Sang Har Mee

 

Sang Har Mee is a delicious noodle dish usually enjoyed by those who love the huge succulent prawns with their delectable flavour of natural sweetness. Due to this I have not added any oyster sauce nor fish sauce like some chefs do. In addition to the sweetness of the prawns, the yee mee also adds its own flavour to the thickened egg broth. While it is relatively easy to cook this noodle dish, it may be a bit difficult to find the prawns in the market as most would have been snapped up especially by the restaurants offering this dish. And eating in these restaurants may set you back by a couple of hundreds.

 Ingredients:

• 4 pcs Yee Mee
• 2 large prawns
• 3 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 pc ginger, 2 inch x 0.5 inch, sliced thinly
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 small bunch of green onion, 4 inches long
• 1.5-2 litres of water
• 6 big leaves of Chinese cabbage, cut to 1-inch length 
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp corn flour + 4 tbsp water
• 2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine

Instructions:

• Wash and slice the huge prawns into 2 each. (Start by placing the prawn on its side. Using a sharp knife/chopper, slice through the shell along the side to cut the body into 2 with the head still intact. Next, turn the prawn onto its back with the 2 sides apart. Place the knife/chopper on the middle of the head and use your hand to hit the knife/chopper to cut the head into 2.). Remove the entrails.

• Heat up the wok with cooking and sesame oils.

• Add the ginger, garlic and green onion to the oil.

• When these are fragrant, add the water to the oil and let it boil.

• Add the prawns to the boiling water. If your prawns are very big, boil them for about 4-5 minutes till they are cooked. Smaller prawns require about 2-3 minutes. Remove the prawns and set them aside.

• Add the Chinese cabbage to the broth.

• Add the seasonings of salt, light soy sauce, pepper and brown sugar.

• Break the eggs into a bowl and then add them to the broth.

• Add Chinese cooking wine.

• Add the corn flour slurry to thicken the sauce.

• Add the yee mee to the wok for a couple of minutes (if you like to braise the yee mee). Otherwise, place the yee mee onto your serving plates and pour the broth over it. Top it with the cooked prawns.

• Serve it immediately.

Sambal Hae Bee / Sambal Dried Prawns

 

Sambal Hae Bee or Sambal Udang Kering is one of the most delicious condiment as it is made from tasty dried prawns and the aromatic spices. It is sweet, salty, mildly sour and very fragrant. It is best eaten with white rice. However, I like to eat it with bread - sandwich it with cucumber. Sambal Hae Bee can also be used as fillings for bread and pulut panggang.

 Ingredients:

• 125 g dried prawns
• 10 g dried chilies
• 100 g fresh red chilies
• 125 g shallots
• 40 g garlic
• 5 g fresh turmeric
• 50 g lemongrass
• 5 pieces of kaffir lime leaves
• 5 g belacan
• 30 g tamarind juice
• 100 g cooking oil
• 35 g brown sugar
• 4 g salt

Method:

• Wash, soak and pound the dried prawns. (It is not advisable to use the blender as the dried prawns would be too fine. It is best to use the mortar and pestle to pound the dried prawns so that they are slightly coarse.)

• Wash and soak the dried chilies. Cut them into small pieces when they have softened.

• Wash and cut the fresh red chilies into small pieces

• Peel and wash the shallots. Cut them up coarsely.

• Peel and wash the garlic. Cut them up coarsely.

• Remove the skin of the turmeric.

• Wash and slice the white part of the lemongrass finely.

• Wash the kaffir lime leaves. Remove the midrib and petiole. Slice the leaves finely.

• Take a knob of tamarind, add water and extract 30 g of tamarind juice.

• Toast the belacan.

• Weigh out the brown sugar and salt (may add or reduce them - to taste).

• Add dried chilies, fresh red chilies, shallots, garlic, turmeric, lemongrass and belacan into the container of the blend. Blend till they are fine.

• Heat up the wok with cooking oil.

• Once the oil is hot, add the blended ingredients to the oil.

• Saute till they are aromatic.

• Add the pounded dried prawns and continue to fry them for another 7-8 minutes.

• Add the finely cut kaffir lime leaves.

• Add the tamarind juice, sugar and salt. Taste test and add more tamarind juice, sugar or salt according to your taste.

• Stir for another 5 minutes or so and your sambal hae bee is ready.