Penang Hokkien Mee aka Prawn Noodles

 As a penangite living abroad this is definitely one of the hawker food that i miss most! Everything about it is just simply amazing.. the soup..the prawn dressing.. water spinach due to the fact that they are so hard to find!! Anyways ..This is one of the best home cooked food that I've managed to dish out so far...

The stock and dressing is comprised mainly with one key ingredient-- Prawns, prawns, prawns and prawns!!

The Making of....

 Prawn stock
1.5kg of Prawns
 I like to season it with some sea salt just to bring out the natural sweetness of the prawns. Then bring to boil in preferably a big pot..
Then you de-vein the prawns, I'm pretty sure you're guests will not appreciate the extra shrimp poo then let it cool in the fridge as you get busy making the other key ingredients


Bring water (1ltr) to boil add in prawn heads/ shell
+salt
- red foamy residue on the top of the stock
boil under low heat 
time--- 1-2 hrs 

+ Chili Paste to stock
+ dried shrimp 3 table spoon
+dried chili (30 pieces, soaked, soften)
+shallots (10)
+soy sauce 
+ garlic cloves (4-6)
+water (2 tbsp)
+olive oil (4 tbsp)

the key is to fry it till the color darkens, I usually fry the chili paste (1/2 of the paste we made before) with the prawns till they are a bit burnt scoop up the prawns then continue to fry the rest of chili paste on the same pan.

then..

 + chili paste to stock ( depending on how spicy u want the stock to be)

+ dark soy sauce 

+ soy sauce

+ rock sugar/ sugar

+500g of pork ribs / pork bones

 and keep boiling.. 

I usually follow my cooking my instincts when it comes to this part.. it really depends on how you like it, spicy, salty.. be creative tune it to the way you like it!

 Dressing:

+Hard boiled egg - sliced

+Bean sprouts 

+Fried Shallots - you can find this at the Asian Grocer 

+Fried prawns .. sliced to half 

+Chili paste

Finally!!

Remove the heads and shell and set it a aside 

+ yellow noodles/ vermicelli 

+ soup  

+ chili paste to taste

To reach perfection for this dish -- Practice! Practice! Practice

It was lacking this kick when I made it the first time. And managed to get it right on the 2nd. 

 Good luck people !