Teochew fried rice vermicelli noodles 潮州炒米粉 Chaozhou Chao Mifen "Teochew ca bhi hung"

炒米粉 chao mifen or in Teochew is said as "ca bhihung" is a typical dish one finds in South-East Asia - in Malaysia, Singapore amongst the Teochew people.  I have no idea if Teochew people in Chaoshan 潮汕 actually cook this dish and I therefore did a search on Google on” 潮州炒米粉” and found lots of examples of this dish.  So Teochew people do make and eat “ca bhi hung” 炒米粉.  I therefore want to share this gluten free, meat free fried rice vermicelli with all those gluten free friends around the world. 

This pan of ca bhi hung was serve to guests for lunch today

This is not the same dish you get in London Cantonese restaurants which is written as 星洲炒米粉 – Singapore fried noodles and where you find the whole dish has been baptised with curry powder!  None of my Singaporean Chinese friends know of this very strange dish.  I think this must be an imagination of Cantonese chefs here in London thinking we are all stupid and ignorant.  

My Teochew friend from Singapore, Brenda Lim, first gave me this recipe years ago.  Brenda taught me to fry a vegetarian rice vermicelli dish and later on my first cousin, Margaret Goh, from Canada showed me how to improve the texture of this fried noodle by adding water to the wok as I fry the noodles.  

If one has acquired enough gongfu 功夫 [skill] in frying this rice vermicelli noodle, then the noodle should be very long. A Penang auntie, Li Langley, also gave me one of her secrets in making excellent “ca bhi hung” 炒米粉, and this is not to serve the rice noodles immediately after frying but allow it to rest for a short period.  And it is this resting which allows the noodles not to break when served.  I would rather die than to serve this noodle to some 鬼佬 or 鬼婆 who would take a knife and start cutting the noodles in front of me.  The Italians would love such long noodles as they can handle long pasta.  So, if you want to give your Chinese friend a great insult then just cut the blessed noodles with a knife and watch their faces!  LOL!  Apparently, cutting noodles for a Chinese is a symbol of cutting short one’s life and one should always be respectful towards other people’s culture.

One can add lots and lots of different types of vegetables and in this recipe I will be using qincai 芹菜 - a Chinese celery, carrots, Napa cabbage which is called dabaicai 大白菜 in Mandarin and others.  People like Chinese food because of the crunchy vegetables – and similarly, we have lots of vegetables in this “bhi hung” just to add crunch into the dish, according to my friend Brenda Lim.

Today's recipe will not be a vegetarian rice noodle because of one of the guests loves prawns, lots of prawns, but it will be gluten and meat free noodles.

I also found a lovely topping for this fried vermicelli – for those people who love chilli hot food – and this topping is dried Burmese balachaung, much better than fried shallots and garlic anytime! 

This recipe is written for Dr Marie Wilson, who has been like a mother to me, and who has often asked me for this recipe.

Teochew people like their food to be pale in colour and hence we do not make our noodles looking black or brown.  So if I cannot add soya sauce or oyster sauce or MSG or Maggie seasoning sauce into these noodles. So, what can one do to make the noodles tasty?  The answer lies in homemade stock.

Ingredients - 8 servings 

1. vegetable oil for frying 菜油
2. 400 grams of peeled prawns 蝦仁 marinated in 2 tsp potato flour, a little salt, a little soya sauce, a dash of sesame oil, a shake of Sarawak white ground pepper, one egg white in the fridge.  Prawns are added to give the “bhi hung” taste and flavour, according to my friend Brenda Lim.  If you have some spare soaked dried prawns, then do throw these in too – but remember to fry them first in a little oil to enhance its flavour.
3. 40 grams of dried prawns, which has been soaked in hot water 
4. 375 g dried rice vermicelli noodles soaked in cold water until soft, drained – this can be done hours ahead of time and the drained “bhi hung” stored in the fridge until required in a sealed plastic bag
5. 1 Echalion shallot – finely sliced
6. 1 large onion - julienne 洋蔥絲
7. 2 medium size carrots [240 g] – julienne 紅蘿蔔絲
8. 2 stalks European celery - julienne - this will give the dish a crunchy texture
9. 100 grams of white part of a leek - julenne
10. 100 grams French beans - sliced  
11. 1 branch Chinese celery julienne qincai 芹菜絲 – washed, cleaned and julienne
12. 5 leaves of Napa cabbage julienne [200 grams] dabaicai 大白菜絲
13. 250 grams fresh bean sprouts washed and tailed 豆芽
14. Salt to taste to be added into the stock 鹽 – my friend Brenda Lim said do remember not to add salt into the “bhi hung” directly as it will cause some parts of the “bhi hung” to be salty whislst the rest bland and so it is better to add fish sauce or soya sauce to the stock directly.  If you do not have these, then add salt to the stock.
15. Sarawak ground white pepper to taste to be added into the stock 沙撈越白胡椒粉
16. 350 ml Freshly home prepared stock 上湯 – add according to need to make the rice vermicelli noodles soft 

For those who are able to eat gluten – you can add a little light soya sauce into the home made stock, if you wish – and this is optional.  For those gluten free people, you can add a tablespoon of fish sauce to the stock to give it flavour and taste.  If you do this, then please do not add any salt as the fish sauce is very salty. For those who do not eat meat, you can make your stock from dried anchovies which could be purchased from Tesco in the African section or any Chinese supermarket. As for me, I am neither adding soya sauce or fish sauce to the dish - I am just using salt and pepper - and very little pepper.  One should not even think about adding oyster sauce or else it would spoil the dish.  

Pictures of the vegetables and other ingredients

I am sure the above meets the 5 vegetables and fruits target for today!

It is a good idea to get ready all the ingredients to allow the cooking process to proceed without much problems, even for an experienced cook. 

Garnish / topping

Sesame oil – a good dash

2 large eggs – beaten and fried like an omelette and then julienne for garnishing When I am whisking the eggs prior to pan frying the omelette, a add about a tablespoon of home prepared stock, a little salt and ground white pepper to the eggs to give it some taste. 

Burmese balachaung – if you do not have this, than freshly fried shallots and garlic

1 continental spring onion [green part only sliced finely] 蔥

Chinese celery leaves - finely sliced - you can coriander leaves if you want

Method

1.  Marinate the prawns in egg white, a little light soya sauce, potato flour, a little salt and ground white pepper and sesame oil for twenty minutes or better still over night in the fridge

2.  Soak the rice vermicelli until soft in cold water, drain and set aside.  I have soaked the "bhi hung" last night in cold tap water, drained the noodles and put in a bag and place this in the fridge overnight.

3.  Wash and peel the carrots and julienne

4.  Soak, wash and julienne the rest of the vegetables

5.  Lightly sauté the prawns in a little vegetable oil and set aside and similarly sauté the dried prawns and set aside 

6.  Then fry the sliced shallots and white part of the spring onion until fragrant and add in the julienne of carrots and onion and sauté until the carrots are soft

7.  Add the Chinese celery, Napa cabbage and bean sprouts, give a good stir and then the soften, drained rice vermicelli

8.  Slowly pour the home made stock into the wok while tossing the rice vermicelli with the rest of the vegetables.  When the rice vermicelli is cooked, add in the cooked prawns and season well

9.  Cover the wok with a cover and let the rice vermicelli rest for 10 minutes before placing it on a large serving dish and garnish with the toppings listed above.

10. Serve with Teochew chilli oil 潮州辣椒油.