Ah, noodles, our reliable source of food for late night snacking or during lazy stay-ins. Whether you’re living on a budget or just trying to make something fast and easy, noodles will never fail to keep you full and satisfied.
In the wonderful world of noodles, there are countless recipes. However, among the thousands of recipes, for me, nothing can beat the combination of flavours and variety of Malaysian-style noodles or mie.
Mie Goreng; the Ultimate Favourite
No matter race or social status, Malaysians do love their mie and we have the Chinese community to thank for this. Now, we not only have the Chinese-style mie such as the wonton mie and mee pok, but also variations with the addition of ingredients familiarly used in the food from the other races. You can have it in a soup, fried, wet or dry! My personal favorite is the good ol’ mie goreng.
The reason behind mie goreng’s unrivaled flavours is because the noodles or the mie are fried. The method is so simple yet the depth of combined flavours of all the ingredients melds beautifully together with every bite of mee you slurp down.
If you’re planning to make it truly authentic, I recommend seasoning your wok. When I say, ‘season’, I don’t mean sprinkling some salt and pepper onto your wok; no. Seasoning of the wok basically refers to the act of absorbing the flavours of aromatics you have fried such as shallots, ginger, garlic and onions, into your wok. Refer to our article, “Wok It” to learn the ways of properly seasoning your wok at home.
If your wok hasn’t been seasoned, then no worries. Just get to cooking. With the right recipes, your noodles are sure to be delicious. Here are 4 delicious mie goreng recipes that you can try at home.
1. Classic Mie Goreng
Nothing beats the classic. Therefore, it belongs at the top of this list. The classic mie goreng is basically a leftover dish. Whatever vegetables or meats or seafood you have freezing away in the corner of your fridge. Use it with this recipe.
You just need to heat up the wok, splash in some oil, saute some chopped garlic, chillies and shallots, add in the noodles, put in the vegetables, season with some salt and pepper and you’re done!
Ingredients:
a) Ingredients to blend
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 3 shallots, sliced
- 2 tablespoons of chilli paste
b) Other ingredients
- 1/2 cup of thick soy sauce
- 1/2 tablespoon of sugar
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon of white pepper
- 1 bunch of spinach, sliced
- 1 tomato, diced
- 1/2 carrot, diced
- 1/2 cup of shrimp, head removed and deveined.
- 1 chicken breast, diced to bite-sized chunks
- 350g of yellow noodles, rinsed thoroughly to remove chalk
- 2 tablespoons of oil
Method:
- In a wok, heat the oil on medium high heat. Once you see steam rise, reduce the flame and put in the blended ingredients.
- Saute til fragrant, changes into a darker colour and is a little dry.
- Add in the chunks of chicken and mix well. Add 14 cup water, soy sauce, salt, sugar and pepper. Stir to mix and let the chicken cook for about 3-5 minutes.
- Add in the shrimp, spinach and diced tomatoes. Stir to coat everything evenly before adding in the noodles. Stir for 3-5 minutes and let the noodle soak up the broth. Switch off flame and you’re ready to serve!
2. Maggi Goreng
The Koreans and Japanese have their ramen, the Indonesians have their Indomie while we Malaysians have Maggi. Maggi is a popular brand of instant noodles here in Malaysia and wherever you go, if you are dining in restaurants and stalls with the locals, you will find Maggi goreng or fried Maggi in the menu.
I do not know how exactly Maggi noodles gained such an acclaimed position in our diets but I do know that I love it! Maggi goreng is the bees’ knees! Unfortunately, you cannot always get Maggi overseas, but do not fret because you can find Malaysians selling Maggi on eBay and Amazon. Thank you, Internet!
Now, the recipe I am sharing here is the curry flavoured one. Maggi noodles come in a variety of flavours and the popular ones, according to ranking are; kari (curry), tomyam, asam laksa and ayam (chicken).
Ingredients:
- 2 packets of Maggi, blanched in boiling water and drained
- 4 shallots, minced
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons of chilli paste
- 2 medium-sized eggs
- 2 tofu, cut into bite-sized squares, rubbed with some salt and fried til golden
- 1/2 cup spinach, sliced
- 1/2 cup cabbage, shredded
- 1/2 carrot, diced
- 1/4 cup light soy sauce
- 4 bird’s eye chilli (optional)
- 1 packet of Maggi’s curry flavouring granules
- 1 spring onion, sliced thinly
- 2 tablespoons of oil
Method:
- In a wok, heat the oil on a medium high flame. When steam rises from the wok, reduce the flame and put in the minced garlic and shallot. Saute til fragrant.
- Add in the chilli paste and saute til oil breaks onto the surface (separates). This will take about 5-7 minutes.
- Add in the eggs and soy sauce. Scramble the eggs til cooked.
- Add in the spinach, carrot and cabbage. Stir to mix. Add in the bird’s eye chillies and fried tofu. Stir to mix well.
- Add in the Maggi mie and the Maggi flavouring. Stir gently to mix. You don’t wan’t the noodles to break. Taste and see if you need more soy sauce. If you do, add in 3 tablespoons.
- Garnish the noodles with some sliced spring onion and it is ready!
3. Mamak-Style Mie Goreng
Mie goreng Mamak, or Mamak fried noodles, is one of those local dishes that transcends all temporal boundaries. Be it breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner, supper, or some insane hour of the night or early a.m., you will not be hard pressed to find a 24-hour Mamak restaurant ready to serve a freshly cooked plate of mee goreng just for you and the surprising number of patrons who are still awake and hungry at 4.00 a.m on a weekday.
While ingredients, protein and vegetables used may differ from recipe to recipe, it always uses yellow noodles and comes coated in a dark sauce. We love our version of Mamak Mie Goreng. Why? Well, it uses simple ingredients and best of all, it doesn’t take long to prepare!
4. Sang Har Mie Goreng
Sang har mee, or sang har mein (noodles) as it is also known as, is a favourite delicacy amongst seafood enthusiasts. Featuring large, beautiful prawns atop a bed of crispy fried noodles drenched with eggy sauce, this dish is, admittedly, not one of the cheaper options on most restaurant menus. Most sang har mee dishes are served with the noodles swimming in a super starchy (but very tasty) eggy sauce, while some restaurants specialize in a drier variety.
However, our version of the Sang Har Mie recipe has a tasty sauce that wets your noodles but doesn’t completely drench it. Best of all, you’ll get a lot more bang for your buck when making it at home rather than dining in a restaurant!
Can’t Get Enough of Mie?
How do you find these recipes? Do they fullfill your noodle dreams? Whatever your answer may be, I know there’s a noodle recipe out there for everyone.
Check out some of Butterkicap’s other noodle recipes. The char kuey teow ,mie siam and ginger beef kuey teow recipes are just a couple you need to try. Stay tuned for part two to our mie goreng journey because I have so many more recipes to share with you.
