KL Hokkein Mee. Savoury thick chewy egg noodles smothered in a brown sweet and salty soy sauce accompanied with prawns, pork belly, cabbage, and gai-lan. The perfect meal for dinner or lunch. Ready in 30 minutes!
I love KL hokkien mee. Every time I visit Kuala Lumpur I always ensure I order myself a plate of noodles and usually it's Hokkein Mee. I just love chewing on those thick noodles covered in that sweet salty glossy sauce.
Now there are different types of Hokkein Mee. There's a dry kind, there's a saucy kind (which is the one we are making today), and there are kinds by country. Singapore as their own version too but today we are making the Malaysian kind.
What does KL Hokkein Mee taste like?
Imagine a thick chewy egg noodles covered in a glossy sweet salty sauce with bouncy chewy prawns. In each bite, there's the taste of some leafy greens and delicious pork belly.
What gives this dish that sweet salty flavour is the significant amount of dark soy and sweet soy sauce. Without these two ingredients, you won't get those dark brown noodles.
In Malaysia, they also use pork lard as the cooking oil but we're going to use pork belly with oil because I rarely have pork lard in the fridge. The prawns are a signature to this dish but of course, are optional if you don't have them.
Sometimes if you go to the hokkien mee hawkers or Malaysian Mamak restaurants, they will serve or pack these noodles in a banana leaf. It's a cost effective and biodegradable way to package and garnish food. The banana leaf also offers a very minimal flavour.
Easy to make
This hokkien mee recipe is actually pretty easy to make at home yourself and you don't need a fancy wok to make it! Of course if you cook it in a normal pan, you won't get that "wok hei" or also known as "breathe of wok". Wok Hei is basically the residual flavours from the wok pan that give it that smoky delicious taste.
Where can I buy thick egg noodles?
I usually purchase mine from any Asian grocer in the refrigerated noodle section as they come fresh. If you live in Canada, they can be purchased at T&T or H-Mart. Sometimes they're called Miki Noodles. I have no idea why but just look for the yellow thick egg noodles that are made with wheat flour.
Where can I find Sweet Soy Sauce?
This can be purchased at most Asian grocers in the sauce aisle. If you can't find this item, just subsitute with dark soy sauce and add 1 tbsp of sugar or more.
Other recipes you may like!
HOISIN BEEF NOODLE STIR-FRY
CHICKEN PAD SEE EW
FISH CAKE UDON STIR FRY
THAI DRUNKEN NOODLES
TOFU EGG PAD THAI
PAD SEE EW WOON SEN
AUTHENTIC CHICKEN PAD THAI
For this recipe
You will need the following KL hokkien mee ingredients:
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
- 800 grams thick egg noodles, blanched and strained
- 200 grams pork belly, diced
- 1 tbsp garlic minced
- 15 shrimps, peeled and deveined
- 1 cup nappa cabbage, thinly sliced
- 1 cup gai lan, chopped
- ½ cup chicken stock
Hokkien mee sauce:
- 1 cup water
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 4 tbsp dark sweet soy sauce
- 3 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sugar
Garnish (optional): Banana leaf
How to make Hokkein Mee
In a bowl, whisk together the ingredients for the noodle sauce.
In a large pan filled with hot water, bring it to a boil. Blanch your noodles just until loosened (only 20-30 seconds) and strain immediately. Any longer and your noodles will be soggy.
To the same pan set on medium high heat, add cooking oil along with pork belly. Fry until the pork belly has released some fat and it's crispy brown.
Toss in your garlic and prawns. Fry until prawns are 75% cooked.
Next add in your cabbage and gai-lan and cook until they have wilted. Combine with the rest of the ingredients.
Add your noodles.
Pour in half cup of chicken stock to noodles.
Lower your heat and pour in the noodle sauce ingredients. Mix the sauce into the noodles and ingredients until the noodles are brown and glossy. Serve immediately and enjoy your KL Hokkein Mee!
Give it a try!
Well I hope you give my KL Hokkein Mee recipe a try! It always excites me when you guys make my recipes and I hope this is one you try.
Thanks for visiting my blog! If you enjoyed my hokkien mee noodles, please share it with your family and friends or on social media! Take a picture if you've made my recipe and tag me on Instagram @ChristieAtHome in your feed or stories so I can share your creation in my stories with credits to you!
Made this recipe and loved it?
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Take care,
Christie
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KL Hokkein Mee (30-min. Recipe)
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
- 800 grams thick egg noodles blanched and strained
- 200 grams pork belly diced
- 1 tbsp garlic minced
- 15 shrimps peeled and deveined
- 1 cup Napa cabbage thinly sliced
- 1 cup gai lan chopped
- ½ cup chicken stock
Hokkien mee sauce:
- 1 cup water
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 4 tbsp kecap manis or sweet soy sauce
- 3 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sugar
Instructions
- In a bowl, whisk together the ingredients for the noodle sauce.
- In a large pan filled with hot water, bring it to a boil. Blanch your noodles just until loosened (only 20-30 seconds) and strain immediately. Any longer and your noodles will be soggy.
- To the same pan set on medium high heat, add cooking oil along with pork belly. Fry until the pork belly has released some fat and it's crispy brown.
- Toss in your garlic and prawns. Fry until prawns are 75% cooked.
- Next add in your cabbage and gai-lan and cook until they have wilted. Combine with the rest of the ingredients.
- Add your noodles.
- Pour in half cup of chicken stock to your noodles
- Lower your heat and pour in the noodle sauce ingredients. Mix the sauce into the noodles and ingredients until the noodles are brown and glossy. Serve immediately and enjoy!
NOTES
Mmm those thick noodles! I haven't had Hokkien noodles before, but I'll have to give it a try! I think my boys would devour this 🙂
The beautiful combination of the soft noodles and the Hokkien mee sauce would tempt me any day of the week. Yum!!!