86. Mee Jawa

• April
• 12

11:29 am Home Cooking, Pasta/Noodles

The first time I ate mee jawa was in Memphis. Nope, it is not a local dish there *guffaw*. A lady that I knew cooked this for me and a pal since we did not get to taste that the first time she cooked it.

Anyway, it was so delicious. Especially to me, who loved all soupy noodle/pasta dishes. I asked her for the recipe, she told me that she googled online. She did, however, give me some basic idea on what to add in the broth.

I am not sure when was the first time that I attempted this, but I have not cooked any recently. This one I cooked probably like in 2006, or early 2007. I just checked the photos. It was cooked in December, 2006 folks! Yes, that long ago.

But anyway, I am sure the recipe that I used here (a combination of few recipes that I found online) is not quite original. But heck, as long as my guests and family thinks that it is all right, all right it is then.

MEE JAWA

Ingredients

• 1 pack fresh noodles, blanched in hot water, then set aside
• 500 g beef, sliced thin
• 1 kg prawn
• About 400g sweet potatoes, boiled and mashed
• Salt and white pepper to taste
• About 5 TB oil
• About 2.5 L water

Ground together

• 10 shallots
• 5 cloves garlic
• 3 stalks lemongrass
• 2 inch ginger
• 2 inch galangal
• 15 dried chillies (or about 3 TB chilli paste)
• 10 red chillies (or less, depending on how hot you want the gravy to be)

Accompaniments

• 100g bean sprouts, cleaned
• 5 hard boiled eggs, quartered
• 10 calamansi
• Sliced bird eye chillies
• Sliced fried tofu
• Scallions and coriander leaves

Method

1. Prepare prawn stock. In a pot, put all the prawn and the 2.5L water together. Turn the heat up to boiling, then let the prawn cook. It would only take like 5 minutes. Take the prawns out of the stock, set it aside to cool.
2. Once it had cooled, shell it off, including the head and tail. Set aside the shelled prawns aside. Take all the skins and head and blend it with some of the stock. Strain the blended stock for a few times to make sure that there are no leftover shells inside. Set aside for later use.
3. Make the stock. In a deep pot, heat the oil. Sautee the grounded ingredients until fragrant. Then add the prawn stock, sliced beef, mashed sweet potatoes, salt and sugar. Let it come to a boil, then lower the heat.
4. Cook on further for another 10 minutes, just to cook the beef. Then ready to be served, ladled on the noodle and accompaniments.

It does seemed like a lot to do for a meal, but like I said, I served this for guests, with rave reviews, I might add. I would definitely be doing this again for another crowd