Fried Bee Hoon (Rice Vermicelli) with Stewed Pork

Fried Bee Hoon (Rice Vermicelli) with Stewed Pork

This one-dish meal brings back fond memory of what I used to eat when I was very young. I remembered that I can wolf down several plates in one day whenever my mum cooked it! I took several attempts (including nightmarish kitchen cleanups aftermath) to re-create this dish with a few of my personal touches and finally succeeded – the taste was similar to what I had back then, and I also documented each step of cooking.

Commonly known as “bee hoon” (米粉) in Singapore, rice vermicelli are thin noodles made from rice. It is also known as bihun, rice noodles or rice sticks. The good thing about this particular type of Asian noodles is that when cooked, the noodles can be kept for many hours without becoming soggy, hence making it a popular staple for home parties. You can also keep the cooked noodles in the rice cooker to keep it warm throughout the day. This is a very comforting, simple and yummy one-dish meal to me. Slicing the cabbage and mushrooms is also very therapeutic for me.

Ingredients
(Serves 4)

Some ingredients for Fried Bee Hoon with Stewed Pork

- 200g rice vermicelli (米粉)
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 carrot, cut to thin stripes
- 200g cabbage, sliced
- 150g shiitake mushrooms, sliced thinly
- 1 can stewed pork* (I use narcissus brand, 256g), gravy reserved
- 1 cup water
- 1 1/2 tsp light soy sauce (add more if you want more salty)
- 1 tsp dark soy sauce (add more if you want the colour to be darker, do not add if you want white noodles)
- 1 tbsp vegetable/olive oil
- 1 tbsp chopped garlic

Optional for garnishing:
- red chilli, de-seeded & sliced
- coriander leaves
- fried shallots (store-bought or home-made)

Notes:
* For this dish, some people also use stewed pork ribs. The taste is just as good.

Directions

1. Soak the rice vermicelli in water for at least half an hour, until the noodles are fully reconstituted. Drain and set aside.
2. Open the canned stewed pork, take out the stewed pork pieces, discard the fats and use your fingers to gently separate the meat to smaller chunks. Remove the oily bits from the gravy. Set aside both gravy and the pork pieces.
3. Grease a wok with a few drops of oil, and cook the egg by spreading it as thinly as possible. When both sides are cooked, take out the omelette and slice it into thin strips.
4. Heat the wok with 1 tbsp oil, stir fry the garlic for 30 seconds.
5. Add the sliced carrots and stir fry till they are just starting to soften (about 1-2 minutes).
6. Add the sliced mushrooms and cabbage and stir fry until they are just starting to soften (about another 2-3 minutes). Add the pork pieces and stir fry until the vegetables are fully cooked. Transfer the contents of the wok to a plate, and set aside.
7. In a clean wok, add the stewed pork gravy, water, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce & bring to a gentle boil. Then add the rice vermicelli. Cook till the noodles have soaked up all the water, and is of a dry consistency (about 7 minutes). Then stir in the cooked vegetables that you set aside in step 6 and stir thoroughly. You may wish to use tongs so that the noodles are easier to handle.
8. Serve noodles in a plate and top with the previously cooked egg strips. Garnish with coriander leaves, cut chilli and fried shallots if desired.

Ingredients Used cabbage • carrot • chilli • coriander • dark soy sauce • egg • garlic • light soy sauce • mushroom • noodles • pork • shallot • vermicelli