Mee Goreng

If you like Asian noodles you need to try mee goreng. It’s just a whole lot of crazy delicious in a bowl.

Chewy noodles. Chicken. Shrimp. A little bit spicy. A little bit sweet. Incredibly savoury. How can you not want that?

And it’s a snap to make. Not a whole lot of ingredients. Weekend flash with weeknight effort. 30 minutes and it’s on the table. Less time even.

Forget takeout. Make this. Do it soon.

Mee goreng means fried noodles

That isn’t figurative. Mee goreng (or mie goreng – depends who you ask) literally translates to fried noodles. And that is exactly what this is. With noodles as the star. Tasty, tasty noodles. Who doesn’t want that?

Less is more here. There aren’t a lot of ingredients. Not because that makes it easier. Because it makes it better. And that’s what really matters.

I tinkered with this recipe. I tried adding bean sprouts. Chinese greens. Cabbage. Green onions. Distractions. That’s what I wound up calling extra ingredients.

There’s nothing I would take away in this mee goreng. And there’s nothing I would add. You may think boring. But try it. You’ll see.

Malaysian curry powder makes this crazy good

There’s a secret ingredient here. Malaysian curry powder. That’s the fairy dust that makes this dish special. Seriously. The wow. The magic.

I am addicted to the taste of Malaysian curry powder. There. I said it. Full disclosure. So you know where I’m coming from.

Never trust an addict. That’s good advice. Especially if all they are doing is trying to get you to join them. Which is exactly what I’m doing here. You know you want to.

You might need to hunt a bit to get it. Drive around looking to score. But it’s so worth it. The bag says meat curry powder. I say noodle curry powder. Or chicken curry powder. It makes some seriously amazing chicken curry .

I use Baba’s brand. Not because it’s the best. Because that’s what they sell where I live. It’s really good. But I imagine other brands are just as tasty.

The right noodles for mee goreng

These are fried noodles. So you don’t want too soft going in. Maybe not quite al dente but a little firm. That’s important.

I like fresh lo mein noodles for this dish. Yellow egg noodles. Just the right amount of chew. But that’s me.

I have an Indonesian friend that uses linguine. Mie goreng is fried noodles in Indonesian as well. So she knows what she’s doing.

I’m thinking about trying this with rice noodles. Pad Thai meets mee goreng. The ultimate noodle cage fight. Bottom line. Don’t get too hung up on the noodles you have. Just make this. Eat it. And then you’ll see.

Crazy talk, I know. But this recipe isn’t about following the rules. Fried noodles. Sweet soy and sambal oelek. That’s the guideline. So I figure I’m in bounds here.

Go your own way here if you want. Just please make sure the noodles aren’t too soft going in. Or you will have a tasty bowl of mush. Which is nowhere as good as it should be.

Ingredients matter

That’s the thing about recipes with such a short ingredient list. There’s nowhere to hide. So the soy you choose matters.

I like Thai soy sauce. Use it in almost everything. If it isn’t Japanese and it calls for soy, it’s getting the Thai treatment. Same goes for oyster sauce. I like the Thai version best.

Kecap manis is the classic choice for this dish. For the sweet soy. And if you have it, use it. It’s good. I stock Thai sweet soy. So that’s what I use. I have five different soy sauces in the fridge. Even I don’t have room for another one.

I did a kecap vs Thai tasting. They aren’t all that different. And if you’re wondering – it’s pronounced ketchup. Now you know.

Whatever sweet soy you choose do consider Thai thin soy. For anything that isn’t Japanese it is wonderful stuff. My go to general purpose soy. It’s good stuff.

Sometimes simple is best

This is a deceptively simple recipe. And it has ketchup in it. Not kecap. Ketchup. Which is reason enough for you to run away. I’m pretty sure I would run away as well if I didn’t know better.

But it works. Somehow. The curry flavours against the soy. The acid and tomato and sugar in the ketchup. The chew of the noodles. And no distractions.

No garnishes either. I could have made the pictures look better. A little cilantro. Some chopped peanuts. Pretty green onions. I wanted to. But I couldn’t. Because they don’t add anything. More distractions.

This is how I would make mee goreng if I was running a food stall on the streets of Malaysia. If my livelyhood depended on it. I’d line up for it. And once you try it I bet you would too.

Mee goreng – Malaysian fried noodles

Ingredients

Mee goreng sauce

• 1 tbsp soy sauce – I like Thai thin soy sauce for this
• 1 tbsp sweet soy – kecap manis or Thai sweet soy
• 2 1/2 tbsp ketchup – yes, plain old every day ketchup
• 2 tsp sambal oelek

Mee goreng

• 3 chicken thighs – cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 6 shrimp 31-40 shrimp per pound (large or medium large in the UK)
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1 tsp Malaysian curry powder It’s called meat powder on the package. You can substitute Madras curry powder.
• 12 oz fresh yellow noodles cooked
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil plus 1/2 tsp to fry the eggs
• 2 large eggs lightly scrambled

Instructions

Prep your sauce

• Combine the sweet soy, the thin soy, the ketchup and the sambal oelek in a small bowl.
• Stir and set aside

Make your mee goreng

• This goes fast. Be ready. Have your ingredients prepped and at hand. Make sure your noodles are cooked. Not a bad idea to leave them in your colander so you can run some hot water over them right before you start to fry them. Hot water will loosen them up so you aren’t starting with a big, solid glob of noodles.
• Heat your wok over medium heat. Non-stick or well-seasoned really helps here. Turn on your hood fan.
• Stir your eggs to combine the yolks and whites. Add 1/2 tsp of oil. When the oil starts to shimmer add the eggs. Fry the eggs until they start to set up. Break a hole in the middle of the eggs and push the uncooked egg into it. Think omelette.
• When the eggs are mostly cooked through fold them over themselves (in half) and slide the egg out of the wok onto a plate. Cut the eggs into ribbons. Set aside.
• Add 3 tablespoons of oil to the wok. Add the chicken. Stir fry until the chicken is almost done. This should take about 4 minutes but check your chicken. You don’t want raw chicken. Maybe a little pink at this stage.
• Add the shrimp and continue to stir fry. You just want them turning pink. Overdone shrimp are expensive pencil erasers. Not good. This should take about a minute for 31-40 count.
• Add the garlic. Stir fry for about 30 seconds.
• Look at your pan. Is there still a fair amount of oil in it or is most of it splattered on your stove. If it looks dry add a bit more oil. These are fried noodles. Fried isn’t dry roasted.
• Add the Malaysian curry powder. Stir to combine. You want to see the spices frying in the oil. Cook for about 30 seconds.
• Crank the heat. Toss in the noodles. Stir fry them carefully. You don’t want to break them. but you do want them to get them well coated with oil and frying a bit. Remember, this is fried noodles. Cook for about 90 seconds.
• Add the sauce. Return the eggs to the pan. Stir to combine. Serve immediately.

Nutrition

Mee goreng - Malaysian fried noodles

Ingredients

Mee goreng sauce

• 1 tbsp soy sauce - I like Thai thin soy sauce for this
• 1 tbsp sweet soy - kecap manis or Thai sweet soy
• 2 1/2 tbsp ketchup - yes, plain old every day ketchup
• 2 tsp sambal oelek

Mee goreng

• 3 chicken thighs - cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 6 shrimp 31-40 shrimp per pound (large or medium large in the UK)
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1 tsp Malaysian curry powder It’s called meat powder on the package. You can substitute Madras curry powder.
• 12 oz fresh yellow noodles cooked
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil plus 1/2 tsp to fry the eggs
• 2 large eggs lightly scrambled

Instructions

Prep your sauce

• Combine the sweet soy, the thin soy, the ketchup and the sambal oelek in a small bowl.
• Stir and set aside

Make your mee goreng

• This goes fast. Be ready. Have your ingredients prepped and at hand. Make sure your noodles are cooked. Not a bad idea to leave them in your colander so you can run some hot water over them right before you start to fry them. Hot water will loosen them up so you aren’t starting with a big, solid glob of noodles.
• Heat your wok over medium heat. Non-stick or well-seasoned really helps here. Turn on your hood fan.
• Stir your eggs to combine the yolks and whites. Add 1/2 tsp of oil. When the oil starts to shimmer add the eggs. Fry the eggs until they start to set up. Break a hole in the middle of the eggs and push the uncooked egg into it. Think omelette.
• When the eggs are mostly cooked through fold them over themselves (in half) and slide the egg out of the wok onto a plate. Cut the eggs into ribbons. Set aside.
• Add 3 tablespoons of oil to the wok. Add the chicken. Stir fry until the chicken is almost done. This should take about 4 minutes but check your chicken. You don’t want raw chicken. Maybe a little pink at this stage.
• Add the shrimp and continue to stir fry. You just want them turning pink. Overdone shrimp are expensive pencil erasers. Not good. This should take about a minute for 31-40 count.
• Add the garlic. Stir fry for about 30 seconds.
• Look at your pan. Is there still a fair amount of oil in it or is most of it splattered on your stove. If it looks dry add a bit more oil. These are fried noodles. Fried isn’t dry roasted.
• Add the Malaysian curry powder. Stir to combine. You want to see the spices frying in the oil. Cook for about 30 seconds.
• Crank the heat. Toss in the noodles. Stir fry them carefully. You don’t want to break them. but you do want them to get them well coated with oil and frying a bit. Remember, this is fried noodles. Cook for about 90 seconds.
• Add the sauce. Return the eggs to the pan. Stir to combine. Serve immediately.

Nutrition

Garlic chilli chicken is a serious curry. Big tastes. This isn’t a curry for the faint of palate. If butter chicken is your favourite maybe this isn’t the right recipe for you.

If you love a madras though. Or a jalfrezi. Then garlic chilli chicken just might be your new favourite. If garlic and green chilies are your jam, read on.

This is one of those curries that are really big in the UK. And not so big anywhere else. I don’t know why that is. It’s a shame. Garlic chilli chicken is tasty stuff. One of the best curries you’ve never heard of.

My guess is because it doesn’t seem to trace its roots back to a traditional Indian dish. I can’t find reference to it anywhere outside the UK. Doesn’t matter though. I know. And now so do you.

Garlic is the backbone of garlic chilli chicken

There’s a lot of garlic in this dish. There’s sliced garlic. And garlic ginger paste. And garlic pickle.

The fresh garlic flavours the oil as it cooks. It mellows as it cooks. Winds up being these little garlic flavour bombs.

Garlic ginger paste is bright and assertive. If you cook any Indian recipes on glebekitchen you should know it well.

Garlic pickle is earthy. Spicy. Salty. It adds a whole different dimension.

It’s the triple crown of garlic. Don’t eat this if your date doesn’t. It won’t go well for you. No joke.

Get your garlic pickle at your local Indian grocer

You can make garlic pickle if you like. I really should have a recipe posted for it. But I don’t. Not yet anyway. Sorry.

It takes time to make. Like a week. So you really need to plan ahead. Or you can just go to your Indian grocer and pick one of the many types they stock. I suppose you have to plan that too. But not for a week. Unless you are really busy.

Buying it is easy. And I like the stuff in the jar. I don’t say that often. But in this case it’s true.

Don’t start buying garlic ginger paste in a jar though. That stuff is still terrible. Ground up wet cardboard. Curry destroyer in jar. Can you tell I’m not a fan?

Green chilies add bite

Garlic chilli chicken is a spicy dish. Hot even. Not crazy spicy. But spicy. And you can’t really do much about it.

There’s a nice balanced heat from the kashmiri chili powder. It’s pretty mild as far as Indian chili powders go. But it still has some kick.

The garlic pickle comes packing some pretty good heat too. At least the brands I get around here.

The bright flavour of the green chilies that make it what it is. You can’t not add green chilies to this dish. It just wouldn’t be right. Not when it has chilli in the name.

You can roll back on the kashmiri chili powder some. And try to find a milder garlic pickle.

And you can seed the chilies. I almost always do that. The big fire is the membrane inside the chilies. Take that out and you cut the heat.

I love the taste of green chilies. So I always want to add more. Removing the membrane is how I keep the heat down and still get my green chili fix.

Garlic from everywhere. Chili from everywhere. And Indian restaurant technique. There’s a lot here to love.

If it sounds like something you’d like, give it a go. Let’s get the secret of garlic chilli chicken out to the rest of the world!

garlic chilli chicken

Ingredients

Pre-cook the chicken

• 12 oz chicken thighs or breasts cut into large bite size pieces
• 2 tsp curry powder or Indian restaurant spice mix
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 2 cups chicken stock

Spice mix

• 1 tsp kasoor methi
• 2 tsp Indian restaurant spice mix powder – recipe link below
• 1 tsp kashmiri chili powder
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt

Restaurant garlic chilli chicken

• 3 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 2" cinnamon bark – also called cassia
• 3 green cardamom pods
• 2 cloves garlic sliced finely
• 2 green chilies halved, seeded and cut into 3/4 inch pieces
• 2 tsp garlic ginger paste – recipe link below
• 1 Tbsp tomato paste diluted in 2 Tbsp water
• 1 Tbsp cilantro leaves and stems – finely minced
• 15 oz curry base – recipe link below
• 1-2 tsp garlic pickle – available at Indian grocers
• 3-4 cherry tomatoes cut in half

Instructions

Pre-cook the chicken

• Combine the cut up chicken, curry or mix powder, salt and enough no-sodium chicken stock to cover the chicken in a sauce pan. If you are using chicken stock with sodium taste it out of the container. You want the liquid right on the edge of too salty. If it isn’t there add a bit of salt.
• Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer. Give the chicken a bit of a stir. You don’t want pieces clumping up, preventing things from cooking evenly. Cook until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of around 150F for white meat or 160F for dark meat. It will finish cooking in the final curry.

garlic chilli chicken

• Combine the Indian restaurant spice mix, kasoor methi, kashmiri chili powder and salt in a small bowl. This is your spice mix.
• Cut up the chilies and tomatoes.
• Dilute the tomato paste with enough water to get to the consistency of passata.
• Heat your frying pan (don’t use non-stick) briefly over medium heat. Add 3 Tbsp vegetable oil. Use all the oil specified. It’s important.
• When the oil starts to shimmer add the cinnamon bark and green cardamom. Cook until you see little bubbles form around the whole spices.
• Add the garlic and green chilies and cook until the garlic just starts to turn golden.
• Add the garlic ginger paste. Cook it, stirring constantly, until it stops sputtering.
• Turn down the heat to medium low and add the spice mix you prepared above. This is a critical step so really pay attention here. Stir it constantly for about 30 seconds. If it starts to darken lift the pan off the heat. You want the spice mix to cook in the oil but not burn.
• Turn the heat up to medium high. Add the diluted tomato paste and stir until bubbles form (the oil will likely separate). This takes around 30 seconds to one minute depending on the heat.
• Add the cilantro leaves and stems. Cook for around 15-20 seconds.
• Add 3 oz of curry base. Stir until bubbles form (little craters really), around 30 seconds. Watch the edges of the pan. The curry can stick here.
• Now add 6 oz of curry base and stir briefly. Let it cook until the bubbles form again. This takes 1-2 minutes.
• Add the rest of the curry base and let cook until the bubbles form again. Turn the heat down to low, add the garlic pickle and then the pre-cooked chicken.
• Let the curry simmer for about 5 minutes. If it gets too thick add a bit more curry base. Don’t add water.
• Add the cherry tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes are just warmed through. Garnish with a bit of chopped fresh coriander if you like and serve.

Notes

Nutrition