Mee Siam is a dish of thin rice noodles (vermicelli) in spicy, sweet and sour light gravy. This is a popular hawker cuisine that can be found on the streets of Malaysia and Singapore. The name Mee Siam means “Siamese Noodles”, said to be of Thai origin.

Mee Siam uses a few main ingredients which bring out its peculiar taste - tau cheo (preserved soy beans), chili and dried prawns.

There are two types of Mee Siam, “dry” and “gravy” version. A “gravy” version is served in light and piquant gravy made from tamarind juice and dried shrimp, and served with toppings such as fresh limes, tiny cubes of dried beancurd, chives and slices of boiled egg. A "dry" version, which is essentially stir-frying the rice noodles with the same spices used in the "gravy" version.

Mee Siam is always great for parties as it is cheap (low ingredients cost) and tasty at the same time.

Ingredients:

150g of rice vermicelli (pre-soaked for 30 minutes till softened. Drained)
100g of bean sprouts
30g of dried prawns (pre-soaked for 15 minutes to semi-soften)
1 large onion (chopped)
1 tablespoon preserved soy beans (minced)
2 large eggs
2 pieces of fishcake (sliced) and fresh prawns (cleaned and deveined)
2 teaspoons of chili paste mixture (grind / blend 4 pieces red chili with 4 cloves garlic and 4 bulbs shallots)
1 lime, cut into wedges
300 ml hot water
5 tablespoons cooking oil

Cook:

Heat oil in wok. Add onions and dried prawns. Stir till onions are translucent and dried prawns are aromatic.
Add preserved soy beans and chili paste mixture. Stir well for 15 seconds.
Add fishcake and prawns. Stir fry for about 30 seconds, and then push them aside.
Add eggs into wok and allow to fry till almost done. Push back ingredients into the egg followed by rice vermicelli.
Stir well and sprinkle water occasionally to keep it moist. Add seasoning to taste. Cook till rice vermicelli is done.
Dish up and serve with a squeeze of lime juice.