Food Quest: Hokkien Prawn Mee (福建虾面) in Singapore & Malaysia
- Rick
- Apr 10
- 4 min read
Hokkien mee, or Hokkien noodle, refers to noodle dishes that have origins in Fujian (or Hokkien) Province of China. However, just like there is no Hainanese chicken rice on Hainan Island — no, originally, until someone started a Singapore Hainanese Chicken Rice Restaurant on the island — there is no "Hokkien mee" as a dish in Fujian.
In the old days, Chinese immigrants from Fujian migrated to Nanyang and prepared their own styles of noodle dishes in Singapore and in different parts of Malaysia. The dishes are coincidentally named "Hokkien mee" probably because the persons who prepared them were from Fujian or used similar cooking styles or ingredients as those in Fujian. So, Hokkien mee is not the same in different places — they just happened to be given the same name due to ease of naming.
However, there is one thing in common among all Hokkien noodles, they have prawns. Thus, Hokkien mee is also known as "Hokkien prawn mee".
Hokkien Prawn Mee of Penang
Hokkien prawn mee of Penang (滨城福建虾面) is a broth-based noodle dish and is also called "prawn mee". Locals called the dish either as "Hokkien mee" (福建面) or "prawn mee" (虾面) interchangeably and out of convenience. This resulted in confusions for Singaporeans and also Malaysians when visiting Penang.
Penang's Hokkien prawn noodle uses both yellow noodle and thin rice vermicelli and served in spicy broth. Dried shrimps are usually used to enhance the flavours of the broth. The noodle dish is topped with prawns (locals usually use dried shrimps but restaurants will elevate the dish by using bigger prawns), beansprouts and garnished with fried shallots with optional sambal chilli.
More: Posts with Penang Hokkien Prawn Mee.
Hokkien Prawn Mee of Ipoh
Ipoh Hokkien prawn mee is very similar to Penang Hokkien prawn mee except for the different ingredients used. Ipoh's Hokkien prawn noodle uses any types of noodle, as desired, in rich prawny broth with red chilli oil. The ingredients used are big prawns, slices of pork meat, hard-boiled egg, Ipoh's local-produced beansprouts, greens and garnished with fried shallots. Sambal chilli can be added to spice up the dish.
More: Posts with Ipoh Hokkien Prawn Mee.
Hokkien Mee of Kuala Lumpur
Unlike the soupy version of Penang and Ipoh Hokkien mee, Kuala Lumpur's Hokkien mee is dry-style and sweet-savoury. It is a dish of dark-sauce-based fried noodle. Thick yellow wheat noodle, known as "tai lok mee" (大碌面), is usually used for the dish and stir-fried with slices of pork, squids, prawns, and spring onions in thick dark soy sauce.
In Singapore, Hokkien mee of Kuala Lumpur is often called "KL Hokkien mee", "tai lok mee", "大碌面" or with a photo of the noodle dish to avoid confusions with Singapore's own version of Hokkien mee.
More: Posts with KL Hokkien Mee.
Hokkien Mee of Singapore
Singapore's Hokkien mee is a dish of stir-fried noodle with prawns and egg as its main ingredients and squid, fish cake, shreds of pork belly meat, etc, may be added. Two types of noodle are used — thick yellow noodle and either thin or thick rice vermicelli. The lightly-fried noodle dish is usually served a little wet and with a lime and (sambal) chilli for additional sour-spicy flavour.
In Singapore, Hokkien mee and prawn mee are two different noodle dishes. Many people, especially Malaysians, erroneously linked them together — due to the confusions as explained above.
More: Posts with SG Hokkien Mee.
Side-Track: Prawn Noodle of Singapore
Prawn noodle in Singapore is a soup-based noodle dish that uses yellow noodle with or without rice vermicelli — or other types of noodle as desired by diners. The dark-coloured broth is usually prepared by boiling pig bones and added with soy sauce for flavour. Fresh prawns are usually the main ingredient although it is also an option to have both prawns and pork ribs in a delicious bowl of "pork ribs prawn noodle" (排骨虾面).
Note that noodle dishes with prawns in Malaysia are also called "prawn mee" with no reference to "Hokkien", although preparation methods and tastes may differ.
More: Posts with Prawn Mee.
Hokkien Fried Vermicelli of Fujian
As mentioned above, there is no noodle dish by the name of "Hokkien mee" in Fujian but the province is well-known for its rice vermicelli, especially those from Putian (official name) or Xinghua (莆田兴化米粉). So, there are fried vermicelli (福建炒米粉) dishes locally, which are not a standard dish but mainly frying thin rice vermicelli with any ingredients as desired.
In Singapore, Hokkien fried vermicelli is commonly seen in catered buffets as a staple dish besides fried rice. In recent years, a Cantonese vermicelli dish, which originated in Hong Kong, was named "Singapore fried vermicelli" (星洲炒米粉) and later became a new dish in Singapore, but it is not common and not widely available.
Is there a "Hokkien mee" dish that I did not include in this post? Let me know!
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