INTRODUCTION
Have you ever wondered why a plate of economically priced beehoon or rice vermicelli (about S$1.00) can be so tasty and moist?
Yes, stall owners are selling at this price and business are good and you can spot such stalls in most of the coffee shops or wet markets eatery outlets… It is a breakfast item for the commoner like me … Parents packed back for kids as breakfast or lunch at home, workers packed to office as their breakfast..and I do crave for this item if I am eating out..
The secret for such economically priced beehoon is the pre-marinating of the beehoon. I have a few practical recipes with me and most called for marinating the beehoon in advance. I tried a few times and taste and texture were pretty closed to what is sold in the stores. Pre-marinating the beehoon will ensure tasty and softer beehoon and cut down the cooking time tremendously.
Though termed as economy beehoon, the price can be rather steep depending on the type of side items you ordered. If one is budget conscious, one can just ordered the beehoon itself with another side dish such as vegetables that may cost 30 cents more..
The side items are rather standard and are mostly deep fried items such as: chicken wings – S$1.00, sausages – S$0.50, medium sized fish cake – S$1.00, Chicken drumsticks – S$1.50, eggs – S$0.50, vegetables – S$0.50, otak otak – S$1.00, luncheon meat – S$1.00 and many more..
Therefore a packet of this combination will cost about S$(1.00+1.00+0.50+ 0.30+0.50) = S$3.30
And this package will cost about S$(1.50+1.00+0.50+0.30) = S$3.30 also.
So, if you packed 2 packages, you will have to pay S$6.60… Rather expensive but the choice is yours… There are many items that you can choose from, you can always choose one that is affordable to you as the most economical package will cost you just only S$1.00 and it is equally fulfilling…but with beehoon and nothing else…
What I am sharing today is the basic fried beehoon recipe and you can always served with your preferred side items. For this illustration, i have deep some fried fish cakes, eggs, sauces, chicken drumsticks and stir fried some cabbages to go with the beehoon. For chilli sauce, I have used the chilli sauce from my Ayam Penyet recipe.
WHAT IS REQUIRED
Servings: About 4-5 adult servings
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300 grams of rice vermicelli
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3 tablespoons of dark soya sauce
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2 tablespoons of vegetarian oyster sauce
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2 tablespoons of light soya sauce
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1 tablespoon of sesame oil
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100 grams of beansprout (not in the picture)
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3 shallots – sliced thinly (not in picture) (For vegetarian version, please omit)
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2 tablespoons of cooking oil
Seasonings during stir frying
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Additional vegetarian oyster sauce to taste
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Salt to taste
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Dashes of white pepper corn
* Not that the seasoning will very much depend on your taste bud. The quantity listed here are rather conservative and you can always adjust upwards to suit your family’s taste bud.
STEPS OF PREPARATION
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In a bowl with water just adequate to cover the uncooked rice vermicelli, add in the oyster sauce, light soya sauce, dark soya sauce and sesame oil. Marinate the rice vermicelli for at least half an hour until the rice vermicelli are soft. If you are rushing for time, you can use lukewarm water for the marinating.
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When the rice vermicelli is soft, sauté the sliced shallot with the cooking oil until fragrant, add in the soaked rice vermicelli (keep the seasoning water for the rice vermicelli) and stir fry for 3-4 minutes until the flavour are well incorporated .
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Add adequate seasoning water to cover the rice vermicelli, let it simmer until your desired texture. (Note: If you are unsure of the quantity of the seasoning water to add, add gradually. The rice vermicelli will take some time to absorb the seasoning water. You may or may not used up all the seasoning water and this will depend on how moist you want your rice vermicelli to be.)
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Once you are satisfied with the texture of the rice vermicelli, take a spoon and taste the rice vermicelli. If there is a need, add additional seasoning (oyster sauce, salt, white pepper and sesame oil) to taste, follow by beansprout. Stir until well mix and let it simmer for another one minute before off the heat and serve with your preferred side items.
CONCLUSION
This is a rather unconventional method of cooking rice vermicelli but the soaking do help to soften and flavoured the rice vermicelli. In addition, it cut short the time tremendously. I hope this recipe will benefit many overseas readers who craved for this simple fried rice vermicelli .. It is definitely not difficult, it is just to get the ingredients and method right…
This recipe was included in Page 50-51 of the “One Pot Noodle E-book”. For more One Pot Noodle Dishes, you can have a copy of “Easy One Pot Noodles – A step by step guide” that was packed with 30 recipes, 60 pages at a reasonable convenience fee of USD5.00. The recipes covered various recipes from curry laksa, prawn noodles to fish head beehoon and etc. Of course not forgetting the well like Economy Bee hoon and Mee Rebus . You can purchase by clicking the link above.You can either pay using Pay Pal or Credit card account. Please ensure that you have an PDF reader like Acrobat or iBooks in your mobile phone or iPad if you intended to read it in your ipad or mobile phone. Should there be any problems of purchasing, feel free to contact me at kengls@singnet.com.sg and separate arrangement can be made.
Hope you like the post today. Cheers and have a nice day.
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For more recipes, you can refer to my RECIPE INDEX (updated as at 15 October 2014) here and you can follow me at PINTEREST or visit the blog’s FACEBOOK PAGE to keep abreast of my future posts.
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Hi, I tried this recipe today and my noodles became very mushy and clumpy. 🙁 I hope you can share some tips here.
Did you put your fire at the highest throughout the whole process? I reduced it to medium because the noodles were absorbing so much liquid but it was still not cooked yet.
Secondly, do I have to cover my wok and reduce the fire to low when your instructions said ‘simmer’?
Thanks!!
you may have added too much water and the bee hoon cannot absorb water any more. In your next attempt, add gradually. Different brands of rice vermicelli do have different water absorbing power. Therefore, you need to keep an eye .. There is no need to cover while simmering as you are not braising. Unsure of your noodles, if this happens, you may want to blanch your noodles first before you add in to the broth.. Cooking is a matter of experience and I am sure you can do much better after this incidence. I am sorry to hear that..Remember, different brands can cook rather differently.Thanks for trying.
Just to let you know that your recipe turned our very well for me. I have used ginger instead of shallot to baoxiang so that it will taste like vegetarian fried bee hoon. Yes we need to add the seasoned water by a small portion and fried the Beehoon until it meets my standard of softness. Thank you
My pleasure and glad to hear this.
I have been trying to master the art of whipping up a plate of economy fried beehoon. Tried this for lunch today, and it didn’t disappointed. I think the pre-marinating helped. Thanks for the recipe!
Glad you like it
I just tried making it for my family & they loved it! Thank you so much for sharing!
I am so happy to hear that
Thank you for sharing your hard work , really appreciate it
Welcome
Hi, Kenneth, thanks for sharing this recipe. i am going to try it out later for lunch.. by the way, do you know how long is the maximum time that I can marinate the beehoon? 🙂
The longer you marinate, the bee hoon texture will become very soft and hence your cooking time have to be very much shorter. A matter of judgement is required in your cooking part.. The ultimate test is to take some bee hoon and tried to see if this is the texture you are looking for.
Thanks for the tip! 🙂