Mee Siam

For those of you who have been to Singapore, the food you've had there is something you'll never forget. The authentic local food has it's own unique flavors and ingredients. Because the majority of the population consist of the Malays,Chinese and Indians, you can imagine all the different flavors you'd get. This dish here is actually a Malaysian dish and depending on where you have it, can be made with soup or without the soup. I however like it with the soup. It's a spicy and tangy soup with peanuts and because the noodle used in Mee Siam are rice noodle, it's light on your stomach. Traditionally, this dish is made with salted and fermented soy beans called Tao Cho and it also has belachan which is a shrimp paste base. I however make it without the soybeans and shrimp paste since i have friends who are vegetarian. So flavorful yet simple and it still taste just like it should. In Singapore, you can have Mee Siam even for breakfast or for an afternoon/evening snack. Since i have a 15 month old, and a few of my dear friends have kids around the same age, we have play date Thursdays. And it's just great because not only do the kids get to enjoy and play, the parents get to look forward to lunch and having a good time a well. Every week, whoever that's hosting the play date will make a delicious lunch for the 3 to 4 of us that are there. So it was my turn a couple of weeks ago and this is what i choose to make. Here's the recipe: ( This recipe makes for about 6 to 8 ppl )

~Ingredients~
7 Red Jalapenos
7 cloves Garlic
3 small onions
3/4 cup ground peanut

~Garnish For Noodle Soup~
cubed fried tofu
chopped green onions
Boiled egg

~Method~
1)Blend Jalapenos, garlic, onion and ground peanut in a food processor until it's a fine paste
2)In large pan, heat up 1/4 cup oil and saute the paste for about 10 mins. Stirring every few mins.
3)Remove 3/4 of the paste and put it in large pot to make the soup. With the remaining 1/4 paste, add 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1tbsp ketchup and 1 tbsp chili sauce and some salt to taste. Mix everything together and let it saute over medium heat for 2 mins. Turn it off and let it cool.
4)Make a packet of Rice noodles and mix the cooled paste into the cooked rice noodles. Make sure rice noodle are not over cooked. Warm it up in the Microwave just before serving.

(You can get rice noodles at the Chinese market. I like to use the thin, fine rice noodle. Any brand is fine.)

~Soup Method~
1) Add 4 cups water to the paste in the pot and bring it to boil.
2) In the mean time, add 2 tbsp brown sugar, chili powder, salt, some lemon and 1/2 cup finely ground peanuts.
3) Bring the soup to boil. Soup should be spicy with a bit of sweetness and sourness. Let it boil for about 5 mins .
4) Put some rice noodles in a bowl, top it with some chopped green onion, tofu and sliced boiled eggs. Pour hot soup over and serve.