Sing Chow Mei Fun | Singaporean Rice Noodles

Whenever weekends are over I feel the nightmare of cooking on weekdays under extreme pressure which is nothing less than a pressure test of any cooking challenge. But thankfully I’ve got South East Asian cuisines hidden under my sleeves. Not only I love to cook these cuisines but my family also enjoys these delicious quick dishes a lot. And they are definitely the one for whom I keep myself pushing to try something new on every possible day. Recently when I was rearranging the menu of the blog (look just below the banner picture), I realized I have so many recipes from different part of South East Asia but I have nothing from either Singapore or Japan. That’s weird, right? I had the similar feeling. So I planned quickly to feel up the blank and prepared Sing Chow Mei Fun aka Singaporean Rice Noodles which is not only one of the easiest dish to cook but also a delicious dish to make your tummy happy all day long!

Sing Chow Mein Fun is a famous Singaporean Street Noodleswhich is only available on the streets of Singapore and Thailand. This delicious dish has two star ingredients; rice noodles and ‘Madrassi curry paste’ based sauce. For those who have no idea about rice noodles, let me enlighten you about it. Rice noodles are the easiest & quickest noodles ever! These hassle-free small bricks can do magic in your weeknight’s dinner. They needs no cooking at all; just dunk them in warm water and they will be ready in few minutes to get stir fried or to go with your soup! Little wonder, ain’t they? On the other hand curry paste is a mixture of cooked spices in oil which is mostly used in South India. So from the city Madras (currently known as Chennai) of Tamil Nadu (origin of Tamil people) the name ‘Madrassi curry paste’ came.

Getting over dosed with historical babbling? Forget it and go straight to the recipe of Sing Chow Mei Fun aka Singaporean Rice Noodles to make your family (read, tummy) laugh!

Preparation Time: 15 mins

Cooking/Active Time: 15 mins

Resting/Inactive time: 00 mins

Total Time: 30 mins

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

Rice noodles: 200g or 1 brick

Minced garlic: 2 tbsp

Grated ginger: 1 tbsp

Button mushroom, sliced: ¼ cup

Red bell pepper, julienned: ¼ cup

Mung beansprout washed & soaked in water: ¼ cup

Baby corn, sliced: ¼ cup

Spring onion, chopped: 2 tbsp

Shrimp, deveined & cleaned: ½ cup

Pork or chicken, sliced: ½ cup

Oil: 2-3 tbsp

For the Sauce:

Madrassi curry paste: 2 tbsp

Minced garlic: 2 cloves

Dark soy sauce: 2 tbsp

Light soy sauce: 3 tbsp

Red chili sauce or paste: 1 tbsp

Sriracha or any other hot sauce: 1 tbsp

Oyster sauce: 2 tbsp

Rice vinegar: 1 tbsp

Chicken broth or water: ½ cup

Turmeric powder: 1 tsp

Paprika powder: 1 tsp

Lemon juice, freshly squeezed: 2 tbsp

Brown sugar or honey: 2½ tbsp

To serve:

Soft or hardboiled egg,

Lemon wedges,

Excess sauce (if available).

Equipment:

A large heavy bottomed pan or wok

Small saucepan

Preparation:

Begin the preparation by preparing the sauce.

Take a small saucepan or large glass bowl and mix all the ingredients under ‘the sauce’ and keep it in simmer until honey/brown sugar dissolves completely. Remove the saucepan from flame but keep the sauce warm.

Next, prepare the Rice Vermicelli Noodles quickly.

If you are using rice vermicelli noodles or angel hair pasta, take a large bottomed pan and fill with water at room temperature. Soak the rice noodles in it for 10 mins or until noodles get separated. Drain and stain the noodles and discard the water. (See Tips)

Heat half of the oil in a heavy bottomed large pan/wok and add sliced pork/chicken and half of the minced garlic in hot oil. Brown the meat and stir fry until meat is tender. Add the shrimp and cook for another 1-2 mins or until shrimps are pale pink in color. Remove the wok from flame and reserve the cooked meat in a covered pan. (See Tips)

Scrap the wok off and add rest of the oil in the wok. Add ginger with rest of the garlic and fry for 30 secs or until fragrant but don’t burn. Next, add mushroom and fry for 3-4 mins or until mushroom releases water and becomes glossy itself. Also add baby corn with red bell pepper and continue sautéing until veggies are tender yet crunchy. (See Tips)

Add the beansprout, previously cooked rice noodles, mushroom, pork, chicken and shrimp and stir quickly. Pour the sauce and stir gently. Mix thoroughly together without breaking the meat apart. Switch off the flame; sprinkle the spring onion and continue mixing until everything comes together with the sauce.

To serve add one portion of Sing Chow Mei Fun aka Singaporean Rice Noodles with meat and veggies. Add few slices of boiled eggs on top and lemon wedges on side. Serve immediately piping hot. This Singaporean Rice Noodles taste best when it is hot. Store the excess noodles in air tight container and refrigerate. Stored noodles will taste good unto 2 days. To serve the stored noodles, reheat the noodles, squeeze 1/4 of a lime on top and serve immediately. (See Tips)

Sing Chow Mein Fun | Singaporean Rice Noodles

Variations:

1. Use spicy chili oil instead of regular oil.

2. Use Paneer or Tofu instead of meat & seafood.

3. Use scrambled egg on top instead of boiled ones.

4. Add 1-2 tbsp of tomato ketchup instead of sriracha to create variation in taste.

Tips:

1. If you are not planning to use the noodle immediately, cover the drained noodles with cling film and keep separated, until needed.

2. The shrimp will continue to cook in the heat itself inside the covered pan but there will be no chance of over cooking. Otherwise cook the shrimp according to your personal preference.

3. If you are not comfortable in cooking all these together, cook the veggies separately but remember thus total cooking time will be longer than mentioned here.

4. Always squeeze the lemon/lime at the very end moment of cooking or just right before serving otherwise the dish can get slightly bitter flavor from over cooking lemon/lime.