Mee Siam

Condiments

• 3 eggs

• Cucumber

• Coriander

Rempah paste

• 6 shallots

• 4 cloves of garlic

• 10 dried chilli (rehydrated)

• 1 tsp belacan

• Cooking oil

• 1 tbsp of tau cheo (fermented soybean paste)

• 2 tsp of tomato paste

• 1 tbsp Tamarind

• 1.5 tsps of sugar

Other ingredients

• 50g of dried shrimp (soak in 1/2 cup or 125ml of water)

• Some cooking oil

• Dried shrimp soaking liquid (see under rempah paste)

• 250g of vermicelli

• Some water

• Juice of a lime

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Soak the rice vermicelli in hot water for 2-3 minutes, until it has lost its’ packet shape. We will cook it further a little later. Drain the vermicelli and pop them onto a tea towel to dry out.

Now onto the Rempah paste. Roughly chop the garlic, shallots, dry red chillis and pop them into a pestle and mortar, along with the belacan and the fermented soy bean paste. Pound those together into a paste. Now add the tamarind, sugar and tomato paste to the mixture and give that a good mix through in the pestle and mortar.

Now make your omelette. Add a pinch of salt to the 3 eggs, beat them and pour into a well oiled wok. Get the wok up to a high heat and then turn it down before you add the eggs. Swirl the egg around the wok as it cooks, to create a thin omelette. Once the omelette is partially cooked, turn the wokup high again and brown it, before flipping it and browning the other side. Chop it into thin strips and pop onto the plate.

Add some more oil to the wok, and add a handful of the dried shrimp. Crisp those up and then add the paste. Once the ingredients are cooked through, add the noodles. If the noodles are clumping together, add some of the shrimp water to loosen the mixture up. Now cook on high heat using the ‘tummy and the head’ method (push the food around with your ladle and toss the wok back and forth at the same time).

Garnish with cucumbers, some fresh chillis and a squeeze of lime for a fresh alternative breakfast