Mee Sua Soup

I posted about this bowl of noodles soup quite some time ago and since then I’ve made a few changes and this has became my go-to dish on days when I’m lazy to whip up more elaborated meals. It is essentially a one-pot healthy and tasty noodles soup, with a very simple home-made broth.

The broth is very simple – flavored with silverfish icefish, onion and prawn heads, and it doesn’t need hours on the stove cooking. You can also use chicken stock, pork stock or vegetable stock instead – will talk about the substitution how-to at the end of the post.

Ingredients wise I am now sticking to minced pork (marinated first), carrot, prawns and egg. If I have other vegetables I’ll also add them in if I feel like doing so – so it’s a really versatile dish!

Let’s make some right now!

I always marinate my meat first – it gives them flavour and some of the marinade will go into the soup eventually, giving it flavour as well. Light soy sauce, sesame oil and a dash of white pepper – all these can be found easily in the supermarkets. You can substitute with minced chicken if preferred.

In order to get soft lumps of pork (like those we usually eat in hawker centers), mix in water to the minced pork until the consistency is slightly loose and sticky, a trick I learned from my mom.

Silver fish Icefish, as I’ve mentioned in my Ee Mein Soup post, they are freshwater fishes that are more commonly used in Asian dishes. In Asian markets, we are able to get them fresh or dried. The fresh ones are translucent (a little milky in colour) and are used mainly in stir-fry dishes. The dried ones are white in colour and are used mainly in soups for flavour. In Chinese, they are called yin yu (银鱼). The one that I’m using are dried icefishes.

If you don’t have icefishes and/or are lazy to chop some onion, simply heat up some chicken or vegetable stock (home-made stock is the best!) in the pot and proceed from there.

Prawn heads are amazing at giving the soup sweetness and depth of flavour – not sure whether frozen prawns will be able to impart the same flavour to the soup…

Do check out my post on how to peel and devein prawns (it’s real easy!) – you’ll never need to buy peeled prawns again 😉

Scoop lumps of pork into the boiling soup, making sure they are not dropped in the same place, otherwise the pork will stick to each other.

The mee sua cooks real fast, about 2 to 3 minutes. Mee sua is a type of Chinese noodles made from wheat flour. It is very thin and brittle, but it’s an important food during Chinese festivals/banquets. This is because Mee Sua is also known as “Longevity Noodles”, hence many Chinese eat Mee Sua on their birthdays. You can substitute with other noodles – like udon, ramen, bee hoon (rice vermicelli). If you are using bee hoon, soak them in warm water until they have softened thoroughly before adding into the soup to be reheated.

I love my egg to stay whole, with the yolk semi-cooked. X likes his egg to be scrambled into the soup. Use whichever way that you like! (I crack the egg into a bowl before adding it in just for photo purposes – but it is also easier to help keep your egg whole.)

Ladle into soup bowls and serve!

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Mee Sua Soup

Serves 2

By Jasline N.

0.511.523

INGREDIENTS

 

Meat

• ▢ 200 grams ground pork / chicken
• ▢ 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• ▢ 1/2 tablespoon sesame oil
• ▢ Dash of white pepper
• ▢ About 3 to 5 tablespoons of water
  
  

Soup

• ▢ 1 tablespoon oil
• ▢ 1/4 cup icefish, a small handful, rinsed and pat dry (see note)
• ▢ 1/2 red onion, peeled and finely chopped
• ▢ 1/2 carrot, peeled and sliced
• ▢ 4 cups water, or 2 large bowls of water
• ▢ 10 prawns, peeled and de-veined, heads reserved
• ▢ 2 bunches mee sua, more if you like
• ▢ 2 eggs
• ▢ Salt and ground white pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

• Meat: In a medium bowl, combine the minced pork / chicken, soy sauce, sesame oil, white pepper and 3 tablespoons of water. Add more water until you achieve a slightly loose but still sticky consistency. Set aside.
• Soup: Heat a large pot over medium heat. Add in the oil and icefish. Fry on medium-low heat until the icefish turns a very light golden colour (they don't have to be crispy). Add in the onion and fry over medium-low heat until the onion is translucent. Add in the water and bring to a boil.
• Once the water has come to a boil, add in the reserved prawn heads, cover, lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Season the prawns with a little salt and leave it aside for 10 minutes. Rinse the prawns and drain. Set aside.
• Remove the prawn heads from the soup with a slotted spoon. Turn the heat up to a medium-high until the soup is gently boiling. Scoop the pork/chicken mixture into the soup. Give the soup a stir. At this point you can turn off the heat, cover and set aside until needed.
• Add in the mee sua and eggs, when they are about to cooked, add in the prawns. Taste and season the soup according to your preference. Ladle into a bowl and serve immediately.

NOTES

- The silver fish we used for the stock is not the pest silverfish but salangidae, but in Chinese we call them 银鱼, which is directly translated to silver fish.
- Recipe adapted from my Mom

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