Easy and delicious, Beehoon Goreng Fried Rice Noodles from Singapore are a fantastic use for leftover rice vermicelli noodles. A copy of Singapore Cooking was provided to me by the publishers in exchange for an honest review. Affiliate links have been used in this post to link to items I am discussing.
My entire family–although most especially Sammy–is obsessed with Vietnamese bun. Sammy is most especially relevant in this case, because it was for her birthday shindig with my parents and sister and her hubby that I most recently made bun. Often it can be difficult to judge how many vermicelli noodles to make, so for a person like me who always makes extra, it means then I need to find a use for those extra noodles. Which is how I came to discover that much like regular rice, leftover, cold rice noodles work much better for stir frying.
I went looking for a rice vermicelli noodle stir fry in Terry Tan’s and Christopher Tan‘s Singapore Cooking: Fabulous Recipes from Asia’s Food Capital
, which was sitting in my “to review” pile. A skinny hardback book with around 100 recipes and many pictures, Singapore Cooking is a must own for any serious S.E. Asian cuisine aficionado. The recipes, which reflect influences from Southeast Asia, China and India, are a hodgepodge of curries, stir fries, noodle and rice dishes, soups and sauces. Some examples include: Bergedel Potato Fish Cakes; Sop Kambing Spiced Mutton Soup; Malay-style Nasi Goreng Fried Rice; Laksa Rice Noodle Soup; Sambal Roast Chicken; Hainanese Pork Chops; and Devil Curry.
For this dish, which calls for shredded Napa cabbage, which I could not find at our grocery store (welcome to small town living–although they do have it often) I subbed some Romaine lettuce that we had around. The really leafy dark green parts would not work so well, but I had Romaine hearts, and they mimicked the crunch of Napa cabbage pretty nicely. As I mentioned above, I did use leftover rice vermicelli noodles for the dish, but you can also make them for it as described in the recipe.
- 150 g (5 oz) dried rice vermicelli (beehoon)
- 3 boneless chicken thighs, cut into small pieces
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
- 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 2-3 tablespoons bottled sweet chilli sauce
- 2-3 tablespoons tomato ketchup
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons sugar, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 4 tablespoons water
- 5 tablespoons oil
- 1 small onion, sliced
- 20 curry leaves
- 5 cabbage leaves, sliced
- 2-3 green finger-length chillies, deseeded and thickly sliced
- 3 eggs
- Soak the dried rice vermicelli in cold water for 15 minutes until softened but not soggy. Drain well. Cut into 10-cm (4-in) lengths.
- Mix the chicken with the spices and garlic. Let it marinate for 15 minutes. Mix the 3 sauces with the sugar and salt. Set aside.
- Heat the oil in a wok over medium-high heat. Add the onion and stir-fry for 2 minutes, then add the curry leaves, cabbage, chillies and marinated chicken. Stir-fry for 3–4 minutes or until the chicken is just cooked through.
- Add the rice vermicelli and stir for 1 minute, then add the sauce mixture and stir-fry vigorously for 2–3 minutes. Push the noodles to the sides of the wok, crack the eggs into the centre and scramble until just set. Stir to mix well and serve immediately.
Way to repurpose those leftovers for something equally as delicious! I love the spices in this curry sauce. I haven’t experimented much with Singaporean food, but I definitely should start!