Three of us were at a mamak stall sipping teh tarik halia keras kurang kurang manis (pulled milk tea with extra ginger juice and as little milk as possible. By our order, you can guess our age 😬 ). Somehow our conversation drifted to how difficult it is today to get a mee goreng mamak like the ones we had when we were growing up.
We trawled our collective memories for what was mee goreng like during our younger days. My buddies can remember more things than me 😬 We marvelled at how many ingredients this humble dish contains. We recalled that mee goreng of our time had yellow noodles, egg, rempah (spice mix), tomato sauce, potato cubes, onion, green tomato cubes, tomato, canned pea, tau kwa (firm tofu cubes), chye sim greens, bean sprout, cabbage, cut green chili, optional minced mutton and sunny side up egg. All these were stir fried with oil in a wok and I consider wok hei as one of the essential ingredients.
Then I recalled that a very green Johor Kaki made this short clip with German GEO magazine back in 2015. We stumbled upon this mee goreng stall at Haig Road Market & Food Centre and were drawn in by the loud clanging of the wok as well as rich aroma of caramelised rempah and mutton. Made a quick decision to film the chef at work even though it wasn't in our plan.
Stall name: Hajjah Jamillah Rajmohamed Muslim Food
Address: 14 Haig Rd, stall #01-09, Singapore 430014 (Haig Road Market & Food Centre, same row as the famous putu piring stall)
Tel: 9106 6574
Hours: 10am - 10pm (Tues off)
My top memory of mee goreng is its flaming red colour. I prefer those that are moist but not wet. I like those with a biting hot sting that is moderated with sweet slightly tangy tomato sauce. The aroma of mutton has to be pronounced, as are the spices that hold all the flavours and aromas of the disparate ingredients of the dish together. My favourite bits in the dish are the little cubes of potatoes and canned peas which I feel are definitive ingredients along with the rempah (spice mix).
Today, good mee goreng mamak is probably rarer than good fried kway teow. Do you agree?
It's an unending journey, hopefully.
The good old day's mee goreng has lot more cubed ingredients than the ones we see nowadays. It is also not red like tulang gravy which is shockingly red! Actually, I find a good mee goreng has better wok hei than char kway teow and not too wet. Nowadays, most of them don't have cubed tomato, nor cube potato and even if they have, it is in limited proportions. Some don't even have canned peas! (which taste different from frozen peas)
ReplyDeleteWhen I was working at Amber Mansion in the early 1970s, there used to be an Indian Muslim man who sets up his push carts stall in the backlane running from Orchard Rd to Handy Road around 6.30pm. Since than, I have not manage to savour the same taste except some close match at Albert Centre food court and Adam Road. Of course now they have ikan bilis and not all has minced mutton!
Yah, last good one I had more than 15 years ago. But can't remember where.
ReplyDeleteOne of the stalls at tekka should have good mee goreng.
Heard Marine Parade hawker got good mee goreng. The one beside parkway mall. Never try though.
Yes their mee goreng is really good and name of the stall is Hass Bawah you must go and try
DeleteLong time reader and fan, your recommendations have never let me down. Thanks for doing what you do!
ReplyDeleteI recently found a truly excellent and consistent Mee Goreng at Circuit Road Hawker: https://goo.gl/maps/kJpiu1c3vhnQo5So8. No tinned peas, but everything else you'd look for in a Mee Goreng. As much as I love Hajjah Jamillah, I think this might just be better. It's still very much under the radar, but it's a local favourite for residents. I hope you try it!
I would recommend trying the mee goreng from Casuarina Curry@ aljunied. That branch not bad
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