We do miss Singapore, so what better way to nostalgia than eating Singapore noodles? It’s a wonderful Asian all-in-one meal, except that no one in Singapore eats anything like it! Most of the recipes for Singapore noodles are in cookbooks meant for the Western audience.
But that hasn’t deterred me from making this dish for the family as it’s light and fresh, and is “fast food”, based on bee hoon (rice noodles) , which are a Singapore staple. Although the list of ingredients is daunting, most are from the store cupboard, and the fresh ingredients need just one shop at the local grocery store.
I have tried several recipes, including those from Ken Hom, Ching, America’sTest Kitchen and our very own Guardian. I like this version because of the treatment of curry powder (a British invention!) in the recipe. Like with other Indian spices, this needs to be “bloomed” in hot oil. Adding it to the noodles (like in the Guardian recipe) or omitting it altogether doesn’t work. Only the America Test Kitchen recipe adds it the hot oil. Also, when using prawns, it’s always best to add them closer to the end of the cooking period, as they so easy to overcook. For some reason, several of the recipes add them before adding the veggies (including Ching’s).
A quick note about the difference in rice noodles and the yellow egg noodles that you see in Asian sections. I delved into some detail in Singapore to figure out which noodles are the best to eat, and the Health Promotion Board of Singapore recommends rice noodles over egg noodles, as they have lower calories, are less refined, and have fewer additives. I also love to cook with them as you can buy fresh rice noodles at the supermarket, and they don’t need precooking before stir frying.
| Prep Time | 15 min |
| Cook Time | 15 min |
| Servings |
generously
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- 3 tablespoons groundnut or vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons curry powder
- large pinch chilli powder
- 2 tablespoons shaoxing rice wine or sake or dry sherry
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce or Kikkoman Japanese soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- dash of sesame oil
- 1/2 teaspoon chicken stock concentrate or veggie stock concentrate
- 500 g rice vermicelli noodles fresh, or 250g dried
- 3 garlic cloves grated
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger grated
- 1 green chilli chopped finely, optional
- 2 large shallots or red onions, sliced thinly
- 2 eggs large, lightly beaten
- 4 spring onions sliced into 2-inch pieces
- 2 teaspoons lime juice plus lime wedges for serving
- Handful fresh coriander chopped
- 5-8 mushrooms sliced
- 1 cup bean sprouts
- 1/4 cup green peas
- 1 red pepper or yellow/green, seeded, and cut into matchsticks
- 1 medium carrot cut into matchsticks
- 200 g prawns or chicken, sliced pork, cooked roast pork, firm tofu, chopped bacon, etc.
- 10-12 green beans sliced diagonally & microwaved for 2 minutes
Ingredients
Store cupboard ingredients
Fresh Ingredients
Vegetables & protein (use any 3-4 veg and some protein from the list below) and protein
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- First off deal with the noodles, if using dry ones. Place the dry noodles in large bowl and pour boiling water over the noodles and stir briefly. Soak noodles until flexible, but not too soft, about 3 minutes. Drain noodles and cut them into thirds, else they will be hard to stir fry.
- In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, sugar and stock concentrate. Separately, prepare the eggs by adding sesame oil and a dash of light soy sauce to them.
- Heat 2½ tablespoons of oil in a large wok or large frying pan. On medium high heat, add the curry powder, and chilli powder, if using, stirring occasionally, until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Add garlic, ginger, and green chilli if using and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Add shallots and fry until light golden. Pour in the shaoxing wine.
- Add the veggies (excluding bean sprouts, if using) and cook on a high heat, stirring frequently, until vegetables are crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. High heat is important as you want the veggies to stay stir fry, not steam.
- Add the meat in the order – bacon/raw pork, raw chicken, raw prawns, followed by any cooked meats. Continue to fry until the prawns are cooked through. Prawns take no more than a 1-2 minutes to cook, so move quickly to the next step to avoid overcooking them.
- Add the noodles, stir and add the combined sauce ingredients from step 2. (If using dry noodles, you may find that they absorb more liquid, so add a tablespoon or two of water if they start sticking to the wok).
- Stir and continue to cook until just cooked through, about 90 seconds longer. Push the noodles to the edges of the wok, and create a space in the middle to cook the eggs.
- Add the remaining ½ tablespoon of oil to cleared section. Add the beaten eggs and using a rubber spatula (preferably), stir eggs gently until set but still wet, about 1 minute. Then mix the eggs in with the rest of noodles.
- Add bean sprouts (if using), the spring onions and lime juice and toss together to combine. Serve with the lime wedges and chopped coriander.
Unlike vegetable stir fries, this recipe can be made about 1-2 hours in advance and gently reheated, in the wok, without losing flavour and crunch.