Fried Mee Suah (Chinese Flour Vermicelli)

Looking back thru my blog of three years, I noticed that I only had one post on Chinese noodles! I do cook noodles quite often in my house, and we have a number of favourites. So for today, I'm sharing a fried noodle recipe, which I've recently tried cooking at home, we would usually order this when we have noodles at Chinese restaurants.  It involve a little extra work, but you would enjoy a lovely plate (or two!) of noodles later.

A plate of Fried Mee Suah 

Mee Suah (Flour Vermicelli)

Mee Suah (Chinese Flour Vermicelli) is a dried, thin, brittle, lightly salted Chinese noodles made from wheat flour. This noodle is very popular among the Chinese, and mostly it is cooked as noodle soup. The uncooked noodles is brittle and must be handled gently to avoid it from breaking to pieces. There are many brands of Mee Suah in the market, I bought these as these are what I found from the supermarket near my house. I usually use the ones packed in a box.

Most families have their own way of enjoying this noodle. During a ladies confinement period, just after child-birth, this noodles are cooked in soup, with lots of ginger and Chinese wine, and usually with some meat, added. The ginger is to dispel the postpartum wind from the body, the Chinese wine is to give strength and warmth, and the noodles is soft enough for the fragile tummy just after childbirth. This noodle is also known as the "Longevity Noodle" and is usually served at birthday dinners, where it signifies long life in the Chinese culture. I have fond memories of this noodles when I was a little girl. My beloved late mom would cook for us a bowl of this noodle soup, whenever we are down with fever or flu, and usually she would break an egg in the soup, and it will be served all nice and round and so delicious with the noodles with a splash of soy sauce. For today, I'm sharing the fried version..

Let's get started :

Boil some water in a pot, preferably with a pot strainer. Have the boiling pot of water ready before you start to fry the noodle.

1. Heat some oil over medium low heat for deep frying in a small pot. Here I have used my Chinese wok, with the minimum amount of oil, just enough to cover one skein of the Mee Suah at a time, as I am rather stingy with the oil and do not want so much of leftover oil after all the frying. Best handle one skein of noodle at a time, as they gets brown very fast.
2.  As soon as the oil is medium hot, place one skein of Mee Suah in the hot oil. Wait for about 20-30 seconds, and flip over gently using a pair of chopsticks, taking care not to break up the noodles. Fry until both sides are golden brown and crispy. Lift noodles and shake off excess oil.
3. Immediately place noodles in hot simmering water. It will bubble up when the hot oily noodles touches the water. Do not stir at this point or the noodles will break up! 
4. Let it sit in the simmering water for about 20-30 seconds until soften. 
5. Loosen gently with the chopsticks and lift the pot strainer up to drain the noodles. 
6. Pour the noodles into a colander to drain excess water. Repeat all steps until all the noodles are done. The noodles are now ready to be used in making a plate of Fried Mee Suah.

I cooked this Fried Mee Suah with whatever veggies I have in the fridge, and I always have a head of cabbage, my favourite "emergency veggie"! I love storing cabbage as they keep well in the fridge and very good as a stir-fry veggie dish or use them up for simple noodles dish like this. I have used slices of chicken meat, shiitake mushroom, carrots cut to julienned strips, spring onions and fried crispy shallots for garnishing. Though it can't be seen from the picture, there is an egg used!

I enjoyed this noodle very much ...

that I cooked this again, two weeks later, this time using some pork fillet meat and added in some bean sprouts, I love bean sprouts, crispy and crunchy, gives that added umph.. to noodles!

and of course, my favourite condiment to everything, especially noodles, some sliced birds eye chillies with some soy sauce, and sometimes with a squeeze of lime. 

I'm sharing this with :
See Ya In The Gumbo hosted by Ms. enPlace
Recipe Box hosted by Bizzy Bakes
Full Plate Thursday hosted by Miz Helen's Country Cottage

Fried Mee Suah
(adapted from "Tasty Noodles" with some changes)
4-5 skeins of mee suah

300gm chicken or pork fillet, sliced thinly to small pieces
2 tsp cornflour
2 tsp water
pinch of salt
1 egg white
2 tsp sesame oil

150gm cabbage (cut to small pieces)
200gm bean sprouts
6 dried shiitake mushrooms (soaked to soften, remove stalk and sliced caps thinly)
1 small carrot (cut to julienned strips)
1 medium onion, peeled, halved and sliced thinly
2 eggs, beaten lightly
2 teaspoon black soy sauce (or more depending on how dark you want your noodles)
2-3 tablespoons light soy sauce, or to taste
dash of white pepper powder
1 tsp chicken stock powder
cooking oil

Getting the Mee Suah ready (same steps from above, refer to the photos) :
Boil some water in medium pot, and let it come to a simmer before you proceed with the steps below.

1. Heat some oil over medium low heat for deep frying in a small pot. Here I have used my Chinese wok, with the minimum amount of oil, just enough to cover one skein of the Mee Suah at a time, as I am rather stingy with the oil and do not want so much of leftover oil after all the frying. Best handle one skein of noodle at a time, as they gets brown very fast.
2. As soon as the oil is medium hot, place one skein of Mee Suah in the hot oil. Wait for about 20-30 seconds, and flip over gently using a pair of chopsticks, taking care not to break up the noodles. Fry until both sides are golden brown and crispy. Lift noodles and shake off excess oil.
3. Immediately place noodles in hot simmering water. It will bubble up when the hot oily noodles touches the water. Do not stir at this point or the noodles will break up! 
4. Let it sit in the simmering water for about 20-30 seconds until soften. 
5. Loosen gently with the chopsticks and lift the pot strainer up to drain the noodles. 
6. Pour the noodles into a colander to drain excess water. Repeat all steps until all the noodles are done. The noodles are now ready to be used in making a plate of Fried Mee Suah.

To cook Fried Mee Suah :

1. Stir the cornflour and water in a medium bowl to combine, add in salt and egg white, stir to evenly combine. Add in the pork or chicken fillet, stir till meat is evenly coated, stir in the sesame oil, keep aside for 15-20 minutes.
2. Heat 2 tbsp oil in wok. Pour marinated meat in hot oil and keep stirring to separate pieces until cooked, about 3 minutes. Remove and drain.
3. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a clean wok. Pour in beaten egg and keep stirring until egg is golden and in pieces. Add in the sliced onions, fry until fragrant, add in the mushrooms. Keep stirring for a couple of minutes until the mushrooms are fragrant. Add in the prefried meat from step 2 above, stirring constantly to evenly combined. Add in the sliced cabbage and carrots, keep stirring for a minute or two. 
4. Add in the Mee Suah and beansprouts, together with the black soy sauce, light soy sauce, dash of pepper, to taste. If using chicken stock powder, dissolve in light soy sauce first. Stir to combine for a couple of minutes, until beansprouts are lightly cooked and still crunchy.
5. Serve garnished with chopped spring onions and crispy fried shallots.

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