Tuesday 6 November 2012

Mee Kedah (Kedah Noodles)


Finally, I am trying a recipe from Betty Saw's cookbook, Rasa Malaysia. I bought this book more than a year ago and as usual, all I ever did since then was flip the pages. And what a blessing this book has been as it features recipes from all the states in Malaysia.

Gravy, noodles and condiments
As I looked through dishes featured in the Kedah section, I decided to try the Mee Kedah. There are not many photographs featured in this book and I had to use my imagination to conjure images of this noodle dish. From what I could gather from the ingredients, the gravy derives it's main flavours from dried prawns.

Pounded dried prawns and spice paste

And this is the first time I am cooking a dish that I have never eaten before. The spice paste used is pretty simple. It is made of dried chillies, shallots and garlic. These are blended and then sauteed until fragrant before adding the pounded dried prawns. I must say that at this stage, my kitchen was exuding a heavenly aroma. I wonder if my neighbours were suddenly hit by pangs of hunger due to the wonderful smell. Hee..hee...

Beef slices and prawns in the red gravy. Yummy!

Once the dried prawns are sufficiently fried (garing), beef broth is added. And when I tasted the soup, it very much reminded me of prawn noodle soup (har mee). Instead of prawn heads and shells, this Mee Kedah gets it's robust prawn flavours from the pounded dried prawns.


I was very pleased with the outcome and I enjoyed the Mee Kedah very much. Imagine prawn mee with slices of beef, that's what Mee Kedah is like. Highly recommended!











Mee Kedah (Kedah Noodles)
Recipe from : Rasa Malaysia by Betty Saw (Page 229). My adaptations in red.

Ingredients :
- 600g Yellow noodles
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil (to oil the noodles)
- 300g beef, thinly sliced
- 1.5 liter water
- 4 tablespoons cooking oil
- 120g dried prawns, pounded
- 300g fresh prawns, shells removed
- 1/2 can (285g) tomato soup (I substituted with 2 tablespoons of tomato puree added with 250ml water)
- 1 teaspoon seasoning powder (I used 3 cubes of chicken stock)
- Salt to taste
- 300g mustard greens (sawi hijau)

Blended ingredients :
- 20 dried chillies, soaked
- 8 shallots
- 3 cloves garlic

Garnishing :
- 4 hard boiled eggs
- 2 pieces beancurd, fried and cut into strips
- 300g beansprouts
- 2 tomatoes, sliced
- 5 red chillies, sliced
- Fried shallots
- Spring onions
- Chinese parsley (daun sup)

Method :
- Blanch noodles in boiling water and drain.
- Toss noodles with 1 tablespoon cooking oil to avoiding them from clumping together.
- Boil beef until tender. 
- Heat 4 tablespoons oil and saute blended ingredients for a few minutes.
- Add dried prawns and continue to fry until fragrant.
- Add beef together with the water it was boiled in. Bring to a boil.
- Add fresh prawns, tomato soup, seasoning and salt.
- Add greens.

To serve :
- Put noodles in serving bowl.
- Pour soup over the noodles and garnish accordingly.


I am submitting this post to Malaysian Food Fest, Kedah and Perlis Month hosted by WendyinKK of Table for 2.....or More.

60 comments:

  1. Sound very very flavorful!!1 Loved all the ingredients...Wish I could taste this!

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    1. Priya, it had very bold prawn flavours. Spicy and very pleasing!

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  2. Looks delish! It is almost dinner time, and you are making me hungry! Luckily I have braised some "loh chi kiok" today! hehehe! Your laksa sounds good, especially if it has dried prawns, I love dried prawns in anything except in "ham yok chung"!
    I am pretty ignorant about the food of Kedah too and have never tried this laksa before! I think I could eat two bowls, it looks really, really good!
    Have a great week!

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    1. Joyce, can I have some of your "loh chi kiok"? Hah! Hah! If you like dried prawns, then this Mee Kedah is for your. It tastes very much like har mee.

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  3. So colorful and looks delicious. the garnishing is great looking

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  4. You clever girl you! I'm quite a visual person and hate recipes without pictures.
    For a moment there I thought you'd lost your way being in Kedah mode, then I remembered the MFF you're so involved in.
    This looks delicious! I bow to those who make rempah from scratch....

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    1. Eh, thanks Ping! I haven't been told I'm clever since I was 10 years old. I'm glad to get to know food from other states.

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  5. It sure looks real appetizing and delicious ..... a colorful plate of noodles with so many ingredients in there! Your family is so lucky as you are cooking up a storm every now and then....

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    1. Hi Mel, hah! hah! I am eating up a storm too. Nor very good for the waistline lor....

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  6. it's a pleasure just to go throuh the cook book, thinking just what to cook...
    Blog about life and travelling
    Blog about cooking

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  7. This is Malay version of Penang hokkien mee, pork change to beef. Sound tasty and good.

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    1. Sonia, ya lor that's what I thought too. It's very nice, I drank and finish my bowl of soup :)

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  8. Looks so colorful and inviting... I am craving some now

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    1. Vimitha, you could cook this at home. Leave out the beef if you don't eat it. It will still taste good with all the prawn flavours.

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  9. Hi Phong Hong, your mee Kedah sure look delicious and tempting. Can make mine with extra taugeh and prawns. :)

    Have a nice week ahead.

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    1. Sure, Amelia! Tambah taugeh and prawns for you anytime :)

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  10. Mee Kedah satu!!
    Hehe, sound good, beef and prawns, I love them both!

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  11. Can I have a bowl for my breakfast please!!! I like this mee as it uses tomato soup instead of coconut milk. Much healthier I presume :)

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    1. Gertrude, this is great for breakfast. Very fulfilling and yes, healthier as it doesn't use santan. But I couldn't really taste the tomato flavour. Maybe because I didn't put enough tomato puree. Next time I will put tomato soup.

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  12. Yummmmm!!!! This looks like to die for! My daughter's in Sg Petani and I've visited her a few times there but I never had the chance to eat this. I guess I have nobody there to take me around to eat the best in town....

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    1. Arthur, next time when you visit your daughter you can make it a point to eat the Mee Kedah. Or better still, why wait? Cook this at home!

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  13. Another beautiful, colorful, tempting dish!!!

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    1. Thanks, Lizzy! I love the red colour and the prawns.

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  14. Dry version of prawn mee? Never had it before. But looks yummy though.

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    1. Veronica, actually it's not dry. It has a soup base and it's really good!

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  15. Phong Hong, you 1st & last picture reminds me of the mee rebus! Looks delicious!

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    1. Jessie, this is some sort of mee rebus also lah. If you like har mee, you will definitely like this. Very sedap lor!

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  16. First Terengganu and now Kedah... wow, you are really busy cooking up a storm form state to state! I salute you!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Chef! It's a good opportunity for me to learn foods from other states, some of which I haven't even visited. And also it's a nice kick in the butt for me to try out recipes from my cookbooks instead of just looking at the pictures!

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  17. Hi Phong Hong,
    I want to cook this since you mention it is like har mee.. I loveee har mee.
    I was reading Betty Saw -'Rasa Malaysia' in the bookshop last week. I was looking mee kedah too...because of no picture so I can't imagine how does it look it like. Thanks to you I can see n feel the taste of mee kedah.
    Now it's lunch time.. can I order 1 bowl from you with lots if prawn n soup? I will slurp up the last bit of soup in the bowl..LOL
    Have a nice day!

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    1. Hi Mui Mui, sure you can have 1 bowl with extra prawns! Hee..hee...If you like har mee then you should cook Mee Kedah. I also slurp all my soup!

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  18. very colorful and tempting..

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  19. Aiya....looking at this in the middle of the night is not good...now i am hungry! Sounds like something i would love to try...so i could substitute the beef with pork then if i wanted...and no need to collect prawn heads ..whew!

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    1. Esther, yes can substitute with pork (I'm going to try that the next time) and you will find that the flavours from the dried prawns is really fantastic.

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  20. All your local Malaysian dishes are leaving me drooling big time. This looks so delicious... Now I feel like making it too!

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  21. Copying down the recipe for weekend lunch :)

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    1. Hi Mich, that's great! It will make for a very fulfilling lunch. You will drink the soup till the very last drop :)

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  22. Whoa! So when are you making this again? Can I just pop over? Lets trade, tell me what you feel like having for dessert and I will bake it? Heheheh.. I want this right now.. so hungry :P

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    1. Heh..heh...heh...Jo, let me pop over to your blog and make my selections, ahem! I want this, I want that, I want this, I want that......

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  23. Phong Hong...I have the book too but never flip through. I didn't know that she has it categorized into states dishes :p Must go and check it out LOL! Your Kedah mee looks delish !

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    1. Haiyah, Elin! You are worse than me when it comes to cookbooks :)

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  24. Wow I would love to have a look at that cookbook. Do you think it is still available for sale? I'm not a huge prawn mee fan but your noodles look fantastic! I'm going to stick with non-seafood dishes for this month's MFF I think.

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    1. Hi Kelly! I think this book is still available. I got it from MPH. Not a seafood fan? Me too actually! I hardly cook seafood and prefer chicken :)

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  25. Lovely dish and lovely blog: I'll follow you!

    www.francescainthekitchen.blogspot.com

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    1. Thank you, Francesca! Am following you back :)

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  26. It is so colourful and tempting. I will try this soon because I can't tahan anymore. lol.
    Thanks for sharing.
    Meantime, I will try to get this book too.

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  27. Oh wow, this mee Kedah looks yum! Especially with the tomato soup base which I love, I can already imagine its delicious. :)) do you think I can sub the beef with chicken or pork instead? Thanks Phong Hong for another fabulous recipe... I think I might just try this. :))

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    1. Honey Bee Sweets! Now I am getting a sweet feeling in my mouth hah! hah! Yes, you can sub the beef with chicken or pork. If I cook this again, I will use pork belly :)

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  28. Phong Hong, you really outdid yourself with this beautiful prawns dish, which I love so much...love the colors the spices (spicier, the better) the presentation is stunning and incredible! Thanks for sharing:) xo

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    1. Elisabeth, thank you for your generous compliments! The soup is spicy due to the dried chillies and it does pack a punch.

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  29. i also have one of betty saw's books but not this one..that book is all on noodles..i wonder if they have this one too..you know lah..sometimes we have so many books that we almost lost track what the recipes inside..hehe..looks delicious..never had kedah food or any sort..just like terengganu ! if you say like har mee, i think i will love that too minus the beef :)

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    1. Hi Lena, thanks to MFF I finally look at the book or else will still be hibernating on the shelf! I must dig out some more cookbooks to prepare for the other states :)

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  30. Hi Phong Hong,
    I made this today, its quite nice. You are right, it is a bit like "har meen" .Wishing you "Gong Xi Fa Cai" and many happy returns.

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    1. Hi butterfingers! Glad you tried it because I enjoyed this Mee Kedah very much. Gong Xi Fa Cai to you and family!

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