White curry mee
Photo: chee.hong · CC BY 2.0

History

Penang's curry mee splits the dish in two: a mild coconut-milk broth and a separately fried chilli paste, added at the table to taste. The style is credited to Air Itam's old sisters' stall generations back, and shops like Hot Bowl, at it since 1992, industrialised nothing, still cooking the paste daily. Traditional versions add cubes of congealed pork or duck blood, a texture Penang defends and outsiders learn to love; halal kitchens like Bee Hwa rebuild the bowl with chicken and seafood.

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Common allergens: Shellfish, Soy

Make it at home

Yield Serves 4Hands-on 45 minTotal 1 hr 15 minDifficulty Intermediate

Ingredients

  • For the paste: 15 dried chillies, 8 shallots, 3 cloves garlic, 1 stalk lemongrass, 1 teaspoon belacan, 3 tablespoons oil
  • 1 litre light pork or chicken stock
  • 400ml coconut milk
  • 200g yellow noodles and 200g rice vermicelli
  • 12 prawns and 12 cockles, cleaned
  • 8 tofu puffs, halved
  • 100g bean sprouts and a few sprigs of mint

Method

  1. Blend the paste ingredients and fry in oil over low heat for 15 minutes until the oil splits and the paste darkens. Set aside.
  2. Bring the stock to a simmer, add half the coconut milk and the tofu puffs, and season with salt; keep it pale and gentle.
  3. Poach the prawns in the broth 2 minutes; add the cockles for the final 30 seconds.
  4. Blanch the noodles and sprouts, divide into bowls, ladle over broth and finish with the remaining coconut milk.
  5. Serve each bowl with a teaspoon of the dark chilli paste on the rim, to be stirred in at the table a little at a time.

Tip from the editors. Resist stirring the paste into the pot; the whole Penang signature is the pale bowl arriving innocent and turning fiery only in your own hands.

Where to eat white curry mee

White curry mee in Penang

Hot Bowl White Curry Mee ★ 4.3

$ MalaysianGeorge Town

Hot Bowl has served Penang white curry mee since 1992, the coconut broth arriving mild with a side bowl of chilli paste you stir in yourself.

SignatureWhite curry mee, Bottled curry paste

TipStir in the chilli paste a half-spoon at a time; the same paste is bottled for sale if you want to take it home.

Directions

Duck Blood Curry Mee ★ 4.2

$ MalaysianPulau Tikus

Duck Blood Curry Mee simmers its coconut white curry fresh daily inside a Burma Road cafe, the Bib Gourmand bowl Penang regulars top with cubes of duck blood.

SignatureWhite curry mee with duck blood, Roast pork add-on

TipThe duck blood is optional; ask for it on the side the first time and add the roast pork either way.

Directions

Bee Hwa Cafe ★ 4.3

$ MalaysianGeorge Town

Bee Hwa Cafe cooks halal versions of Penang's Chinese hawker canon on Lebuh Dickens, a Bib Gourmand family shop begun as a 1992 street stall.

SignatureHalal char kway teow, White curry mee

TipThis is where Muslim travellers get proper char kway teow; the chicken-and-seafood version sells out before 14:00.

Directions

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