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Maya Kitchenette

Mee Siam Recipe

Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 1 minute
Total Time 31 minutes
Calories: 374

Ingredients
  

To be blended into a paste
  • 40 dried chilies - seeded soaked in hot water for 10 minutes and drained
  • 3 large onion - peeled and sliced
  • 12 garlic - peeled
  • Once blended divide the spice paste into 2 portions.
For the vermicelli
  • 1 portion of the spice paste
  • 1 packet of rice vermicelli - soaked in warm water for 20-30 minutes and drained
  • 2 tbsp fermented/salted soybeans tauco - Washed well to get rid of access salt and drained
  • 300 g fresh shrimps peeled and deveined
  • 2 cups of beansprouts tauge
  • Salt to taste
For the gravy
  • 1 portion of the spice paste
  • 3 tbsp fermented/salted soybeans tahuco - Washed well to get rid of access salt and drained
  • 1 stalk of lemongrass - bruised
  • 1/2 inch of galangal - peeled and bruised
  • 2/3 cup of roasted peanuts skin removed and grounded till semi-fine.
  • 50 g assam jawa tamarind paste mixed with 1.5 litres of water
  • 1/3 to 1/2 cup of sugar according to taste
  • Salt to taste
For the garnishing
  • 8 hard-boiled eggs
  • Puffed Tofu squares - cut into cubes (You can also deep fried fresh beancurd that has been cut into 1 cm cubes.
  • Chinese chives - washed and cut 1.5 cm long
  • 8 calamansi limes halve crosswise and discard seeds

Method
 

Cooking the vermicelli
  1. Heat a few tablespoon of cooking oil in a pan/wok.
  2. Fry the spice paste until fragrant, for about 10 minutes.
  3. Add in the fresh shrimps and salted soybeans (tauco) and stir well.
  4. Mix in the rice vermicelli and cook till the vermicelli is soft.
  5. Throw in the bean sprouts, season with salt and cook for a further 2 minutes before turning off the fire.
For the gravy
  1. Heat a few tablespoons of cooking oil in a pot and fry the spice paste, lemon grass and galangal until fragrant. This takes about 10 minutes.
  2. Add the salted soybeans and cook for a further 2 minutes.
  3. Pour the tamarind juice and season with salt and sugar.
  4. Bring it to a boil then add the grounded peanuts.
  5. Let it simmer for 2-3 minutes on low heat and turn off the flame.
To serve
  1. In a bowl, place a serving of rice vermicelli, then add some gravy over the vermicelli. Garnish with a hard-boiled egg, beancurd, chives and half of a lime.
  2. Before eating, squeeze the lime all over the mee siam.

Notes

Instead of using tamarind paste, you can also use 2 pieces assam gelugoh (tamarind skin). Do remember to add the 1.5 litres of water to the gravy though.