favorite vegetable and a key ingredient of Pan Mee, is not available in the United States. The vegetable is not grown here and thus it’s one of those things that I could never get in the US. My friend Eddie grows his own plant, and gave me a big batch of his harvest. I promised him I would make Pan Mee.
I reached out to my friend Anna and she taught me how to make pan mee. It was a success and Anna, who used to live in Pan Mee paradise of KL, gave me her thumbs up. I invited a couple friends over to my house to taste my Pan Mee and they all gave me their rave reviews. I, for one, who have never been a fan of Pan Mee, is now a converted fan. I finally understand why so many people love Pan Mee. It is a Hakka comfort food in a bowl—nothing flashy or glamorous about this dish, but it is tasty and very satisfying.
If you are of Hakka descent and far away from Malaysia, I hope my Pan Mee recipe could bring the tastes of home to wherever you are. Happy cooking!
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Based on 46 Review(s)
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SW Wong
We have mani cai sold in Richmond, VA. You can try to find them in Vietnamese grocery store (those Vietnamese call it “Vietnam Kao Gei” – hope you understand my Cantonese). For the dough, I suggest to use cold water as it gives you the “QQ” feeling and hence no need to knead so much, :). For the soup, you can add “mang guang”, which taste much better (I am a Hakka from KL and my mom used to sell Pan Mee).
Rasa Malaysia
SW, thanks so much for your tips. I have never seen it anywhere in California. :)
Yen
Being a Hakka girl, I grew up eating this dish. My mom made them using the pasta roller and that’s how I like it. When I am lazy to make my own, I just used those thiner udon and they taste just as good. We can’t really find sayur manis here in Hong Kong where I live now so I used baby choi sum as substitute and for the soup, I always add some chicken bones or feet to the soup to give it an even more flavourful soup. I also ‘toast’ my ikan bilis a bit to give it a bit of ‘smoky’ flavour….thanks for sharing this recipe. It makes me feel closer to home and fond memories of my deceased mom as we used to make the noodles together when I was a kid…
Rasa Malaysia
Yen, thanks for your comment and great that it brings nostalgia to you. :)
Violet
Hi Bee
Wow, my mum used to make this a lot when I was little. I come from a Hakka family. We have 2 restaurants here in Sydney ( Albee’s Kitchen in Campsie & Kingsford) that sell this and it’s just as good as mum’s. ok, looking at the bowl you just posted, looks like I will be going there soon for a one. This brings back so many childhood memories. Thanks for the great reminder
Serene Ng-Brown
Dear Bee,
I was wondering for the soup stock. Can I just use the chicken stock instead of anchovies/ikan bilis as my husband doesn’t like them very much, being Caucasian. I don’t mind adding the fried anchovies as toppings in my bowl of Pan Mee.
Rasa Malaysia
Yes you can.
Vincent Tan
Excellent and easy recipe to follow. I did add an extra egg to the dough and it came out perfect! I also added chicken cubes to add more flavor to the broth. Overall, I followed the recipe to the tee and the end results were perfect!
Highly recommend…
Rasa Malaysia
Awesome! So glad you liked my Pan Mee recipe.