How to cook Mee Rebus at home.

When dinner was served last night, my mouth watered not because of the plate of Mee Rebus in front of me but at a particular garnish. The dish was garnished with a hard boiled egg, Chinese celery, green chillies, fried firm tofu(tau kwa), fried shallots and bean sprouts and it was a green Calamansi sliced into halves, displaying its orange flesh and just waiting to be squeezed of its juices to compliment the homemade mee rebus that triggered it.

Mee rebus is literally translated as boiled noodles in English. It is a popular Malay hawker food that is readily available in foodcourts, coffee shops and hawkers centres in Singapore. The dish is made of yellow wheat noodles, ( Hokkien noodles), with a spicy slightly sweet curry-like sauce. The sauce is basically made from sweet potatoes, curry powder, stock, salted soya beans, dried shrimps, and peanuts. The dish also goes well with satay, therefore it is common to find both foods available in the same vicinity.
In the past, mee rebus was sold by Malay hawkers who carried two cane baskets over a bamboo pole. One basket contained a charcoal fired stove and a pot of boiling water, and the other the ingredients for the dish.

Mee Rebus Recipe:

To blend and set aside

10 red chillies

3cm galangal

2 cm turmeric

4 cloves garlic

10 shallots

4 candle nuts (buah keras)

1 handful of dried shrimp (soak)

1 tbsp coriander powder
1 tbsp of curry powder

Other ingredients :

3 medium size sweet potatoes (steam and mash)5 cups of beef or chicken stock
1 cup roasted peanut and f grounded coarsely
½ cup tau cheo (salted soya bean)

Salt to taste

Sugar to taste

1 kg of yellow noodles (Hokkien noodles) - blanch with boiling water

Garnishes

3-4 hard boiled eggs, cut in wedges
20 medium size prawns - shell and devein and blanch

3-4 limau kasturi* [kalamansi limes], cut into halves
3 cups bean sprouts, briefly blanched
2 pcs. Fried tau gua ( firm tofu)
10 shallots, thinly sliced and fried golden brown
4 pcs green chilies
3-4 hard boiled eggs, cut in wedges
½ cup Chinese Celery

Method:

1) Using a mortar and pestle or blender, Grind candlenuts, chili paste, fresh turmeric, shallots, galangal and coriander powder into a fine paste. Heat oil and fry the blended ingredients until fragrant. Put in stock and sweet potatoes. Bring to boil and simmer for 10 minutes, till a gravy-like consistency is reached..2) Add in seasoning and bring to boil again. Keep gravy hot on the low-medium heat, for serving.
To serve: Put noodles and beansprout in a dish. Pour hot gravy over and garnish with eggs, cucumber, Chinese celery, prawns, fried shallots and chillies.