I still have some of the nyonya sauce I got from my friend, Merryn, left sitting in the fridge so I decided to use it to fry some rice…
…with it one morning and it turned out really nice and I was thinking to myself that it would be nice to cook the same way using bihun and prawns. I did try using the sauce with bihun once but if you click the first link above, you would see that it was a different style – with gravy like Singapore nyonya mee siam.
Anyway, my girl came home for the weekend and I wanted to fry it for breakfast. Unfortunately, there were no prawns in the freezer – my missus said that she could not get hold of any at the shop round the corner from my house. Well, I decided to just go ahead and fry it, with or without the prawns…
…and these were the ingredients I used…
From left to right, clockwise, I had the leftover nyonya sauce, a handful of ikan bilis (dried anchovies), fish cake slices, serai (lemon grass) stalks, bruised, one shallot – peeled and sliced, two cloves of garlic – peeled and chopped, a spoonful of pounded chili, one chili, thinly sliced and some Thai basil leaves and spring onions which I later cut into fine bits for use.
I fried the ikan bilis in a bit of oil till golden brown and removed to use for garnishing later and after that, I fried the shallot and garlic. Once browned, I added theΒ serai, a spoonful of the nyonya sauce, the fish slices, basil leaves and sliced chili in that order, saving a bit of the last one for garnishing as well. After I had mixed all those together and cooked them thoroughly, I put in the bihun (soaked to soften) followed by the pounded chili. Then, I added some egg white – my missus had been making cookies for the coming Chinese New Year and she only used the yolks, keeping the white in the fridge…so I thought I would just use that. Otherwise, two eggs would have been just right.
When everything had been done nicely, I added the chopped spring onions, also saving a bit for garnishing and a pinch of msg…and finally, I dished everything out onto a plate…
…and garnished it with the ikan bilis, sliced chili and chopped spring onion…
…that I had saved for the purpose.
Everybody loved it, despite there being no prawns. I guess with all the fragrant ingredients used, one just can’t go wrong, with or without those crustaceans.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
OMG food food food. You are the ultimate hunger-counter.
If you were in an island with a group of people, not only they will not go hungry, they’ll also have smiley faces all the time. Haha.
Happy Wednesday, yo!
http://www.theokayarms.com/
Yes, and they will all be well-rounded…like me! Hehehehehe!!!!
Goodness! Reading this at this hour and looking at my half used Nyonya sauce in my fridge. Contemplating to try frying mee hoon at this hour or not >_< I'm going to show this to my mom too. She has already seen your previous one and said at least you made better use of the Nyonya sauce compared to me -.-
Personally, I like this dry version better. Go, go…you still have half a bottle left – give this a try – use prawns and sotong instead of those fish slices…and give to your mum. She would shed tears of joy, such a good daughter. Muahahahahahaha!!!!
it makes me hungry.
Looks pretty good, doesn’t it? π
Ahhhh fried rice! I miss your fried rice.. Your fried rice always looks so so good.. Lots of liew too.. Mine always just garlic, some meat and green, and lots of soy sauce, hehe..
My mum’s fried rice was a lot simpler – just shallots, egg and salt and msg. If you’ve noticed, I never add soy sauce to my fried rice – reminds me of the time when I was small and I did not like what my mum had cooked for the day so I would add soy sauce to the rice and eat…and my mum would be furious that I wasn’t eating her cooking. I would add fish sauce sometimes though – they use a lot of that in Thai cooking.
I love your fried mihun. For me if no prawns then I would go for the crispy anchovies. Tasty.
Yes, gives it the added taste and fragrance.
I like the way how you fried your bihun/ fried rice. Using simple ingredients, you can simply whip out a nice plate of bihun/fried rice and makes the whole thing looks great.
I love it! Anytime better than what I can get outside…except maybe the one at the Indian/Indon restaurant here with all the prawns and the chicken – that one’s very nice…with all the extra ingredients.
Aiyo…. I’m craving now. ahahaha
You are? Nom…nom…nom! VERY nice!
Always loves the fried rice and fried bihun that u have dish up…
That is why I always scoff at those they sell outside – nowhere near, and lots of msg mostly to give theirs some taste.
Next time try the erabu bihun. not much oil and sedap too
You mean kerabu? We put bihun in our Vietnamese rolls – oil free, very nice too…or sometimes, we use tang hoon (glass noodles).
LOL…his blog title always uses song titles
If it had been just “Without you”, people would think of Malaya Curry, I guess. Unless they’re as old as me, they would not know (Harry) Nilsson.
I really like this dish, but I would like to have it without the ikan bilis, chili and the leaves, hehe!! =]
You can’t do without the ikan bilis – they help give the dish the taste and the fragrance…but you can put them aside. I did…and I only sprinkled on top at the end as garnishing. The leaves – all chopped up, hardly noticeable after cooking…and those are the things that gave the dish the lovely aroma. You’d probably better off eating fried bihun Chinese-style, they would not have all those.
Oh i like the crispy ikan bilis!
Oh? You can go and eat with lsun3…and she can give you all of hers. Hehehehehe!!!!
i’d love this too … it’s the ideal home-cooked meal made with love … reminds me of saturday afternoons when my aunt would fry bee hoon for our lunches! and they were delicious, i’d always eat two plates π
Two? Tell me, how do you keep in shape? You most certainly do not look anything like me, praise the Lord. Muahahahahaha!!!! π
Your fish cake looks interesting to me. I don’t think I have seen this type before. Usually it is those processed fish cake in the supermarkets for me.
It is one of those! Fish sandwich…or whatever, missus bought it for our steamboat…but too much fresh stuff so we never got to add this. Not good to eat too much of such stuff, once in a while ok.
Your fried rice and fried bihun always come out looking so attractive and delicious! I must try your style as I have not put ikan bilis, serai and basil in my fried bihun. And I’ve got to look for that Nyonya sauce.
You can use tom yam, I think they’re pretty close – nice taste, a little sourish…and spicy and fragrant too.
This looks really good!!! π
It was. Exotic Asian style, very fragrant.
wow, look so yummy~
both rice and bihun also my favourite :p
You come over, I fry special for you…with prawns? π π π π
wow! still got special one for me, thanks…..
hope very soon i able to visit you and try your cooking….hehehe
When? When? I sure am looking forward to that. You’d love it here, you can count on that! π
wow….nyonya sauce from that petite nyonya, Merryn!! The food must be very nice! Ask her to deliver more nyonya stuffs to you since she always go Melaka.
Buying is not a problem, sending is. I will not ask anybody to send anything – the poslaju charges are killing! Not worth it at all, may be even more than the value of the thing(s) sent!
That looks delicious and simple to make!!! ^^
That’s my kind of cooking – simple. Anything that spells W-O-R-K, not for me!
I can’t live… if living is without food…. I can’t live… I can’t live anymore.. oh oh…..
Living is to enjoy and food is one of them… this evening I am also trying out a new dish… hahaha… everything dumped inside…
Good luck! You’ll have lots of time to cook once you’ve retired…like me. π
i wish i live next door… so everyday i will be like.. hi.. good morning.. what’s for breakfast today? hahahahahaha !!!!
this post now reminds me that i should be doing some sambal for the coming CNY dishes.. hehehehe.. thanks for sharing your cooking tips here. We, especially those who have been pampered by parents until now, do not know how to cook a proper meal if there’s no recipe book. π‘
My attempts at following recipes have always been disastrous – not disciplined enough to follow exactly perhaps…tendency to agak agak…and lazy me, will only cook some simple easy stuff…leave the complicated dishes to my missus. Hehehehehe!!!!