Mihun Singapore

A friend of mine told me she usually order this dish when she goes for takeaway because no matter where she is, they are always the same - a plate of rice vermicelli fried in curry. You may get different type of bami (stir fried noodle) but the Mihun Singapore is always the same according to her. Funnily enough when she went to Singapore a few years back for holiday, she can't get the dish in Singapore and got a bowl of noodles in curry soup instead. I told her what he got was Curry Mee and she probably got it because she told them the noodle she wished for was cooked in curry.

I find the Mihun Singapore you get here rather insipid. I prefer the mihun to be fiery and fragrant, so I added a few things which you don't usually get when you go to restaurants. You can change the vegetables to whatever it is in season. I always use prawns and chicken but you can change that to a purely meat or seafood or even tofu. This is very easy to make as long as you have curry powder with you. I use the curry powder I get at my local supermarket.

Mihun Singapore

Ingredients:

half a packet of mi hun - soak in hot water for 5 minutes (or as per packet instruction and drained) until al dente - make sure it is not too soft otherwise it will break. Rinse in cold water and drain until ready to use.

1 onion - sliced

2 garlic - crushed and sliced
1 cm ginger - peeled and julienned
2 chilies - sliced

1 TBSP curry powder

1/2 tsp chili powder

1 lemongrass - crushed

1 lemon

1 egg

1 chicken fillet - sliced

100g prawns - peeled

a handful of beansprout

a handful of shredded cabbage

1/2 cucumber - cut into matchsticks

1 baby carrot - peeled and cut into matchcticks

1/2 tsp rice vinegar

oil

salt, pepper and sugar to taste

Method:

1. In a bowl combine the sliced cucumber and carrots. Add the vinegar, salt and sugar and set aside. It will now start to pickle.

2. Marinate the chicken and prawn in some salt and pepper and set aside.

3. Prepare all the ingredients so ti is next to you when you're ready to fry.

4. Heat up some vegetable oil in a wok until it is smoking.

5. Add the ginger and garlic and half the onion. Fry until fragrant

6. Add in the chicken and prawn and fry for a minute.

7. Add the curry powder and lemon grass and stir to mix.

8. Stir in the vegetables and fry some more.

9. Add in the chili, onion and egg and fry until the egg is *set*

10. Add in the mi hun. Add a little bit of water so the mi hun soak in all the flavours and gets softened further (this is why you mustn't soak it till it is really soft).

11. Add the pickled carrot and cucumber and season according to taste.

12. Squeeze some lemon juice and serve.

Note: Take the lemongrass out when serving - it is only there for taste.