Mee Siam with Gravy | Mee Siam Kuah

Mee Siam Kuah is a beloved Malay or Nonya/Peranakan noodle dish of stir-fried vermicelli served with a deliciously appetising sweet and sour gravy. It is commonly served as a breakfast dish, but honestly, it makes a great meal any time of day.

This might look slightly complicated because you cook the noodles and gravy separately, but it really isn’t! Both parts use the same spice base paste, and you can cook them at the same time. Once you get the paste going, the rest comes together quite quickly.

I’ll break down each component below, including some tips and little things I’ve learnt from making this at home.

Mee Siam literally means “Siamese noodles”, with Siam being the old name for Thailand.

Despite the name, Mee Siam as we know it is a dish associated with Singapore and Malaysia, rather than a traditional Thai dish.

There are both Malay and Nonya/Peranakan versions of Mee Siam, and you’ll find plenty of variation depending on the cook. Some versions are drier (can even be referred to as Mee Siam as well, though more accurately it should be Mee Siam Goreng), while this one is the gravy version, where the stir-fried vermicelli is served with a separate tangy gravy.

And yes, this is one of those dishes where everyone seems to have their own preferred version!

Key Ingredients

The Spice Base Paste

The rempah spice base paste is important for the Mee Siam! Fortunately, the ingredients are minimal (or at least minimal in terms of Malay Cooking).

• Dried Chillies: As with most Malay dishes, dried chillies are a mainstay. This adds spice, so feel free to adjust the amount according to your spice tolerance. Rehydrate the dried chillies with boiling water for 5 minutes for easier blending.

• Onion and Garlic: Onions and garlic are standard alliums. should be I used a medium-sized red onion, but you can also use shallots. You want about 50g of shallots for this particular recipe.

• Dried Shrimps: Dried shrimps add a component of delicious umami flavour to the dish. You will have to rehydrate the dried shrimps before blending, so it softens. Otherwise you’ll get tough chunks in your paste.

• Water: I added water so it blends easier, you do not need to if you have a good blender. In place of water, you can use oil to blend it easier. Alternatively you can also use a pestle and mortar to grind all the ingredients to a paste – you will not need extra liquid.

Essential: Taucheo (taucu)

• Speaking of umami, taucheo, also known as taucu, is an important ingredient in Mee Siam.

• Taucheo is made from fermented salted soybeans. It adds a really distinctive savoury, salty and slightly funky flavour to the gravy.

• You can usually find it in Southeast Asian supermarkets and Asian grocery stores.

• To prepare it, simply mash the taucheo with a fork until you have a rough paste. I like using a pestle because it’s much faster. I also like leaving a few soybeans slightly chunky so you can see little pieces of them in the finished gravy. It looks more appetising!

Is Taucheo Very Salty?

• It can be.

• Different brands of taucheo can vary quite a bit in saltiness, which is why I recommend adding the salt towards the end of cooking only.

• If your taucheo is particularly salty, you can rinse it briefly before mashing to remove some of the salt.

Can I Substitute Taucheo?

Fortunately, you can easily replace Taucheo if you cannot find this. Do note however the resulting flavour won’t be exactly the same.

The best alternatives include:

• Miso paste: Japanese fermented soybeans.

• Doenjang: Korean fermented soybean paste.

• Doubanjiang: Chinese bean sauce, the non-spicy version will work best.

ESSENTIAL: TAMARIND (asam)

• Another crucial ingredient in Mee Siam is tamarind.

• This gives the gravy its signature sour tang. I love tamarind because it has a mellow, fruity sourness that is very different from the sharpness of lemon or lime. It also has a natural sweetness to it.

• Tamarind is a common ingredient in Southeast Asian cooking, so you should be able to find it in most Asian supermarkets and larger supermarkets.

• For this recipe, I’m using tamarind paste.

• I use the Adabi brand of tamarind paste, and the amount in the recipe is my personal sweet spot. However, tamarind products can vary quite a lot in strength, so don’t be afraid to add it gradually and adjust to taste.

• You can add the tamarind paste directly to the gravy. I sometimes loosen it with a little warm water first because it makes it easier to mix evenly into the gravy.

Can I Use Tamarind Pulp?

• Absolutely.

• Tamarind pulp is less concentrated than tamarind paste, so you’ll need more of it.

• As a rough guide, use about 3 times the amount of tamarind pulp in place of the paste. For this recipe, that works out to roughly 4½ tbsp (about 50g or golf ball-sized) tamarind pulp.

• This is only a guide because, again, tamarind varies in sourness.

• To make tamarind juice from pulp, place the pulp in a bowl and add enough warm water to just cover it. Leave for about 5 minutes to soften.

• Use your hands to squeeze and break up the pulp, extracting as much of the tamarind juice as possible. Strain out the pulp and use the tamarind liquid in the gravy.

Key Steps to Making Mee Siam Kuah

There are two components to the dish – the gravy and the noodles. The same base paste is used for both parts. While you’re making the gravy and letting it come to a boil, you can stir fry the vermicelli noodles. The vermicelli cooks extremely easily, that by the time you’re done, your gravy is also ready!

1. Make the Spice Paste

• Blend the dried chillies, onion, garlic and soaked dried shrimp with a little water until you have a smooth paste.

• Cook the paste in oil until it has thickened, darkened slightly and smells fragrant. Divide the cooked paste into two equal portions.

2. Making the Mee Siam Gravy

• The Mee Siam gravy should be sweet and sour.

• In most recipes that call for water, I would recommend stock. In this case however, I prefer using water to create the gravy. I’ve used stock a couple of times, usually to use up leftover stock, and I find it takes away from the pure taste of the tamarind. It’s still delicious, just not the Mee Siam taste that I know and love.

• If you want to use stock, shrimp or prawn stock would be the best option for this. The prawn flavour complements the dried shrimps in the base paste well.

• I added the salt right at the end. Taucheo is salty, and adding this at the end would give me the best indication will allow it to fully develop and decide how much salt I need. Sometimes I don’t even need to add salt!

• Feel free to also add more sugar and tamarind if you feel like it needs it.

3. Stir Frying the Vermicelli Noodles

• The second part of the recipe involved stir frying the vermicelli with the same base paste as the gravy. This part is minimal, and requires not much ingredients as if you were making and other noodle stir fry such as Mee Goreng.

• Mee Siam uses vermicelli rice noodles, or bee hoon noodles. The vermicelli should be sold dry, and you’ll need to rehydrate them first before use. Simply soak in hot water for about 15 to 20 minutes, until noodles become soft and pliable.

• Do not soak for too long, or else they will turn brittle and mushy. That said, all is not lost if you’ve over-soaked the noodles. My Mom likes to use boiling water to soak the noodles, and sometimes she would get caught up in other chores and over soak the vermicelli. She would stir fry it as is, and the noodles would break up and it turned out still delicious.

• Instead of using a fork my noodles, I could use a spoon. Sometimes that’s a win.

• It’s slightly difficult to toss the long noodles through the sauce, so you’ll have to use some muscle for this process. I used silicone tongs to toss the noodles through easily. You can cut the vermicelli shorter for easier tossing, or use two spatulas to stir.

• I hear you asking: is this noodle frying part necessary? I’ve made this without frying the noodles, so I would simply blanch the vermicelli to cook it, and top the gravy over the plain noodles. It was good and passable, but stir frying the vermicelli in the same spice blend produced a much tastier bowl.

4. Mee Siam Assembly

• To assemble the final noodle dish, add the fried mee siam to the bowl and top with the gravy.

• At its most simplest form, this is served with boiled eggs, and garnished with chives, taupok or tofu puffs and a calamansi lime. I feel like I cannot have mee siam without that final spritz of fresh lime!

• I went a step extra by adding some boiled prawns. Other favourite proteins to use include fishballs or fishcakes, or crabsticks. You can also add firm tofu into the mix.

• I used extra beansprouts as a topping, but typically I would use boiled Asian greens such as bok choy instead.

• If you want even more spice, you can add some sambal to it. Check out my sambal chilli recipe which goes amazingly well with this Mee Siam.

How to Serve Mee Siam Kuah

At its simplest, serve Mee Siam with:

• Boiled eggs
• Cooked prawns
• Taupok or tofu puffs
• Chopped chives
• Blanched beansprouts
• Calamansi

I usually add boiled prawns because why not?

You can also add fishballs, fishcakes, crabsticks or firm tofu.

And that final squeeze of calamansi is non-negotiable for me. The fresh citrus cuts through the rich, savoury gravy and brings everything together.

Want more spice? Add a spoonful of sambal chilli.

How to Level Up the Dish

I would consider this recipe a basic recipe. If you want to level this up, do these:

Use Dried Tamarind Slices

• Dried Tamarind Slices (asam keping/asam gelugur) add an extra sour layer to the dish. Confusingly enough, dried tamarind slices are a completely different fruit to Tamarind. Dried tamarind slices provide more of that sourness, without the sweetness of tamarind. This is completely optional though.

Add a splash of Coconut Milk

• Right at the end, add about 1/4 cup of coconut milk or cream to the gravy. This adds a very subtle creaminess and richness to the dish. You do not want to add too much, or else it will become more of a curry noodles dish. This is more Nonya/Peranakan to Malay style.

Add Crushed Peanuts

• You would notice some Mee Siam has peanuts in it. Roast some peanuts (purchase the ones with no skin on for easier use), and blitz in a blender to get some finely ground nuts. When the gravy has boiled, stir in the ground nuts.
• By the way, if you have extra crushed peanuts from making Rice Cooker Muah Chee, you can use those in this Mee Siam Gravy. In fact this is what my Mom always does! The crushed nuts mixture has sugar in it, so you do not need to add as much sugar.

Storage and Reheating

• Mee Siam gravy: Let the gravy cool completely, then store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

• Stir-fried noodles: Store separately in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. The noodles are best eaten fresh as they can soften further after refrigeration.

• Toppings: Store eggs, prawns and other toppings separately.

How to Reheat Mee Siam

• Reheat the gravy gently in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. Add a splash of water if it has thickened too much.

• For the noodles, reheat them in a pan over medium heat with a small splash of water. Toss until warmed through.

• For the best texture, store the noodles and gravy separately and assemble just before serving.