Mee pok
Encyclopedia
Mee pok is a type of Chinese noodle characterized by its flat and yellow appearance, varying in thickness and width. The dish is of Teochew
origin and is commonly served in a number of countries such as Chaoshan
(China), Singapore
, Malaysia and Thailand
. Mee Pok is commonly served tossed in a sauce (often referred to as "dry", or tah in Hokkien
), though sometimes served in a soup
(where it is referred to as "soup", or terng). Meat
and vegetable
s are added on top.
Mee pok can be categorised into two variants, fish ball
mee pok (yu wan mee), and mushroom minced meat
mee pok (bak chor mee). Bak chor mee is usually exclusively prepared using thin noodles ("mee kia"), while yu wan mee can be cooked with other noodle varieties.
Mee pok is a staple commonly offered in hawker centres and coffee shops in Singapore, together with other Chinese noodle dishes.
in which the noodles are tossed in is a very important aspect of the dish, and is considered a representation of the cook's skill and experience. The importance of the sauce in mee pok can be thought of similarly as the sauces that accompany pasta
.
The sauce consists of 4 components: chili, oil
, vinegar
and other condiments such as soy sauce
and pepper
. The chili is made from various ingredients and its preparation often includes frying and blending. Oil, traditionally lard, ensures a smooth texture in the noodles, although vegetable oil is sometimes used as a healthier though less tasty version. Vinegar is added for its sourness, and diners may specify how much vinegar is used.
The chili sauce may be replaced with tomato sauce
for children, who are uncomfortable with the spiciness of the chili.
prepare and cook their noodles differently, but the desired outcome is the same: springy al dente
noodles.
Hawkers often toss the noodles vigorously to remove excess flour and soda and to separate noodles which have stuck together. Other processes include stretching the noodles, cutting into a desired length, and separating into serving portions.
The cooking process of the noodles consists of blanching in hot and cold water multiple times, though some hawkers omit the cold water. The noodles are drained and placed in either sauce or broth.
s, meat balls, beansprouts, bits of deep-fried lard and a slice of lettuce. More traditional hawkers will also place a few small pieces of fried crispy sole fish as garnishing.
This version of mee pok is usually served with toppings of fish balls, sliced fish cakes, Geow (a type of small dumpling made with fish meat paste wrapping a small bit of minced meat), minced meat
, meat balls, lettuce
or taugeh (beansprouts in Hokkien
). Requests can be made to add or omit any of the above toppings, to prepare it in soup or "dry" style, and with or without the chili sauce.
s, abalone
slices, imitation crabstick, and other processed fish products.
Teochew people
The Chaozhou people are Han people, native to the Chaoshan region of eastern Guangdong province of China who speak the Teochew dialect. Today, most Teochew people live outside China in Southeast Asia especially in Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia. They can also be found almost anywhere in the...
origin and is commonly served in a number of countries such as Chaoshan
Chaoshan
Cháoshàn refers to the linguistic and cultural region in the east of Guangdong, a southeastern province of China. This region is the origin of the Min Nan dialect Teochew. The area is known as Teochew for most people overseas, although it also consists of the cities of Shantou and Jieyang...
(China), Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, Malaysia and Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
. Mee Pok is commonly served tossed in a sauce (often referred to as "dry", or tah in Hokkien
Hokkien
Hokkien is a Hokkien word corresponding to Standard Chinese "Fujian". It may refer to:* Hokkien dialect, a dialect of Min Nan Chinese spoken in Southern Fujian , Taiwan, South-east Asia, and elsewhere....
), though sometimes served in a soup
Soup
Soup is a generally warm food that is made by combining ingredients such as meat and vegetables with stock, juice, water, or another liquid. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ingredients in liquids in a pot until the flavors are extracted, forming a broth.Traditionally,...
(where it is referred to as "soup", or terng). Meat
Meat
Meat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat and other tissues, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs and offal...
and vegetable
Vegetable
The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....
s are added on top.
Mee pok can be categorised into two variants, fish ball
Fish ball
Fish balls are a common food in southern China and overseas Chinese communities made from surimi . They are also common in Scandinavia, where they are usually made from cod or haddock.-Terminology:...
mee pok (yu wan mee), and mushroom minced meat
Ground meat
Ground meat is meat finely chopped by a meat grinder or a chopping knife. It is called minced meat or more usually mince outside North America....
mee pok (bak chor mee). Bak chor mee is usually exclusively prepared using thin noodles ("mee kia"), while yu wan mee can be cooked with other noodle varieties.
Mee pok is a staple commonly offered in hawker centres and coffee shops in Singapore, together with other Chinese noodle dishes.
Mee pok sauce
The sauceSauce
In cooking, a sauce is liquid, creaming or semi-solid food served on or used in preparing other foods. Sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to another dish. Sauce is a French word taken from the Latin salsus, meaning salted...
in which the noodles are tossed in is a very important aspect of the dish, and is considered a representation of the cook's skill and experience. The importance of the sauce in mee pok can be thought of similarly as the sauces that accompany pasta
Pasta
Pasta is a staple food of traditional Italian cuisine, now of worldwide renown. It takes the form of unleavened dough, made in Italy, mostly of durum wheat , water and sometimes eggs. Pasta comes in a variety of different shapes that serve for both decoration and to act as a carrier for the...
.
The sauce consists of 4 components: chili, oil
Oil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....
, vinegar
Vinegar
Vinegar is a liquid substance consisting mainly of acetic acid and water, the acetic acid being produced through the fermentation of ethanol by acetic acid bacteria. Commercial vinegar is produced either by fast or slow fermentation processes. Slow methods generally are used with traditional...
and other condiments such as soy sauce
Soy sauce
Soy sauce is a condiment produced by fermenting soybeans with Aspergillus oryzae or Aspergillus sojae molds, along with water and salt...
and pepper
Black pepper
Black pepper is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit, known as a peppercorn when dried, is approximately in diameter, dark red when fully mature, and, like all drupes, contains a single seed...
. The chili is made from various ingredients and its preparation often includes frying and blending. Oil, traditionally lard, ensures a smooth texture in the noodles, although vegetable oil is sometimes used as a healthier though less tasty version. Vinegar is added for its sourness, and diners may specify how much vinegar is used.
The chili sauce may be replaced with tomato sauce
Tomato sauce
A tomato sauce is any of a very large number of sauces made primarily from tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish...
for children, who are uncomfortable with the spiciness of the chili.
Soup
Soup is served in a bowl as a side dish accompanying the "dry" variant, or served together with the noodles for the "soup" version where the sauce is omitted.Mee pok noodles
Usually, the noodles are factory made, and requires substantial preparation before cooking. Different hawkersHawker (trade)
A hawker is a vendor of merchandise that can be easily transported; the term is roughly synonymous with peddler or costermonger. In most places where the term is used, a hawker sells items or food that are native to the area...
prepare and cook their noodles differently, but the desired outcome is the same: springy al dente
Al dente
In cooking, the Italian expression al dente describes pasta and rice or beansthat have been cooked so as to be firm but not hard. "Al dente" also describes vegetables that are cooked to the "tender crisp" phase - still offering resistance to the bite, but cooked through...
noodles.
Hawkers often toss the noodles vigorously to remove excess flour and soda and to separate noodles which have stuck together. Other processes include stretching the noodles, cutting into a desired length, and separating into serving portions.
The cooking process of the noodles consists of blanching in hot and cold water multiple times, though some hawkers omit the cold water. The noodles are drained and placed in either sauce or broth.
Bak chor mee
This version of mee pok has no fish but is served with minced meat, pork slices, pork liver (tur kwa), sliced mushroomMushroom
A mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus; hence the word "mushroom" is most often applied to those fungi that...
s, meat balls, beansprouts, bits of deep-fried lard and a slice of lettuce. More traditional hawkers will also place a few small pieces of fried crispy sole fish as garnishing.
Fish ball mee pok
Ground meat
Ground meat is meat finely chopped by a meat grinder or a chopping knife. It is called minced meat or more usually mince outside North America....
, meat balls, lettuce
Lettuce
Lettuce is a temperate annual or biennial plant of the daisy family Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable. It is eaten either raw, notably in salads, sandwiches, hamburgers, tacos, and many other dishes, or cooked, as in Chinese cuisine in which the stem becomes just as important...
or taugeh (beansprouts in Hokkien
Min Nan
The Southern Min languages, or Min Nan , are a family of Chinese languages spoken in southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan, and southern Zhejiang provinces of China, and by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora....
). Requests can be made to add or omit any of the above toppings, to prepare it in soup or "dry" style, and with or without the chili sauce.
Other types of toppings
Newer varieties of toppings include deep fried dumplingDumpling
Dumplings are cooked balls of dough. They are based on flour, potatoes or bread, and may include meat, fish, vegetables, or sweets. They may be cooked by boiling, steaming, simmering, frying, or baking. They may have a filling, or there may be other ingredients mixed into the dough. Dumplings may...
s, abalone
Abalone
Abalone , from aulón, are small to very large-sized edible sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Haliotidae and the genus Haliotis...
slices, imitation crabstick, and other processed fish products.
Mee pok in popular culture
- Mee Pok ManMee Pok ManMee Pok Man is a 1995 film by Eric Khoo. The film is Eric Khoo's debut feature, after making award-winning short films for years.The film is a black comedy starring Joe Ng as the male protagonist Johnny, a Chinese seller of noodles , and Michelle Goh as the prostitute Bunny...
is the title of a filmFilmA film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
directed by Eric KhooEric KhooEric Khoo is a film director from Singapore. He was introduced to the world of cinema at a very early age. He was educated at United World College of South East Asia before attending City Art Institute in Sydney, Australia where he pursued cinematography...
, a SingaporeSingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
an film director. - Bak chor mee featured prominently in an episode of The Mr Brown Show, which satirized the James Gomez saga during the 2006 Singapore general electionsSingapore general election, 2006The 2006 Singapore parliamentary general election was held on 6 May 2006. 1.22 million out of the 2.16 million eligible Singaporeans voted for Members of Parliament and elected their next government. The People's Action Party , in its first election under Lee Hsien Loong, won 66.6% of the overall...
.