Kitchen Bytes: Hokkien Mee

A little trivia for all you foodies. Hokkien mee in Singapore and Penang is a polar opposite of the Hokkien Mee we get in the rest of Malaysia. So you can imagine the confusion and surprise when I tried to order Hokkien Mee during a trip to Spore! :S

A quick wiki check yielded this info:
There are two types of Hokkien mee: Hokkien hae mee and Hokkien char mee. Hokkien hae mee (Hokkien prawn noodles) is commonly served in Penang and Singapore while Hokkien char mee (Hokkien fried noodles) is commonly served in Kuala Lumpur and the Klang Valley. The dish commonly referred to as "Hokkien mee", depending on the locality, can mean either Hokkien hae mee or Hokkien char mee.

It is a dish of egg noodles and rice noodles in a fragrant stock, which is made from both fresh shrimp and dried prawns, as well as pork or chicken. Traditionally, small cubes of fried pork fat are added to the soup, but this is now less common due to health concerns. It is garnished with prawns, fish cake, leafy greens, pork ribs, squid, vegetables, crisp deep-fried shallots, spring onions and fresh lime. The dish is served with sliced red chili, light soy sauce and sambal. In Singapore, Hokkien mee refers to a variant of the Penang version of Hokkien hae mee. The dish uses the same egg noodles and rice noodles used in Hokkien hae mee, but is stir fried in lard and served dry. The main ingredients are shrimps and small pieces of sliced pork.

Hokkien char mee (pictured above), is a dish of thick yellow noodles braised in thick dark soy sauce with pork, squid, fish cake and cabbage as the main ingredients and cubes of pork fat fried until crispy.