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 style or ingredients as those in Fujian. So, Hokkien mee is not the same in different places — they just happened to be called the same due to ease of naming.
Hokkien Mee of Penang
Hokkien mee of Penang is a broth-based prawn noodle dish and is also called "prawn mee" (虾面) — the full name is actually "Penang Hokkien Prawn mee" (滨城福建虾面). Locals called the dish either as "Hokkien mee" or "prawn mee" 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), beansprouts and garnished with fried shallots with optional sambal chilli.
Hokkien Mee of Kuala Lumpur
Unlike the spicy Hokkien mee of Penang, Kuala Lumpur's Hokkien mee is more sweet-savoury. It is a dish of dark-sauce-based fried noodle and is normally of a wet style. Thick yellow wheat noodle, known as "tai lok mee" (大碌面), is usually used for the dish and fried with slices of pork, squids or 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.
Hokkien Mee of Singapore
Singapore's Hokkien mee is a dish of fried noodle with prawns as its main ingredient and squid, fish cake, egg, etc, may be added. Normally, two types of noodle are used, the 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 (optional) and 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.
Prawn Noodle of Singapore
Prawn noodle in Singapore is a soup-based noodle dish that uses yellow noodle with or without rice vermicelli. The dark-coloured soup 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).
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 vermicelli, especially those from Putian 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 from outside Singapore, was named "Singapore fried vermicelli" (星洲炒米) and later became a new dish in Singapore.
Is there a "Hokkien mee" dish that I did not include in this post? Let me know!
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