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Home » Recipes » Savoury » Main Courses » Noodles: Asian » Mee Sua Soup

February 20, 2013 Asian

Mee Sua Soup

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.

Mee Sua Soup

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!

Mee Sua Soup

Mee Sua Soup

Mee Sua Soup

1) Season the minced pork with light soy sauce.

2) And some sesame oil.

3) With a dash of white pepper.

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.

Mee Sua Soup

Mee Sua Soup

Mee Sua Soup

4) Mixing in water.

5) Stir-frying the silver fish icefish.

6) Sweating the onion and the carrot.

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.

Mee Sua Soup

Mee Sua Soup

Mee Sua Soup

7) Add in water and bring it to a boil.

8) Adding in the prawn heads.

9) After simmering, add in the pork.

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.

Mee Sua Soup

Mee Sua Soup

Mee Sua Soup

10) Add in the mee sua.

11) And the egg.

12) And the prawns!

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.)

Mee Sua Soup

Ladle into soup bowls and serve!



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Mee Sua Soup

Serves 2
By Jasline N.
Servings: 0

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
Tried this recipe?Mention @foodiebaker or tag #foodiebaker!

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Categories: Asian Tags: carrot, ikan bilis, light soy sauce, minced chicken, minced pork, onion, prawn, sesame oil, whole egg

Previous Post: « How to Peel and De-Vein Raw Prawns with Kitchen Scissors (Very Easy!)
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Gin says

    May 29, 2017 at 3:11 am

    Thank you for the Mee Sua recipe. Forgive me for wondering what is Silverfish. According to Wikipedia A silverfish is a small, wingless insect. I think you meant Salangidae.

    Reply
    • Jasline N. says

      May 29, 2017 at 9:33 am

      Hi Gin, yes silverfish is a very disgusting insect. I erroneously called them silverfish because in Chinese they are called 银鱼 (yin yu), which directly translates to silver fish. I’ve corrected the name to icefish now!

      Reply
  2. Nagi@RecipeTinEats says

    June 7, 2016 at 2:55 am

    I love mee sua! I always find it very interesting. This is a gorgeous soup!

    Reply
  3. rsmacaalay says

    February 24, 2013 at 5:12 pm

    Yummy! We use to make this a lot we also add luffa (patola) to it

    Reply
  4. Barbara Bamber | justasmidgen says

    February 23, 2013 at 1:39 pm

    I’ve never heard of this dish but I know I’d love, my daughter as well. I’ve pinned your recipe, I would love to have a warm bowl of this on the weekend! xx

    Reply
  5. Sammie says

    February 23, 2013 at 9:34 am

    Oh my! I looove mee sua! My grandma makes the best so I’ve never actually attempted to make it myself! Gotta try your version for sure. Absolutely love the shrimps you cooked it with!

    Reply
  6. hui says

    February 21, 2013 at 6:28 pm

    growing up, we never had mee sua at home.. my very first mee sua soup was made by a friend at uni with anchovy stock cube, topped with an egg.. cooked in a rice cooker! simple yet delicious.. though not so nutritious ^^||! yours looks delicious and is definitely more healthy and balanced with real flavors! ^^ yums!

    Reply
  7. rabbitcancook says

    February 21, 2013 at 3:38 pm

    I love mee sua soup, it’s my comfort food whenever I am down with flu or the weather is chilly.

    Reply
  8. Jasline says

    February 21, 2013 at 1:41 pm

    Hi Bobbi! I’m receiving your comments just fine! 🙂

    Reply
  9. Bam's Kitchen says

    February 21, 2013 at 1:22 pm

    Warm and cozy soup! It really hits the spot on these cooler days. Can you please let me know if you are receiving my comments as they seem to be going to everyone’s spam box? Take care, BAM

    Reply
  10. yummychunklet says

    February 21, 2013 at 11:31 am

    Yum!

    Reply
  11. Jessie Ng says

    February 21, 2013 at 10:05 am

    Hi, Jasline, thanks for the drop by earlier. This bowl of mee sua looks so mouth-watering to me. Using the prawn heads to make the stock must taste awesome! By the way, if you want to open the follower option pls let me know as I want to follow you. I don’t do it in other channels, sorry.

    Reply
  12. Natalia at Hot, Cheap & Easy says

    February 21, 2013 at 8:31 am

    Thanks! I hope to try it soon….

    Reply
  13. Jasline says

    February 21, 2013 at 8:28 am

    Hi Natalia! You can omit the silverfish and use chicken or vegetable stock, equally delicious!

    Reply
  14. ChgoJohn says

    February 21, 2013 at 5:42 am

    This sounds like a very flavorful bowl of soup, Jasline. 2 of the Asian markets near here have rather extensive displays of frozen fish. Next time I’m in one, I’ll look for silverfish. I might get lucky!

    Reply
  15. Choc Chip Uru says

    February 21, 2013 at 3:13 am

    What a healthy but flavoursome warm soup my friend 🙂

    Cheers
    Choc Chip Uru

    Reply
  16. Natalia at Hot, Cheap & Easy says

    February 21, 2013 at 2:43 am

    What a beautiful post! Yum! I wonder what I would use for “silverfish’?

    Reply
  17. kitchen flavours says

    February 20, 2013 at 11:04 pm

    A bowl of deliciousness! I’ve made fried mee suah for our dinner today, a break from the usual rice meal! Mee suah is one of our family’s favourite. I love both the soup and fried version! Yum!

    Reply
  18. Suzanne says

    February 20, 2013 at 10:09 pm

    Wow, such a gorgeous soup. Simple and comforting. I just saw a recipe on food52, one of the cooks made the “longevity noodle” I marveled at the technique. I should start saving and freezing the prawn heads, I have been throwing them out, my bad!!

    Reply

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