Mee suah(面线) literally means thread noodle, is a very fine strand noodle made from buck wheat. This noodle originates from the Fujian province of China and is highly regarded by the Fujian people as a heavenly food. Mee suah is a must for the Fujian people’s birthday celebration. It is also widely presented as a gift for special occasions.
Traditionally, the mee suah is cooked with meat and served with two hard-boiled chicken eggs as a special meal for the birthday boy/girl.
When offering prayers to the Fujian deities or the God of Heaven, the mee suah is a must.
There are two well-known manufacturers of mee suah in Fujian, namely Sim Soon Huat and Fujian Foodstuff, Oil & Cereal Corporation. The mee suah are exported in neatly packed boxes of either 8 ounces or 12 ounces.
Recently, I discovered a hidden treasure in Malaysia. The Foozhou people from the Fujian province brought their mee suah making skills to a small little town in Malaysia.
They continue to make mee suah in a very traditional way - hand-made and sun dried. This place is Kampong Koh, Sitiawan. There are also a few mee suah specialty shops in Kampung Koh. In fact, the mee suah from Kampong Koh tastes so much better than the imported ones from China. Here, we have two varieties of mee suah. The thinner mee suah is sold at RM10.00 (USD2.75) per kg whilst the coarser type costs RM8.00 (USD2.20) per kg.
The Foozhou people usually cook mee suah with chicken meat and home-made red rice wine. This is the standard fare for Foozhou women during confinement after giving birth. It is a must-try dish for any visitor to a Foozhou family.
You can get good red rice wine mee suah from selected restaurants in Sitiawan and Sri Manjung in the state of Perak.
Cooking mee suah is easy but delicate. The noodle strand is very fragile and breaks easily. Cooking time and the temperature control is very important to prevent the mee suah from turning soggy.
Ingredients for five persons
1 box of mee suah (10 pieces)
100 gm minced pork
100 gm pork , sliced thinly
1 long strip of pork ball, cut to bite size
5 eggs
2 stalks spring onions, finely sliced
100 gm lettuce
2 liter water
1 tsp toong choy (preserved Chinese cabbage)
2 tsp tapioca flour
2cm ginger, smashed
salt, soy sauce, sesame oil, pepper
Cooking Method
1. Marinate the minced pork and pork slices separately with salt, soya sauce, pepper and sesame oil.
2. Boil toong choy, ginger and water in a pot.
3. Blanch the lettuce lightly and dish out.
4. Toss pork slices in tapioca flour and stir into stock.
5. Mix the minced pork in the remaining flour. Make small meatballs and stir into the soup.
6. Add salt to taste.
7. Scoop a single serving portion of the boiling soup into a separate saucepan.
8. Break one egg into the soup.
9. Lightly blanch the dry mee suah in a wok
10. Drain and add into the boiling soup with egg.
Serve the mee suah hot with lettuce and spring onion.
