Malaysia – Tom Yum Beehoon

After one day rest, our world tour resumes. From Lebanon we travel to South East Asia. It is M for Malaysia. Those of you who read my yesterday’s post might have guessed I would be doing Malaysian food. I made bandung, a popular drink from Malaysia and since that is a very simple recipe, I made something else for M.

Malaysia is a multicultural nation with Malays, Chinese and Indians making the majority of the population. Rest of the population is indigenous peoplen of Malaysia and immigrants. Malaysian cuisine is influenced by all the cuisine of all the nationals living in the country. The cuisine is also influenced by the neighboring countries.

We were in Philadelphia for few years before moving to New York. When we first moved to Philadelphia, Penang was one of our go to restaurants. This place was always so crowded that even on cold winter nights, the line outside was very long and the wait time was always at least 30 minutes long. Some of our favorite food from their menu was roti canai and roti telur. We used to order other food too but I don’t remember the dish names. There is Penang even in New York but the food here is not as tasty and spicy as the one in Philly and do not dine their as much as we use to in Philadelphia.

For today’s recipe, I have tom yam or tom yum beehoon. Beehoon is rice vermicelli and tom yam is a hot and sour paste. This is a Thai paste that is used in famous Thai tom yum soup. Thailand borders Malaysia and the Malaysians adapted this tom yum and incorporated it into their own cuisine. When I went shopping for these ingredients, I was confused if I bookmarked and saved these noodles in the wrong folder. After some search, I found that though tom yum is Thai ingredient, it is also used in Malaysian, Indonesian and Singaporean cuisines. Beehoon or rice vermicelli are first soaked in water and then fried with vegetables. Chicken, shrimp and other seafood can also be added. Most of the recipes had chicken or seafood but I made it with vegetables. Vermicelli is garnished with fried egg strips. I used 1 ½ tablespoons of tom yum paste and it was a bit sour to my taste. Next time I would try 1 tablespoon. I also used little ground bean sauce and did not care much for the taste. When I first tasted the vermicelli, the tom yum flavor was a little intense but by the time I took the pictures the tom yum flavor infused into the vermicelli and the flavor was not that intense. This recipe is flexible that ingredients can be adjusted to one’s taste.

Adapted from: here, here & here
Total Time: 25 – 30 minutes
Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Serving: 1 – 1 ½

Ingredients:

• ¼ lb. Beehoon (Rice Vermicelli) (I have a 16 oz pack which has 4 coils of vermicelli. I used one coil)
• 1 ½ tbsp. Oil
• 1 ½ tsp. minced Garlic
• ½ medium sized Red Onion sliced
• 5-6 Green Beans cut into strips
• 1 – 1 ½ tbsp. Tom Yum / Tom Yam Paste
• 1 tsp. Ground Bean Sauce
• 2 tbsp. Water
• ¾ cup Bean Sprouts
• 1 medium Carrot or ½ – 2/3 cups julienned Carrot
• 1 Green Onion ~ Scallion chopped keeping aside some green leaves for garnish
• 1 tsp. Light Soya Sauce
• 1/8 tsp. Pepper Powder
• ¼ – ½ tsp. Salt (adjust to taste)
• 1 Egg
• 1/8 tsp. Soya Sauce
• Pinch of salt for the omelet.
• Cilantro for garnish

Preparation:

1. Soak vermicelli in warm water for 15 – 20 minutes. Remove the vermicelli from water, rinse and leave in a strainer to drain any excess water until ready to use.
2. Chop the vegetables and keep aside. Chop all the vegetables and keep all the ingredients ready before frying the noodles. This is very important that all the prep work is done before frying the noodles.
3. Mix water, tom yum paste and bean sauce in a bowl and keep aside.
4. Heat 1 tsp. of oil in a pan for the omelet. Lightly beat egg, pinch of salt and 1/8 tsp. of light soya sauce. Once the pan is hot, pour the beaten egg in the pan and spread it evenly turning the pan around. Cook for few seconds and carefully turn the omelet around. Once the omelet is fried, transfer to a plate and let it cool.
5. Once cool, roll the omelet and cut it into thin strips.
6. In a sauté pan or a wok heat 1 ½ tbsp. oil and fry the mince garlic. Be careful not to burn the garlic.
7. Add onion and sauté for a minute until onions are soft.
8. Add green beans and sauté for few seconds.
9. Add tom yum mixture to the pan and cook for few seconds.
10. Add vermicelli and give it a good stir.
11. Add rest of the vegetables, soya sauce, pepper powder, salt and stir to mix well.
12. Fry the vermicelli until vegetables and vermicelli are well cook. It does not take very long for the vermicelli to cook.
13. Garnish with cilantro, scallions and omelet strips.
14. Serve it as it is or with some chili sauce. This was my lunch Friday and felt I did not need any condiment to go with it.

Suggestions:

• If using shrimp or chicken, add it after sautéing onions, after step 7. Once chicken or shrimp is cooked, add the green beans, and follow rest of the recipe.

This day in 2008: Fenugreek Cauliflower Sir Fry