For all chow mein and chow fun lovers, you must try this Singapore mei fun, a luxurious chow mei fun with Chinese BBQ pork (Char Siu), red onions, shrimp, and napa cabbage. We will guide you to make the perfect Singapore mei fun at home.
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What's Singapore Mei Fun
I received one request about how to make Chinese takeout Singapore fried Mei fun (Mai Fun)around one week ago. Before that request, I totally had no idea about how popular this dish is outside China. However, it is really worth the popularity.
I guess you might be quite confused why this Singapore stuff food appears on the Chinese takeout menu. Although it is named as Singapore chow Mei fun, this dish is not unique to Singapore. The Chinese name of this pan-fried rice noodle recipe is "星州炒米粉" and it is usually served in tea restaurants in southern China and Hong Kong.
It really combines several interesting ingredients for example Chinese char siu or sausage and golden curry powder from India. By the way, curry powder has become a really popular kitchen seasoning in Chinese kitchens now. And you should not feel surprised when hearing that stewed beef with curry and potato has been ranked as top 20 popular dishes in China now. Anyway, no matter where it comes from and why it is named Singapore Mei fun, we can just enjoy yummy dishes.
Ingredients breakdown
Mei fun noodles- you will need high-quality thin rice noodles known as mei fun noodles. I will recommend using the Tiger brand.
Protein: Char Siu, shrimp, and egg are the most typical protein for Singapore mei fun.
vegetables: a ground of mixed crunchy vegetables will be added in this mei fun stir fry to add layers of texture and also balance the flavors. I use bean sprouts, scallion, red onion, bell pepper, and napa cabbage.
Curry powder: curry powder is a must-have seasoning for Singapore mei fun. It gives a great taste and also a lovely yellow color. For the curry, golden curry including powder and paste is highly recommended since it contains a large amount of turmeric powder, thus giving a golden color to the final dish.
Light soy sauce: Light soy sauce can give the dish a lovely savory base.
Sesame oil: sesame oil can add some naughty flavor to Singapore mei fun.
About the Mei Fun
Mei fun is a very thin noodle made from rice. Sometimes it is also known as rice vermicelli. It looks quite similar to some of the other types of glass noodles such as mung bean noodles. There are many brands of mei fun in Asian cuisines. You can choose any type, but you need to follow the instruction on the package and prepare your mai fun accordingly. My favorite brand is Tiger brand, which is a Taiwanese brand.
⭐Substitution for char siu: for Char Siu, if you just cannot find any store version of Char Siu and are not interested in making some at home too. You can replace it with Chinese sausage or bacon.
How to make Singapore mei fun
First, let's make an outline for the steps. Soak the Mai fun noodle and then you can prepare all the side ingredients and proteins during the soaking time. Then pan-fry the egg pancake, sautee the proteins, fry garlic and red onion, add the rice noodle, and add curry powder, then mix in all of the other side ingredients. Let's begin.
⭐how to prepare the mei fun
Soak the mei fun in cold water, and follow the time on the back of the package. And then completely drain. If you are not very good at frying chow mei fun, you can cut them into sections with scissors.
💭 if you don't have time to soak the mei fun ahead, you can choose to soak them in hot water (above 60 degrees C) for around 2 minutes. This can be super fast and also create a softer texture.
Fry the egg
Whisk the egg liquid with a very small pinch of salt and then add some oil to a pan, add the egg liquid in. Spread to form an egg pancake. Roll up and cut into shreds.
A simpler way is to pan-fry the egg and then break them into small pieces if you don't want your brother to make the shredded egg. But shreds make a better uniform shape.
Fry the shrimp
Heat up around 1 tablespoon oil in a wok over medium fire. Add shrimp to fry for around 10 to 20 seconds until aroma. Transfer out.
Fry garlic and red onion
Then place oil in, fry garlic and red onion until aromatic. This helps to activate the aroma of the dish.
Add noodles in and season it
Place in the rice noodle, and add the curry powder. Continue frying for half a minute. Then add all the vegetables, napa cabbage, bean sprouts, and red bell peppers. Fry for 20 seconds.
Add the protein
Return char siu and shrimp. Because the protein is cooked already, they should be added at the end.
Add shredded egg omelet, light soy sauce, salt, and sesame oil and mix well.
Other yummy Noodle Recipes
We have lots of yummy and inspiring noodle recipes, check the following noodle ideas to find your favorite.
- Dan Dan noodle is a famous Sichuan-style noodle with minced pork and lots of Sichuan seasonings.
- Biang Biang noodle is a flat wide noodle with hot oil poured.
- Lanzhou noodle is a popular noodle dish with spice-infused beef stock.
- 10 Minutes hot and sour noodle is a super easy hot and sour soup noodles that can be finished in 10 minutes.
🧾Recipe
Singapore Mei Fun
Ingredients
- 100 g rice noodles
- 8 whole Shrimp ,peeled and deveined
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup Shredded Napa Cabbage
- ¼ cup shredded red onion
- ¼ cup mung bean sprouts
- 1 scallion or green onion ,cut into 2 inch sections
- ¼ bell pepper , shredded
- ⅓ cup Chinese Char Siu ,finely sliced or shredded
- 1.5 tbsp. vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp. golden curry powder
Stir fry sauce
- 1 tbsp. cooking wine
- ½ tbsp. light soy sauce
- ½ tbsp. oyster sauce ,optional
- 2 tsp. sesame oil , optional
- 1 tsp. sugar
- small pinch salt or as needed in egg
Instructions
- Pre-soak the rice noodles for around 20 to 30 minutes until soft and then drain. If you are in a hurry, you can soak the mai fun noodle in hot water for 2 minutes. Drain competely .
Make shredded egg
- Whisk egg with a small pinch of salt in a small bow.
- Heat up around ½ tablespoon oil in pan and make a thin omelet. Then shred the egg omelet on your cutting board after cooling down slightly.
- Slice other ingredients and mix the stir fry sauce in a small bowl.
Fry shrimp
- Heat up around 1 tablespoon oil in wok over medium fire. Add shrimp to fry for around 10 to 20 seconds until aroma. Transfer out.
Make the chow mai fun
- Add oil in a wok, and fry garlic and red onion until aromatic. Then add the rice noodles. Fry for around 1 minute. Use a chopstick or a truner to move the Mai fun to make sure they are evenly heated.
- Add sugar, curry powder, light soy sauce, oyster sauce and then pour the cooking wine along the edges of the wok.
- Add napa cabbage, mung bean sprouts and bell peppers in. Fry for another 1 minute.
- Add char siu and shrimp. Mix well.
- Add shredded egg omelet and scallions section, and optinally sesame oil. Fry for another 20 second or so until it is hot and firy.
- Transfer out and serve hot.
Notes
Nutrition
Valerie
This was deeeeelicious! Definitely satisfied my restaurant craving. We made with chicken and shrimp, only 2tsps of oil, and used reduced sodium soy sauce (we didn't have regular or dark). The portions were huge! This could easily make 3-4 portions for those who eat a little less.
Elaine
Thanks Valerie. When eating fried noodles, my family members always eats a lot. I serve them as a meal, sometimes with soups.
Dionne
Every year for Thanksgiving my family makes food from different cultures. This year we chose Asian. Your website has been EXTREMELY helpful. This is a favorite of most of my family and I had no idea it was this easy. Thanks so much! Hope it turns out well tomorrow. Wish us luck lol
Elaine
Dionne,
Happy cooking and Happy Thanksgiving!
Andrew
I subbed the meat and eggs for tofu and tempeh to make it a full plant based meal and it did not disappoint. The tofu was fresh firm and the tempeh was sprouted chickpea. I also threw in a little ketjap manis for a sweet soy taste and halved the sugar.
Thanks for the recipe!
Marilyn Welch
I just finished making your recipe for Singapore Mei Fun and it was so delicious. I thank you for sharing the recipe! This is definitely one to save for my recipe box! Will be making this many times!!!
Elaine
Thanks Marilyn so much for this lovely feedback. Happy cooking.
Claudia D
I love a good Singapore noodle dish from our local Chinese restaurant here in Seattle. It would be fun to recreate it at home and thanks to you I might.
The noodles need to soak in cold or warm water?
Also do you have a site where I could order an authentic chinese wok already seasoned?
Thank you Elaine for this recipe!
Elaine
Claudia,
I usually soak them in warm water to fasten the process.
I am sorry that I have no idea about where to buy seasoned wok. But the step is quite easy and you can finish at home easily. Get some fat （animal fat） and ginger slices, brush the wok carefully with the fat and ginger. Then wash with hot water. Dry and repeat this fro 2 times and then your wok is well seasoned.
Christina
Hi. Elaine
I found your website from this very recipe on Pinterest. This used to be my absolute favorite takeout meal. Question is there any way to lighten the sodium level in this recipe? I have to watch my salt intake but would love to make this as it sounds delicious. Please let me know.
Elaine
Christina,
There is low sodium soy sauce sold. If you need to water the salt taking, you can use low sodium soy sauce and skip oyster sauce, and slightly reduce the amount of salt. I hope this helps. happy cooking!
Suresh
I made it it taste very good but was a little dry
Don Heckman
This is my favorite chinese dish. Your recipe is much better than from a restaurant. When I get it from my local Chinese restaurant they serve it with a red colored hot sauce that is added last. Can I get that recipe please as well? I usually get extra and add it when I reheat in the wok.
Please and thank you
Don
Elaine
Don,
There are lots of chili sauce in Chinese cuisine. So it is hard to me to judge. Maybe it is a secret recipe from this restaurant. Can you drop me a picture via FB or IS？
Alex Fanning
Really delicious! I will definitely make this again
Elaine
Thank you Alex.