Homemade Mee Rebus - Making the Gravy

Today, I went for another class at A's place. The plan was to make mee rebus and onde onde and have them for lunch at her place after we are done.

I love mee rebus and so of course, there was no way I was going to miss this class... in spite of the fact that I was really pretty exhausted after the hectic week at work.

Mee Rebus means "boiled noodles" in Malay and is a dish that can be found in some countries in South East Asia - including Indonesia, Malaysia and of course, Singapore. It is basically noodles with boiled eggs, prawns, firm tofu, bean sprouts, in a thick spicy-sweet gravy.

I never knew what went into the thick gravy.. besides salted soya bean paste.. so I was in for a real surprise!

Ingredients for the Gravy
Rempah - made by blending Galangal, Tumeric, Onions, Garlic, Dried Chilli and Belancan
Preserved Soya Bean Paste (2 tbsp, grounded)
Lemongrass (2 stalks, bruised)
Sweet Potatoes (1 kg, boiled and blended with 2 cups water. Use the water from boiling the sweet potatoes)
Flour (2 tbsp)
Cornflour (2 tbsp)
Prawn Stock (1 litre water - boil prawn heads and shells with the water for 10 mins)

The rempah - freshly made and very fragrant

Lemongrass, bruised with the back of a knife

Sweet potatoes - boiled until very soft

Prawn stock - full of the goodness and flavour of fresh prawns

Steps for making the gravy
1. Fry the rempah with some oil until fragrant
2. Add the soya bean paste and lemongrass and simmer until the oil surfaces
3. Put the fried paste in a stock pot and gradually add the blended sweet potatoes, prawn stock, corn flour and flour.
4. Let the mixture simmer on low fire
5. Then season with sugar and salt

Frying the rempah

See how the oil surfaces when the rempah is done?

Blending the sweet potatoes

The prawn heads are what makes the prawn stock tasty

You can also pound the prawn heads a little and then seive out the stock

The Mee Rebus gravy - simmering away in the post

I have to say.. this is probably the best Mee Rebus I have ever eaten. Stay tune for the next post to see how everything comes together for a really wonderful bowl of Mee Rebus..

P/S: My friend, A has kindly agreed to share her recipe with all the friends who read my mine.. If you ever do try out this recipe, do drop me a note/ comment so that I can let her know about it!