I remember Sang Har Yee Meen (literally, freshwater prawn crispy noodles) as a popular dish at open-air restaurants in Malaysia, but they’re actually pretty easy to make at home. If you’re not too fixated about using freshwater prawns, you’ll save a few bucks by using a cheaper and more commonly available variety like the banana prawns pictured here from my Live Asian Kitchen broadcast.

A couple of notes re: the noodle variety:

I use what I call “wonton noodles”, which are the thin egg noodles usually served with wontons. They puff up when deep-fried (you fry them straight out of the bag; DON’T rinse or blanch them beforehand), and they’re soft and silky when boiled.

They’re NOT the same as the thin egg noodles used for stir-fries, which don’t puff up, but rather, turn hard and cakey when fried, and which have an al dente-like texture when boiled. You can tell the difference between the two by the fact that “wonton noodles” look like they’re lightly dusted with flour, whereas the other egg noodles do not. It’s not a dealbreaker if you use the latter variety, just keep in mind the texture will be different.

Also, you’ve seen me use “yee meen” for crab noodles; those are Hong Kong-style fried egg noodles, and they’re much thicker and you can buy them pre-fried in cake form at Asian grocery stores. Yee Meen in Malaysian noodle dishes more commonly refer to the thin variety per in this recipe.

Crispy Freshwater Prawn Noodles

INGREDIENTS:

200g fresh wonton noodles
1 cup Choy Sum, cut into 3-inch lengths
2 cups prawn stock, chicken stock, or water
½ Tbsp chicken powder
½ Tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp fish sauce
½ tsp white pepper
1 tsp potato starch or tapioca starch + 2 Tbsps water
1 tsp minced garlic
1 egg
Freshwater prawns or large prawns, halved
1 Tbsp cornstarch or tapioca starch
Oil for deep-frying

METHOD:

1. Heat oil to 180°C; drop batches of noodles into the oil to fry until they puff up and the bubbles begin to dissipate.
2. Remove and allow to cool, then arrange on serving plate.
3. Toss prawns with cornstarch, flash fry in oil for a few seconds, remove and drain.
4. Remove all except 1/2 Tbsp oil.
5. Heat oil, add garlic and saute until aromatic; add prawns followed by oyster sauce and Choy Sum.
6. Add stock/water, chicken powder, pepper and fish sauce.
7. Bring to a low simmer, then thicken with tapioca starch + water mix.
8. Turn off the heat, crack egg into sauce and stir in one direction.
9. Pour hot sauce over noodles to serve.

The post How to Cook Sang Har Yee Meen (Crispy Freshwater Prawn Noodles) first appeared on Jackie M..

With a bit of digging, I found out that the Malaysian proprietor got his inspiration from some restaurant in Hong Kong that served cheesy lobster yee mein (fried egg noodles). Further research told me that the HK version, at least, was basically a glorified ginger and shallot noodle recipe with sandwich cheese slices added to the sauce. (yes I do mean those individually-wrapped cheese slices; we Asians aren’t cheese snobs, alright?)

So with all that information on hand, I decided to split the difference and make my version using (spanner) crab instead of lobster (too expensive) or prawns (the cheapo banana prawns in my freezer weren’t going to cut it for this dish).

The result was fine, but I’m a bit conflicted about whether I’d make it again; it seems a bit redundant to throw some cheese slices into a dish (crab with ginger and shallots) that I think is already pretty perfect as it stands.

Cheesy Crab Noodles

INGREDIENTS:

• • 2 mud crabs, cut into pieces (approx 1 ½ kg)

• • 2 eggs

• • 2 Tbsp tapioca flour (or cornflour)

• • Oil for deep-frying

• • 2 pieces yee mein noodles, soaked in hot water until soft, then drained

• • 10 garlic cloves, crushed

• • 3-4 inches ginger, cut into chunks and crushed

• • 3-4 green shallots, cut into 2-inch lengths

• • 1 ½ Tbsp oyster sauce

• • 1 ½ tsp chicken powder

• • ½ tsp pepper

• • 2 Tbsp Shaoxing cooking wine

• • 3-4 slices of cheese

• 1L water or stock

METHOD:

1. 1. Heat oil to 180°C.

1. 1. Drench crab pieces with beaten eggs and tapioca flour.

1. 1. Deep-fry for about 3 minutes. Remove and drain.

1. 1. Heat 2 Tbsp oil in wok. Add ginger and garlic and fry for 2 minutes or until aromatic and slightly browned.

1. 1. Add crab pieces followed by Shaoxing wine.

1. 1. Add all other seasoning ingredients plus water or stock.

1. 1. Add cheese slices, bring to a simmer, then add noodles.

1. 1. Mix well, and once it comes to a simmer again, mix remaining tapioca flour with a Tbsp of cold water, then add to wok.

1. Adjust seasoning, remove and serve.

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The post How to Cook Cheesy Crab Noodles first appeared on Jackie M..