Hokkien Mee Hoon Kueh

Mee Hoon Kueh is a traditional Hokkien dish that is basically flour (Mee Hoon) noodles with ikan bilis (anchovies) soup. Also sometimes known as Mein Fun Koh or Pan Mee, it used to be a poor man's staple. I am sure many Hokkien people around the world fondly remembers thier mothers or grandmothers making this for lunch while they were growing up. It's a simple dish, yet it's so flavorful and yummy. Here's how you make it.

The soup is really simple. You just need some fish stock and some dried ikan bilis (anchovies). Remember to clean the ikan bilis under running water before using.

Pour about 10 cups of water into a big pot. Once it goes into a boil, add in a few fish bouillon and some ikan bilis. Cover the pot and allow it to continue boiling on medium heat for about 45 minutes.

Now we can start making the noodles while the soup is cooking. Put some flour into a big mixing bowl.

Add in some salt.

Make a little hole in the middle of the flour and slowly add in some water. Remember not to add in too much water. Just enough for the flour to stick together to form a dough ball. If you accidently added in too much water, just sprinkle on a little bit more flour.

Continue to knead the dough for a bit until it forms into a nice dough ball.

Separate the large dough ball into smaller dough balls. They should be about half the size of a chicken egg.

Cover the dough balls with a damp cloth and allow it to sit for about 30 - 45 minutes.

After making the noodles, we will have to make the toppings. Add some chinese shitake mushrooms and black fungus to pan of hot oil. Allow it to fry for a bit.

Add in a few dashes of premium soy sauce, some dark soy sauce and sprinkle in a little bit of sugar. Mix it all up and fry until it's cooked through. Remove from the pan and set it aside.

This is all the stuff that you will need to make Mee Hoon Kueh. Some dough balls for the noodles, mushroom and black fungus in soy sauce, ikan bilis that has been deep fried til crispy, some meatballs, chicken slices that has been marinated with soy sauce and pepper earlier and some leafy green vegetable. Traditionally, chye sim (mustard greens) is used but I used some baby bok choi (cos its yummier :P) instead.

Now it's time to put everything together. Transfer some of the soup from the big pot into a smaller pot (just enough for one or two portions). Turn up the heat and bring it to a boil.

Flatten out the dough ball into a thin sheet of dough. You can also use a pasta maker if you have one but I prefer to do it by hand. It makes it look more rustic and home made :D

Tear it to bite size pieces and drop it into the boiling soup. Remember to stir it occasionally so that it doesn't stick to each other.

Next, put in a few slices of chicken followed by some meatballs.

Give it a good stir and allow it to cook.

Once it is fully cooked and the soup goes into a rapid boil, add in the baby bok choi. Let it cook for just a bit then turn off the heat.

Pour it into a big bowl and add some of the mushroom and black fungus on top of the noodles. Top it up with some yummy crispy deep fried ikan bilis. A delicious hot bowl of Mee Hoon Kueh, just like how they used to make it back in the day. That wasn't that difficult, was it? :D