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Singapore Mee Siam Recipe (with Soup)
5 from 144 votes

Singapore Mee Siam Recipe (with Soup)

Singapore Mee Siam is a noodle dish featuring a rich rempah paste made from dried chili, shallots, shrimp paste, and candlenuts, combined with stir-fried rice vermicelli and beansprouts. It includes a savory tamarind-based gravy enriched with preserved soya beans, served alongside garnishes like hard-boiled eggs, prawns, tau kwa, and Chinese chives with fresh calamansi lime. The layered flavors of spicy, sour, and umami create a complex, satisfying dish with diverse textures.

Servings: 8 people
Calories: 499 kcal
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Asian, Chinese, Malaysian, Singaporean

Ingredients

A.For the wet mee siam rempah (spice paste)
  • 40 dried chili Soaked to soften. Remove the seeds if you don't want to choke on the spice!
  • 7 oz shallots Substitute: onions, preferably red, cut into small pieces, 200g
  • 0.7 z shrimp paste belacan, 20g
  • 1.05 z candlenuts Substitute with macademia if you live outside of Asia and can't find this (I did manage to find it in Chinatown in London so you never know!, kemiri, 30g
  • 0-5 red chillies The number of chillies I use depends on the fertility of my chilli plant!) These are added for color so it's OK if you don't have any, fresh, large
A. Pound separately
  • 3 Tablespoons dried prawns Pound alone. Keep the soaking water to add to soups or stews, soaked till softened
  • 1 teaspoon sugar or to taste
  • 1 teaspoon salt or fish sauce, to taste
B. Noodles
  • 4-6 Tablespoons neutral cooking oil generic cooking oil
  • 20.25 oz water 600ml
  • 15.75 oz beansprouts 450g
  • 15.75 oz rice vermicelli soaked in hot water till soft, fine, bee hoon, 450g
  • 6-8 Tablespoons rempah from above (Section A
C. Gravy
  • 1-2 Tablespoons neutral cooking oil generic cooking oil
  • 4½ Tablespoons rempah If you still have rempah left, freeze it or use it to stir-fry vegetables, from above (Section A
  • 9¾ Cups water about 2.25 litres / 76.05 oz
  • 1½ Tablespoons tamarind assam jawa
  • 1½ Cup water Mix with the tamarind above, then squeeze through cheesecloth and strain. Keep the water!, 12 oz / 354ml
  • 3 Tablespoons preserved soya beans Substitute with miso or doenjang if that's what you can get, taucheo, mashed coarsely with a fork
  • 3 teaspoon sugar or to taste
  • salt to taste
D. Ingredients and garnishing
  • 8-16 egg Depending on whether you want 1 or 2 eggs per person, hard boiled, peeled, sliced into 4
  • 20.25 oz prawns 600g
  • 3 pieces tau kwa deep fried, cut into 1 cm cubes
  • 5.25 oz Chinese chives Use spring onions if you can't get koo chye. Wash and cut them into ½ cm bits, koo chye, 150g
  • 8 lime preferably calamansi limes, sliced in half
  • 3 Tablespoons dried prawns Cut into small pieces then stir fried with a little oil

Instructions

A. Rempah
    Cup of Yum
  1. Boil the dried chillies till they are soft. (Remove some or all of the seeds, if not, it'll be super spicy!) Drain then pound the chillies with the rest of the rempah ingredients (from Section A but not including the dried prawns, salt and sugar) till they've become a fine paste. (The water from boiling the chillies can be discarded.)
  2. Add oil to the wok and heat till shimmering then add the pounded dried prawns for 1-2 minutes, till the smell is released. Add the rempah spice paste from above and continue stir frying till fragrant and the oil has been released. (This may take a while)
  3. Add salt and sugar to taste, then place the rempah in a bowl, leaving 4-5 tablespoons in the wok.
B. Noodles
  1. Add the water to the wok. Once simmering, add the bean sprouts and stir for about 1 minute. Add in the noodles then fry over high heat and stir till all the sauce has been absorbed.
  2. Lower the heat, stirring continuously till the noodles are dry and fluffy. Plate.
C. Gravy
  1. Add oil to the wok and once shimmering, add 4½ tablespoons of the rempah, the taucheo and a little tamarind water (to prevent burning). Mix everything well.
  2. Add the rest of the tamarind water then bring to a boil. Add the sugar and salt, and season to your taste.
D. Assembling the noodles, gravy, ingredients and garnishing
  1. Boil the eggs, peel then cut into quarters.
  2. Boil the prawns till cooked, shell, de-vein and, if feeling hardworking (or short on ingredients but want to bulk up the plate) halve the prawns. (The water used to boil the prawns can be kept as a base for soup stock.)
  3. Assemble your bowls: place some bee hoon in each bowl, then pour the gravy soup over the noodles. Add a few prawns, 4-8 egg quarters and 1 calamansi (ie 2 pieces since it's sliced in half) to each bowl.
  4. Sprinkle the koo chye, tau kwa and fried dried shrimps over each bowl.

Notes

  • Store ingredients separately to preserve texture; keep vermicelli, rempah, and tofu in different containers.
  • Reheat noodles and soup separately before assembling for best taste and consistency.
  • Freeze leftover rempah paste in portions to use later for mee siam or as a flavor base for stir-fries.
  • Adjust chili levels in the rempah paste to control the dish's spiciness according to preference.

Nutrition Information

Calories 499kcal (25%) Carbohydrates 70g (23%) Protein 23g (46%) Fat 15g (23%) Saturated Fat 2g (10%) Polyunsaturated Fat 4g (24%) Monounsaturated Fat 7g (35%) Trans Fat 0.1g (5%) Cholesterol 269mg (90%) Sodium 1196mg (50%) Potassium 541mg (12%) Fiber 6g (24%) Sugar 10g (20%) Vitamin A 1911IU (38%) Vitamin C 41mg (46%) Calcium 155mg (16%) Iron 3mg (17%)

Nutrition Facts

Serving: 8 people

Amount Per Serving

Calories 499

% Daily Value*

Calories 499kcal 25%
Carbohydrates 70g 23%
Protein 23g 46%
Fat 15g 23%
Saturated Fat 2g 10%
Polyunsaturated Fat 4g 24%
Monounsaturated Fat 7g 35%
Trans Fat 0.1g 5%
Cholesterol 269mg 90%
Sodium 1196mg 50%
Potassium 541mg 12%
Fiber 6g 24%
Sugar 10g 20%
Vitamin A 1911IU 38%
Vitamin C 41mg 46%
Calcium 155mg 16%
Iron 3mg 17%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.