Basic Meehoon Goreng

This dish brings back memories of recess at the school canteen wolfing down a plate of meehoon goreng (fried vermicelli noodles) so we had enough time left to play. Cheap and easy to make as the ingredients were only noodles, cabbage/mustard leaves/beansprouts, egg and tofu. My dad used to call it "poor man's noodles" as each plate cost approximately RM0.50 back in the 90s but by the time I left high school in 2002, it had inflated to RM3.00!

Put this together with what I had lying around and was too lazy to defrost some prawns or chicken. But if you have good sambal (chilli paste), the flavours will more than make up for the lack of ingredients!

Basic meehoon goreng

Ingredients (2-3 servings):
Half a packet of vermicelli noodles
Fried tofu - either firm tofu or tofu pok balls
Mustard leaves (sawi) or cabbage
Spring onions
2 eggs
3 dried chillies
4 garlic cloves
1 red onion
10-15 small dried prawns
4 tablespoons light soy sauce
1/4 cup water
Salt to taste (if needed)

Method:
1. Make an omelette: Whisk eggs then put in wok with a little oil to fry. Once omelette cooked, remove and cut into little pieces or thin strips.
2. Make the sambal chilli paste: In a blender, grind the dried chillies, dried prawns, garlic, onion, soy sauce and water into a fine. To make the blend smoother, I usually first grind the chillies and prawns to a powder in a dry blender before adding with other ingredients in wet blender.
3. Soak vermicelli noodles in water until it softens.
4. Heat up wok and add some oil. Fry the sambal chilli paste until fragrant. Add in the vegetables and tofu. Let it cook until veggies soften then add in vermicelli noodles. Mix  well. Leave to cook until the liquid has absorbed and noodles begin to fry. Lastly add in spring onions and egg pieces. Take off heat and give a good mix.
5. Optional: garnish plate with some spring onions and fried onions/garlic.