Chicken Bak Chor Mee | a Halal, no-pork version of Singapore Minced Meat Noodles

How to make a Halal, non-pork version of Singaporean hawker dish, Bak Chor Mee, or Minced Meat Noodles.

Today we’re making Bak Chor Mee, or minced meat noodles. This is a dish invented in Singapore, so it’s very uniquely Singaporean.

The name literally translates from Hokkien as:

• Bak (肉) = meat
• Chor / Chua (脞) = minced or chopped
• Mee (面) = noodles

Traditionally, it features egg noodles tossed in a savoury sauce with minced pork, slices of pork, pork liver, fish balls, and sometimes mushrooms, topped with fried shallots. Since I don’t consume pork, I made a version with chicken – and am more than satisfied with how this turned out! The noodles are usually tossed with vinegar and chili for that signature tangy, slightly spicy flavor.

There’s a lot of components in this dish, but each of the component is actually super easy to make. The directions listed are what I think would make the most sense and easiest to follow in terms of the step-by-step. Or just watch my recipe video on YouTube for the best explanation of the directions 😀

Easy Broth

The authentic version uses bone broth prepared lovingly the night before… My version uses cheat bouillon cube. If you want to use real bone broth, use either chicken bones/feet or beef bone and slowly simmer for at least 30 minutes.

Main Components

There are three main components to Bak Chor Mee: the minced meat, braised mushrooms, sauce mix. Everything else is a free-for-all. Mee Pok and egg noodles are the typical noodles used, and I do like them best for bak chor mee, but use whatever wheat noodles you have on hand. I also bought ready-made fishballs and meatballs for the convenience.

Minced Meat

The minced meat topping uses very typical Chinese-style marinating ingredients. I used chicken mince, but I added chopped prawns for the extra flavour boost. It’s optional, but it helped level up the taste from meh to “ooh yummm”.

I followed the traditional method of cooking bak chor in the hawker stalls, that is by blanching the minced meat with hot broth first in a bowl, before dunking the blanched meat in the boiling broth to fully cook. I’m not quite sure why this is done so – I’m guessing it’s to have a more even cook, and to better break up the minced meat rather than have it glomp together in a meat ball? In any case, I only did that for my first attempt. Subsequent attempts, I simply used a big ladle that can hold the minced meat, dip it in the broth, and used my chopstick to break the meat up. Works fine, tastes good, less effort.

Braised Mushrooms

I cheated and used shiitake mushrooms. To stick to the authentic way, get the dried mushrooms. You’ll have to soak them overnight though. Dried mushrooms will yield a stronger mushroom-y taste, but I’m usually too impatient (and unprepared) to want to soak them overnight :D.

Dry Version

This is a dry version. To make a soup version, simply add the easy broth to the bowl.

Sauce Mix

The sauce mix I indicated are the standard, but feel free to adjust to your own taste. Personally I like my noodles a bit more vinegar-y, so I’d add an extra teaspoon to my bowl. Of course I need my spice, so I would some extra spoons of my delicious sambal. Speaking of, I included a sambal recipe here that went so well with the bak chor mee. If you have your favourite store-bought jarred sambals, just use those. Less effort, the better.

Ingredients:

2 Servings.

Noodles and Toppings (extras, optional):

• 200 grams Noodles: Mee Pok
• Fish balls
• Meatballs
• Vegetables (I used Bok Choy)
• Cilantro

‘Bak Chor’ – Minced Meat:

• 200 gr Minced Chicken (or any other minced protein)
  • 1 tsp soy sauce
  • 1 tsp oyster sauce
  • 1/4 tsp white pepper powder
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • 1 tsp cornstarch
  • 1/4 tsp sugar
  • Optional: I added 3 chopped shrimps for extra yumminess.

Braised Mushrooms:

• 150 grams shiitake mushrooms
• 500 ml water
• 2 Tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
• 1 tbsp Fish Sauce
• Optional: Cloves and Star Anise
• 1 tsp sugar

Easy Broth:

• 1 litre of water
• 1 bouillon stock cube (I used ikan bilis/seafood flavour, you can use chicken too)
• 2 tbsps dried anchovies – (ikan bilis)

Shrimp Sambal:

• 1 tbsp dried shrimps, soaked in water and minced
• 3 tbsps Dried Chilli Paste
• 2 tsps Sugar
• Salt to taste (if needed)

Tossing sauce bowl mix for noodles:

• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp Chinese black vinegar – you can replace this with white vinegar + a bit of sugar or balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp of Shrimp Sambal
• 2 Tbsp liquid from braised mushroom
• 2 Tbsp easy broth soup

Directions:

Braised Mushrooms:

1. If using dried mushrooms, soak it overnight. If using fresh ones, give it a wash and add to pot with water.
2. To water, add dark soy sauce, fish sauce, cloves and star anise.
3. Let it come to a boil, before turning the heat down to a simmer. Leave to simmer until liquid reduces to half and slightly thickens.

Easy Broth:

1. To a pot of water, add the stock cube and washed dried anchovies.
2. Let it come to a boil, before lowering the heat and let it continue simmering. You will leave it simmering as you prepare the noodles.

Minced Meat:

1. Season the minced meat with soy sauce, oyster sauce, white pepper powder, sesame oil, a dash of sugar and cornstarch. Let it marinade.
2. When ready to cook, put some of the minced meat in a bowl, and add boiling hot broth over it.
3. Use a spoon to break the minced meat apart, while the broth semi-cooks it. Let it cook for about 5 minutes.
4. Scoop the minced meat in a large ladle or a noodle strainer, and dip it in the pot of broth to finish cooking.

Shrimp Sambal:

1. Rehydrate dried shrimps with hot water and chop to tiny pieces.
2. Heat oil in a pan, and add dried chilli paste and the chopped dried shrimps.
3. Saute over low heat until the oil splits, or it turns a darker hue and the oil turns red.
4. Stir in sugar and salt to taste. Done.

Noodle Assembly:

1. In a bowl, add light soy sauce, fish sauce, vinegar and the shrimp sambal (if using). Add some easy broth, and a couple spoons of the braised mushroom liquid. Stir to combine.
2. Cook noodles according to instructions, and slide into bowl. Toss through to coat noodles with the sauce.
3. Top with the cooked minced meat, mushrooms and blanched vegetables. Add fishballs or meatballs if using.

Chicken Bak Chor Mee (Halal, no-pork Singapore minced meat noodles)

Recipe by Sha

0.0 from 0 votes

Course: Uncategorized

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

40

minutes

Cook Mode

Keep the screen of your device on

Ingredients

• Noodles and Toppings

• 400 grams Noodles of choice (such as egg noodles, mee kia, mee pok noodles, bee hoon rice vermicelli)

• Toppings (extras, optional but nice to have):
  Fish balls or Meatballs
  Vegetables (I like Bok Choy for this)
  Cilantro for garnishing

• Bak Chor or Minced Meat

• 200 gr Minced Chicken (or any other minced protein)

• 1 tsp soy sauce

• 1 tsp oyster sauce

• 1/4 tsp white pepper powder

• 1 tsp sesame oil

• 1 tsp cornstarch

• 1/4 tsp sugar

• Optional: I added 3 chopped shrimps for extra yumminess.

• Easy Broth

• 1 litre of water

• 1 bouillon stock cube of choice

• 2 tbsps dried anchovies – (ikan bilis)

• Braised Mushrooms

• 150 grams shiitake mushrooms

• 500 ml water

• 2 Tbsp dark soy sauce

• 1 tbsp Fish Sauce

• Optional: Cloves and star anise

• 1 tsp sugar

• Sambal

• 1 tbsp dried shrimps, soaked in hot water and chopped

• 3 tbsps Dried Chilli Paste

• 2 tsps Sugar

• Salt to taste (if needed)

• Tossing Sauce for Bowl

• 1 tsp soy sauce

• 1 tsp fish sauce

• 1 tsp Chinese black vinegar (or apple cider vinegar/white vinegar)

• 1 tsp of Sambal

• 2 Tbsp liquid from braised mushrooms

• 2 Tbsp easy broth soup

Directions

• Braised Mushrooms
• If using dried mushrooms, soak it overnight. If using fresh ones, give it a wash and add to pot with water.
• To water, add dark soy sauce, fish sauce, cloves and star anise.
• Let it come to a boil, before turning the heat down to a simmer. Leave to simmer until liquid reduces to half and slightly thickens.
• Easy Broth
• To a pot of water, add the stock cube and washed dried anchovies.
• Let it come to a boil, before lowering the heat and let it continue simmering. You will leave it simmering as you prepare the noodles.
• ‘Bak Chor’ Minced Meat
• Season the minced meat with soy sauce, oyster sauce, white pepper powder, sesame oil, a dash of sugar and cornstarch. Let it marinade.
• When ready to cook, put some of the minced meat in a bowl, and add boiling hot broth over it.
• Use a spoon to break the minced meat apart, while the broth semi-cooks it. Let it cook for about 5 minutes.
• Scoop the minced meat in a large ladle or a noodle strainer, and dip it in the pot of broth to finish cooking.
• Shrimp Sambal
• Rehydrate dried shrimps with hot water and chop to tiny pieces.
• Heat oil in a pan, and add dried chilli paste and the chopped dried shrimps.
• Saute over low heat until the oil splits, or it turns a darker hue and the oil turns red.
• Stir in sugar and salt to taste. Done.
• Noodle Assembly:
• In a bowl, add light soy sauce, fish sauce, vinegar and the shrimp sambal (if using). Add some easy broth, and a couple spoons of the braised mushroom liquid. Stir to combine.
• Cook noodles according to instructions, and slide into bowl. Toss through to coat noodles with the sauce.
• Top with the cooked minced meat, mushrooms and blanched vegetables. Add fishballs or meatballs if using.

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