Mee Rebus - "Malaysia Monday 2" And A Blog Event Announcement!

This is my second Malaysian Monday and I can't think of a dish more appropriate to launch our "Muhibbah* Malaysia Monday blog event with. Mee rebus a little known noodle dish outside of Malaysia and Singapore might not share the same limelight as laksa, satay or nasi lemak but it is certainly as delicious, complex and exciting. The choice of using an obscure dish with a rather unimaginative name (mee rebus meaning boiled noodles in Malay) to launch an event is of course not without my valid reasons. This is fusion food at its best and it represents our beautiful and diverse country rather fittingly; using Chinese ingredients (Hokkien noodles, bean sprouts and soya bean paste) typical Malay spices (galangal, turmeric, chillies) and the use of sweet potato in the sauce is evidence of the Indian Muslim's influence (think Indian rojak). This is my first attempt using my nanny Fatimah's family recipe and it tasted just like what she used to cook for me - she would have been proud of me, I think. Terima kasih Kak Timah! Do read on after the recipe to find out more about the blog event I mentioned earlier.

serves 6 as a very satisfying one dish meal

you'll need;

2 kg of Hokkien noodles

500 g of prawns, blanched and peeled (reserve heads and shells)*

500 g of stewing beef, cut into small cubes

500 g of bean sprouts

1 piece of firm tofu, cubed and fried

6 hard boiled eggs, cut into wedges

3 spring onions, chopped

3 long green chillies, sliced

Chinese celery, chopped

3 limes, cut into wedges

crispy fried shallots

500 g of sweet potato, peeled, cooked til tender and mashed with 1 tbs of corn flour and 1/2 cup of water

3 tbs of preserved soya bean, mashed

3 tbs of Malaysian meat curry powder (I used burung nuri brand)

sugar to taste

sea salt to taste

* I used extra prawn heads and shells I reserved from my previous prawn dishes for a much sweeter gravy.

for the spice mix;

5 cm knob of galangal, peeled and chopped

6 garlic cloves, chopped

250 g of shallots, chopped

15 to 20 dried chillies, soaked in boiling water and chopped (adjust to your liking)

2 cm piece of turmeric, chopped

2 tsp of shrimp paste, toasted

Ingredients for the gravy.

Cook prawns in 2 L of water, remove prawns. Return prawn heads and shells to the pot and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove solids.

Add diced beef to the prawn stock and simmer til tender (approximately an hour)

Finely pound the spices in a mortal and pestle.

Fry spice paste with some oil for a few minutes on low flame til fragrant then add in the curry powder. Continue to fry the paste for a few minutes, add a little water if it becomes too dry.

Add sweet potato mixture follow by the fried spice paste. Stir well and simmer til the sauce thickens. Check for seasonings.

Have all the toppings standby.

Place blanched noodles and bean sprouts in a bowl, ladle some gravy over and garnish with the toppings. Squeeze some lime over, mix well and enjoy! Aduh! Enak sekali! 

Muhibbah* Malaysian Monday Blog Event.

When my fellow blogger friend Shaz from "Test With Skewer" first started her Malaysian Monday posts, it was an attempt to try and get her Mr. Kitchen Hand to eat Malaysian desserts. This then evolved into a little bit of a weekly touch-base between herself, and her roots. Being a loyal reader and a big fan of her Malaysian Monday posts, I emailed Sharon to suggest turning it into a blog event and she was happy to let me jump onto her bandwagon.

So, come one, come all – Malaysian or otherwise. Join us for the Muhibbah Malaysian Monday blog event. The “rules” are pretty simple:

1)  ANYONE can join in – you don’t have to be Malaysian.

2) Post anything related to food and Malaysia, on a Monday (you can do a one-off, every week, or anywhere in between). It could be about food, drink, a restaurant review, a cookbook, an interesting ingredient, etc, etc.

3) Send us your name, your post(s) name and post URL by the LAST Wednesday of the month. Please write Muhibbah Monday #X in the subject line. We will pull a photo off your post to use in our round-up. Remember to grab the batch and link it back to us.

4) Shaz (its[dot]sharon[at]gmail[dot]com) and I (sureshchong[at]yahoo[dot]com and  will take turns to host, and we will let you know where to send each month’s entry. If you would like to take a turn at hosting, do send us an email. (This month, send all entries to Sharon aka Shaz)

5) On the first Monday of every month, a round up of all the entries will be posted on the host’s blog.

That’s about it.Mari masak, minum, main bersama-sama! (Let’s cook, eat, drink and play together).Muhibbbah = Goodwill