There are noodles a-plenty of course, all over East and South East Asia, but the way Bak Chor Mee is prepared and served, with its stewed mushrooms and various toppings, puts it in a class of its own!
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
What is Bak Chor Mee?
In Hokkien (a Chinese dialect), Bak Chor Mee basically means minced meat noodles, the word bak in Hokkien, refers to meat, and particularly, pork.
Ask a handful of Singaporean Chinese what their favourite way of eating Bak Chor Mee is, and chances are, you’ll get a few different answers. Different noodles, different toppings, with soup or no soup, spicy or not, and that’s probably only half of it!
My favourite Bak Chor Mee is this: thin yellow egg noodles, known as Mee Kia, lots of chilli, soupy, meatballs, fishballs and crispy fried shallots.
Homemade Bak Chor Mee is a Labour of Love
I have to be honest, unlike the super easy Char Kway Teow, Bak Chor Mee does takes a little bit of an effort; call it a labour of love. There are a few parts to it: the stewed mushrooms, the soup, the meat, which needs marinating and cooking, the sauce and the garnishes.
I’ll break the steps down for you, to make it all doable. We also make life easier by marinating the meat and soaking the mushrooms the night before.
I admit it, the first time I ever made it, over 20 years ago, living alone in London, it took me 4 and a half hours!
Don’t panic, I did also make the fishballs and meatballs from scratch at the same time! To set your mind at ease, these days, actual hands on time for me is only about 30 – 45 minutes.
Cooking Bak Chor Mee at Home
In my recipe, you’ll find that I’m giving you the option of making a pork based Bak Chor Mee, as is traditional, or a chicken based one.
The reason for this is that I don’t consume pork and also have many readers from all over who observe kosher rules or who are Muslims. And I know they would just love to try this recipe!
Only on SMR:
Kosher Bak Chor Mee and Halal Bak Chor Mee!
Besides, more and more Chinese establishments in Singapore and Malaysia are going halal to capture the Muslim market. This is especially huge in Malaysia, naturally.
Read through the Recipe First
To make the recipe easy to follow, I’ve divided the ingredients and the method up accordingly. So read through the recipe first, to get your head around what you need to do.
Towards the end, some of the steps will want doing simultaneously, like blanching the noodles, cooking the meatballs and the meat. But here’s a summary, which I wish I had all those years ago (!):
- We marinate all the meat we will be cooking overnight. I’m feeling greedy, so I’ve gone for the whole lot: mince, meat slices and liver. You can do all three or just go for one or two.
- We soak the mushrooms overnight, then cook them for an hour the next day.
- Next Day: We make the soup from scratch by boiling the meat bones for just over and hour, with some aromatics.
- We make the sauce for the noodles with some homemade or shop bought sambal paste, liquid from the mushrooms, some soup and a few other ingredients. This takes 2 minutes.
- We blanch the noodles and beansprouts.
- At the same time, we cook the meatballs and fishballs in the soup.
- We cook the mince, liver and meat slices in the same soup while the balls are cooking.
- We mix the sauce, noodles and beansprouts in individual bowls.
- Top with all the meat and the balls.
- Ladle some soup over (optional).
- Top with stewed mushrooms and liquid.
- Final garnish.
Still with Me?
Make Ahead
It’s easy to get ahead with bak chor mee. While the actual serving wants to be done before eating, all the components can be made earlier.
- The meat can be cooked and refrigerated.
- The mushrooms can also be prepared ahead and reheated.
- Even the bak chor mee soup can be made the day before and then just heated up before serving.
And because we certainly do some of the prep work the day before, even if you wanted to cook it fresh, you’re almost a quarter of the way there.
The Ingredients
Bak Chor Mee Noodles
You can make Bak Chor Mee with any type of noodles you fancy. I like egg noodles best for this but rice noodles work well too for a gluten free version (remember to use a gluten free soy sauce like Tamari). In Singapore, the options can be mind boggling:
- mee pok – flat yellow egg noodles
- mee kia – thin egg noodles, as used in these images
- mee sua – thin wheat noodles, not to be confused with mee hoon or bee hoon (rice vermicelli)
- kway teow – flat rice noodles
- mee tai mak – rat noodles! Because they resemble rats’ tails, made from rice
If you are using dried noodles, always follow packet instructions for serving and cooking times as they can vary. A rough guide though would be 75 g (2⅔ oz) per person of dried weight for egg noodles, to be cooked for 4 minutes.
Fresh noodles – about twice the weight and they only need about a minute of cooking time.
The Sambal
I have so many sambals and chilli oils over at LinsFood. Just head on over to The Chilli Pepper Page for a variety of of red chilli pastes, chilli oils and sambals.
But if this is your first time making bak chor mee, I would suggest that you cheat and use shop bought Chinese chilli oil.
However, if you do fancy making your own (it can be kept in the fridge for 2 weeks), here are some options on SMR:
Chinese Meatballs and Fishballs
Again, get them from an Oriental store to make life easier. If you can’t find them, and want to make them, do it days before and freeze, to make life easy on the day. Then, all you need to do, is thaw for an hour before cooking as in the recipe.
Click on the images below for the homemade recipes. Once again, they are still on LinsFood.com.
Crispy Fried Lard
Same again, use shop bought. But if you want to make it, just get some pork belly, cut it up into little cubes, dry well and fry for a couple of minutes, with no added fat, on medium heat, until crispy and golden brown. Drain and set aside. The lard pieces and fat can be stored for weeks in a clean jar.
Crispy Fried Shallots
Here’s my recipe if you fancy homemade. But these should be found easily in Oriental stores. And they are a handy topping for so many things, whether it’s stews, salads or other noodles like the Malay Mee Rebus.
Chinese Black Vinegar
Chinese Black Vinegar is, as its name suggests, a very, very dark vinegar. It is also quite commonly known as Chinkiang vinegar and has a very deep character, is a touch smoky with hints of sweetness right at the back of it all.
Click here to read more about it and for how to substitute it.
How many calories in Bak Chor Mee?
This is a question I’ve been asked many a time when this recipe was still on LinsFood.
You can see from the recipe card below, it packs a fair amount of calories and fat. I personally don’t think 525 calories is a whole lot and when it’s a complete meal.
Also, this is a special treat, probably for the weekend, when we all tend to eat a little more. Right?
That’s about it. Now, the only thing that’s left to do, is the cooking itself!
Have fun folks, and if you are/were from Singapore, I know you’ll be jumping for joy with this recipe. If this is new to you but you love noodles, I hope you’ll come to love Bak Chor Mee as much I do!
Images by LinsFoodies
♥ If you like the recipe and article, don’t forget to leave me a comment and that all important, 5-star rating! Thank you! ♥
And if you make the recipe, share it on any platform and tag me @azlinbloor, and hashtag it #linsfood
Lin xx
Bak Chor Mee (肉脞面), a very Singaporean Bowl of Noodles
Equipment
- Chinese skimmers for cooking or a heatproof sieve, one should be a little deep and fine, so the mince doesn’t fall through
- Saucepans
- 4 small bowls for precooking the meat
- 4 large bowls for serving the noodles in
Ingredients
- 300 g dried egg noodles
- 2 large handfuls fresh beansprouts
Marinated Pork/Chicken Mince
- 200 g mince of your choice (pork, chicken, turkey, beef)
- 2 tsp light soy sauce
- ¼ tsp ground white pepper
- 1 tsp cornflour cornstarch
- 1 tsp sesame oil
Marinated Pork/Chicken Slices
- 120 g very thinly sliced pork or chicken (for very quick cooking)
- 1 tsp light soy sauce
- 1 pinch of white pepper
Marinated Liver (optional)
- 120 g thinly sliced liver (for very quick cooking)
- 1 tsp light soy sauce
- 1 pinch of white pepper
Soup
- 1.5 litres water
- 1 kg pork or chicken bones or some chicken wings
- 2 spring onions scallions, sliced in half
- 10 black peppercorns
- 1 star anise petal
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 handful dried anchovies
Stewed Mushrooms
- 60 g dried shiitake
- 500 ml hot water
- 2 Tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp Chinese black vinegar
- 1 tsp sugar
Sauce for Noodles PER BOWL
- 1 tsp sambal or Chinese chilli oil with the bits
- 1 heaped tsp crispy lard pieces if using
- 1 tsp light soy sauce
- 1 tsp fish sauce
- 2 Tbsp stewed mushroom liquid
- 1 tsp Chinese black vinegar
- 2 Tbsp hot soup from above
Garnish
- 12 meatballs
- 8 fishballs
- lettuce leaves as needed
- spring onions scallions, sliced small
- crispy fried lard
- crispy fried shallots
Instructions
The Night Before
- Place the mushrooms in a large bowl with the hot water.
- Cool to room temperature, cover with clingfilm and place in the fridge overnight.
- Marinate the mince, meat slices and the liver in 3 separate bowls, cover with clingfilm and place in the fridge overnight.
On the Day
Soup
- Place the water, meat bones, spring onions (scallions), black peppercorns, star anise petal and salt in a stockpot or large saucepan and bring to boil.
- Lower the heat right down and simmer for 1 hour, removing any scum that surfaces.
- At the end of the hour, drop the dried anchovies in, stir and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Take off the heat and strain into a clean saucepan and leave to simmer at the lowest heat on the saucepan if you’re ready to serve the bak chor mee. If not, keep it aside and reheat when needed.
Mushrooms
- As soon as you’re done starting the soup, move on to the mushrooms. Place the mushrooms and its soaking liquid in a saucepan and add all the other ingredients: 1 Tbsp dark soy sauce, 1 Tbsp fish sauce, 1 tsp black vinegar and 1 tsp sugar.
- Bring to boil, then lower heat right down and simmer for 1 hour.
- When done, pour into a clean bowl, leaving any sediment behind.
Bringing it all together
- Make sure your soup is simmering away.
- Bring a medium saucepan of water to boil and cook the noodles in the simmering water following the packet instructions. Dried egg noodles will usually take about 4 minutes but each brand will be different. If you have fresh noodles, this will only take about 1 minute.
- Drop the beansprouts in with the noodles in the last 30 seconds, just to scald. Drain and set aside.
- It’s best to prepare each bowl at a time, moving forward. Divide the minced meat, meat slices and liver into 4 small bowls and top with a generous ladle of the simmering soup, stirring slightly to break up the minced pork/chicken. Set aside. This step will semi cook the meat.
- Make the sauce now in each large serving bowl.
- Divide the noodles and beansprouts amongst the 4 bowls with sauce.
- Mix the noodles, beansprouts and sauce well.
- Drop your meat and fishballs into the simmering soup.
- Place individual portions (one bowl) of the minced meat, meat slices and liver into a deep skimmer or heatproof fine sieve and lower it into the simmering soup and cook for 1 minute, stirring the minced pork/chicken with chopsticks while still in the soup to break the clumps up.
- Top the noodles with the cooked meat. Do the same with the other 3 portions.
- Scoop out the meatballs and fishballs out of the soup and divide equally.
- If you would like your noodles a little wet, add a ladleful of the soup.
- Divide the stewed mushrooms equally amongst the 4 bowls, topping the noodles.
- Garnish with the crispy toppings, spring onions (scallions), lettuce leaves.
- I like to serve the noodles with a bowl of the leftover, deliciously flavoured soup and some chilli oil on the side.
Omg, these were the best home made noodles I made ever! So many parts to it but worth the effort. I had extra, so kept in the fridge for next day. Great warmed up. THank you!
My pleasure, Christine. Yes, I totally agree with you, so delicious warmed up!
Well, let me tell you, it was totally worth the 5 hours I spent making these! I know it’ll be much faster next time, because I made the meatballs too. Thanks Lin.
A pleasure, Kevin, I’m pleased to hear you enjoyed them.
Pingback: Our Favourite Hawker Noodle – Touring My Backyard