Singaporean Fried Rice Vermicelli? Xing Zhou Fried Bee Hoon or 星洲炒米粉

INTRODUCTION

Xingzhou or 星洲 in the short form and old name for Singapore .. Xingzhou Fried Bee Hoon literally translated as Singapore fried rice vermicelli.

Hmmm, this dish is so common overseas and deem to be a landmark Singaporean dish in Western countries. Most if not all Asian or Chinese restaurants have this noodle dish… Almost all the international hotels that I have stayed overseas have this as one of the international menus just like gado gado is to Indonesia.. In Hong Kong, it is very common in tea restaurants or “茶餐厅“ and I am shy to say I get to know this dish  only when I stationed overseas…

Well, there are not  many choices of Asian cuisines  in international hotels and this is one of them.. When I missed home, I ordered this.At least it tastes a bit like home and It is one of the few dishes that have tauge, char siu and some curry powder..

But when I settled in Singapore, I found that this is not a common dish locally… Yes, you can still order Xingzhou Fried Beehoon in Chi Cha stores (as picture above) but the taste is totally different from overseas version. In fact, I cannot taste any curry powder in the noodle dish. But all the stores that I have visited have char siu and tauge .

I do not claim that this recipe is authentic and I doubt if there is any recipe that is authentic due to such a huge difference in preparation and taste. I have amalgamated what I tasted overseas and what I have tasted locally and come out to this version.. It definitely suits my taste bud and I hope it will suit the readers taste buds as well.

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WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings: 3-4 Adult Servings

• 200 grams of dried rice vermicelli – soaked in water
• 150 grams of shelled prawns
• 150 grams of char siu or Chinese barbecue pork – cut into small pieces
• 50 grams of beansprout
• 50 grams of straw mushrooms (optional)
• 1 capsicum – cut into stripes (optional)
• 1 big onion – cut into stripes
• 1 tablespoon of minced garlic
• 3 eggs
• 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon of curry powder (optional for local version)
• 1 tablespoon of tomato sauce (optional for local version)
• 1 tablespoon of corn starch
• Pinches of salt
• Dashes of white pepper
• 2-3 tablespoons of oil

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STEPS OF PREPARATION

• Crack the eggs, and stir fry the eggs until set and become scramble eggs look alike. Dish out and set aside.

• Meanwhile, in a bowl, mix the corn starch, curry powder, oyster sauce, tomato sauces, pinches of salt and 2-3 tablespoons of water. Stir until well combined and set aside.

• In a wok or frying pan, have some cooking oil, sauté the garlic until fragrant, add the spring onion, char siu cubes, straw mushrooms and prawns. Stir fry for 1-2 minutes. Add in the soaked rice vermicelli and stir fry for another minute or two until the flavours are well incorporated. Add in the sauces prepared above, stir fry for 2-3 minutes. If it is too dry, add in some more water. Add dashes of white pepper, scrambled eggs and bean sprouts. Stir fry until well mixed.  Best served hot as a one pot noodle dish.

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CONCLUSION

Well, this is my version of Xingzhou fried bee hoon. If you want overseas version, you definitely have to put in curry powder. However, for local version, you can safely omitted curry powder. Char siu and bean sprouts is a must. In places where bean sprouts were not available, sliced red and green capsicum are used instead.