Hokkien Prawn Noodle Soup

– HAE MEE –

SINGAPORE / PENANG, MALAYSIA

I hate wasting food. Just as I would save the bones from roast chicken to make stock, I carefully collect the heads and shells from prawns every time I cook with them. These heads and shells contain the natural sweet-saltiness of sea crustaceans. I fry them with chilli to make flavoured oil, or I make this traditional Hokkien noodle soup. The hae mee broth is rich and robust, all the delicious flavours from the prawn heads and shells and the pork bones extracted from the long simmering.

Serves 4

For the broth

• 500g prawn shells and heads (from about 1kg of prawns)
• 500g free-range pork ribs
• 2 tablespoons groundnut oil
• 6 shallots, finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons dried shrimps
• 2.5 litres water
• 1 tablespoon unrefined light brown sugar
• sea salt, to taste

To serve

• 100g dried rice vermicelli
• 1 bunch of spinach
• a handful of beansprouts
• 200g fresh round egg noodles
• 250g MSC* raw king prawns
• fried shallots (see here)
• sambal tumis belachan (see here)

1. Peel and devein the prawns, reserving the shells and heads. You will only need about half the peeled prawns, so save the rest for other dishes; or, ideally, you would have saved up the prawn shells and heads from previous meals in the freezer like a good Asian.
2. Blanch the pork ribs in boiling water for a minute, then drain and rinse – this makes your life easier later by giving a relatively scum-free broth.
3. Heat the oil in a large pot over a medium heat. Add the shallots, garlic and dried shrimps and stir-fry until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the prawn shells and heads and fry, stirring, for about 10 minutes, or until they turn orange.
4. Pour in the water and bring to the boil. Add the pork ribs and turn the heat down to low, then cover and let simmer for 2 hours. You don’t have to skim the golden-orange foam; I like to think of it as ‘prawn essence’.
5. Two hours later, remove the pork ribs and prawn heads and shells with a slotted spoon. Whiz the prawn heads and shells in a blender along with a ladleful of broth, then pour through a fine sieve back into the pot, pressing to extract the juices. Discard the leftover solids. Taste the broth and season with sugar and salt.
6. Pour boiling water over the rice vermicelli. Cover and let stand for 10 minutes until cooked, then drain. Blanch the spinach and beansprouts in boiling water until just wilted, then remove and set aside. Bring the water back up to the boil and blanch the egg noodles for a minute or so, then drain. Lightly poach the prawns in the broth until they turn orange.
7. To assemble, divide the rice vermicelli and egg noodles between bowls. Top with the cooked prawns, pork ribs, spinach and beansprouts, then ladle the hot broth over. Finish with fried shallots and sambal.

Note: The contrasting taste and texture of the two kinds of noodles makes the dish more interesting. But if you’re lazy, you can skip the egg noodles and just double the quantity of rice vermicelli.