We are into the final week of the Circuit Breaker now. But there’s still no excitement, no fanfare, nothing much yet to look forward to. Everything is still a question mark at this point in time.
The government just announced that Singapore will be exiting from the CB period in three phases, each lasting betwen three to four weeks. The first phase will continue to be very restricted, with most of us obliged to stay at and work from home. The only bit of joy I can derive is the fact that the boy is finally going to go back to school the wekk after next. But who knows what will happen? We can’t rejoice yet.
Tomorrow marks a month of fasting completed for our Muslim friends, and I would like to wish them all a very happy new year in advance – Selamat Hari Raya adlifitri! Even though it’s going to be a much quieter festival this year, I am hoping that everyone celebrating this festive season could experience happiness and peace from within. Most importantly, I hope everyone could stay happy and healthy.
In order to celebrate this festival at home together with the others in spirit, here’s a recipe of mee rebus that I made from scratch, blending the flavours of the rempah together first before cooking and combining it with the sweet potation mixture to get the gravy. Mee rebus is a childhood dish that I ate frequently back in primary school, when a plate of it sold for a cheap cost of only 40 to 50 cents. I recall the flavours that stood out most from this dish back then was the tastes of the celery leaves, the green chillies and the squeezed lime juice. To me, this is what makes mee rebus unique from other Malay dishes and so these three ingredients are the must-haves of this dish.
What about you? What must you eat with your plate of mee rebus?
Ingredients:
- Chicken carcass: 100g
- Garlic: 1 clove + 2 clove
- Water: 5 cups + 1/2 cup
- Dried shrimp: 25g, soaked for 15min
- Dried anchovy: 25g
- Dried chilli: 5 (or less, depending on preference)
- Red onion (or 7 shallots): 1
- Fresh galangal (or galangal powder): 3 slices
- Fresh tumeric (or tumeric powder): 1/2 tsp
- Taucheo paste: 1 tbsp
- Lemongrass: 2 stalks (white parts only, sliced)
- Sweet potato: 250g (about 3)
- Oil: 1 tbsp
- Chicken stock cube: 1
- Gula melaka: 1 tbsp
- Yellow noodles: 300g
- Bean sprouts: 50g
- Fried shallots: to serve
- Celery: 1 stalk, finely chopped
- Green chilli: 2, sliced
- Egg: 3, hardboiled, halved
- Lime: 1, cut into wedges to serve
Method:
- Place chicken carcass, 1 clove garlic and 5 cups water into pressure cooker. Cook for 30min.
- Dispose of carcass and garlic. Set chicken stock aside.
- Blend together dried shrimps, anchovies, chillies, red onions, fresh galangal, tumeric powder, 2 cloves garlic, taucheo paste, lemongrass and 1/2 cup water. Blend till smooth paste is formed. Set aside.
- Steam sweet potatoes till softened. Blend till smooth and set aside.
- Heat oil in wok.
- Saute 1/2 portion of the rempah till fragrant and soft. Freeze the other 1/2 portion for future use.
- Add in sweet potatoes, stock cube, chicken stock and gula melaka. Cook till tender.
- Blend gravy till smooth (optional). Set aside.
- Blanch noodles and beansprouts in boiling water. Scoop equal portions into 3 bowls.
- Pour sweet potato gravy over noodles in equal portions.
- Garnish with shallots, celery, green chilli, egg and lime wedges to serve.
Disclaimers:
-
I’ve forgotten to buy tumeric and so made this recipe without. The colour of the gravy still looked fresh and vibrant nevertheless!
-
I used the green chilli that grew out of my potted chilli plant outside my house to serve my mee rebus with. It was really, really spicy, and made my plate of noodles so much tastier than it could be. Yummy!
Serving:
3 persons
