Singapore Hokkien Mee

If a dish can be a mood, then the Singapore Hokkien Mee can only be known as cheery. There is so much joy in a plate of glossy yellow and white noodles, bright orange shrimp, white rings of squid and green strips of Chinese chives soaked in a gravy made with seafood broth. Served with lime, it is a popular dish that can be found in any hawker center in Singapore.

Recreate this hawker delight at home

With roots from the Fujian province of China, the Singapore Hokkien Mee can be seen as a variant of the Penang Prawn Noodles, one of Malaysia’s exceptional Chinese dishes that sure is a big contender. However, if you are looking for something delicious on your first visit to a hawker center in Singapore, the Hokkien Mee will be a good way to start your foray into Singapore’s food scene.

Yet again, we want you to savour this dish anywhere in the world - as long as you follow through our recipe below, you should be able to whip up for yourself a hearty plate of Singapore Hokkien Mee in your kitchen.

Cooking your own plate of the Singapore Hokkien Mee also makes sure you can limit the amount of salt and oil content in the dish. While the authorities of national health are working hard to encourage Singaporean hawkers to adopt healthier ways of cooking, preparing the dish on your own lets you have better control over what goes into each plate. Besides, we all have our preferences for certain dishes - you can add more prawns to your noodles if you love them more than anything else!

While the Singapore Hokkien Mee is one of the many Singaporean dishes we have cooked so far, this dish is our most favorite. Apart from being amazingly fragrant and flavorful, it also makes for a perfect lunch meal to pack for school or the office. Add in a sliced lime and teaspoon of sambal and you are ready for a wonderful gastronomical adventure!

Frequently Asked Questions about Singapore Hokkien Mee

Is there a specific type of noodle used for Singapore Hokkien Mee?

A traditional recipe of the Singapore Hokkien Mee comprises two types of noodles: thick yellow egg noodles and thick white rice vermicelli. They are usually used in equal portions as they offer their unique flavors and textures to the overall experience of the dish.

Can we find ready-made broth from the supermarkets?

With the advent of ready-made meals and popularity of quick-and-easy recipe kits, you should be able to find the Hokkien mee broth in supermarkets. However, as we have mentioned before, the best dishes are those cooked from scratch as you will be able to control its nutritional value.

Can I leave out lard and pork in the dish?

The classic Singapore Hokkien Mee makes use of lard and pork to elevate the flavors and thicken the gravy. If you are making this dish for guests who do not like or cannot eat pork, you can replace the ingredients with corn flour to achieve the desired thickness of the gravy. Where flavors are concerned, you can let the seafood broth simmer longer so that more flavors can be extracted from the prawns, shallots and squids.

What can I eat the Singapore Hokkien Noodles with?

The Singapore Hokkien Noodles typically go well with Malaysian Chinese-style sambal, a fried chilli paste condiment. You may purchase a bottle from the supermarket to keep at home and serve with other types of dishes like Prawn Noodle Soup. You may also make it yourself - see recipe for Oyster Omelette. Be sure to squeeze some lime over the noodles and give it a good stir before eating!

Tips on how to make Singapore Hokkien Mee

1. Simmer longer for drier noodles: If you are not a fan of wet noodles, you can let the noodles mixture simmer longer so that the gravy is absorbed by the noodles. Likewise, if you prefer to have more gravy with your noodles, add more broth when cooking the dish.
2. Use more prawn shells for flavorful stock: Should you prefer to leave out lard and pork, you can add more prawn shells to make the broth more flavorful. Let the broth simmer longer to make the gravy more tasty!
3. Add more greens: Some people might find the dish bland-looking. To overcome this, you can cut some spring onions and mix them with the noodles, and use parsley for garnishing.
4. Add salt only after taste test: Our recipe makes use of ikan bilis stock and light soy sauce which would have already given the dish the required salt content for taste. To ensure your dish does not become too salty, do a taste test towards the end of the cooking process when the noodles are still simmering to determine if you need to add more salt. We would recommend adding more light soy sauce instead. Otherwise, you can squeeze some lime to complete the taste of the dish.