Recipe: Mee Rebus – Traditional Style (Noodles in Sweet Potatoes Gravy – 马来卤面)

Mee Rebus is one of my husband’s favourite dishes and like what the proverb says: the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach!! I definitely earned many brownie points cooking this noodle dish for him. (Hahaha!!)

The Mak Cik (Malay word for Aunty) whom I bought my beef from was definitely very delighted and pleased that I was going to cook Mee Rebus. She was initially stern and unfriendly till I told her what I wanted to buy the beef for. Her eyes just lightened up and she even tested me on what ingredient I was going to use. Fortunately I passed her test and she sold me some really nice beef.

Some of us might not fancy mee rebus very much BUT this recipe which I am sharing will be sure to woo you over. Those who have tasted my mee rebus can testified that it is so different from most of the mee rebus you can eat. The taste is well balanced and super-duper delicious. However, bear in mind that the preparations can be quite laborious but is worth every single moment spent.

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Serves 4 to 5 people

INGREDIENTS

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600g yellow noodles (blanch)

Ingredients for the beef broth:

450g of tetelan (or beef flanks)

1cm ginger (thinly slice)

3 cloves of garlic

Salt

Ingredients for gravy:

500g of sweet potatoes

1 to 2 tablespoons of gula Melaka

1 stalk of lemongrass (cut into 3 pieces long and bruise lightly)

3 tablespoons of oil

Salt for seasoning

Sugar for seasoning (if necessary)

The following ingredients are to be blended or pounded:

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2 red onions

7 cloves garlic

3cm long ginger

40g ikan bilis (rinse and drain dry)

40g dried shrimps (soak in water for 10 minutes)

3 stalks of lemongrass

3cm long galangal

3 tablespoons of fermented soya beans (taucheo)

4 tablespoons of meat curry powder

Ingredients for the garnishing:

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Fresh udang geragau (or tiny shrimps) (Rinse and drain. To be fried and set aside)

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2-3 pieces firm beancurd (Taufoo) (pan fried and cut into cubes)

5 calamansi or lime (cut into half)

5 boiled eggs (cut into half)

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Some fried shallots (homemade or store bought)

3 green chillies (cut)

250g beansprouts (lightly blanch)

METHOD:

Preparation of the beef stock:

  1. Boil beef flanks with 1.5 litre of water together with ginger, garlic and some salt for about 45 minutes to 1 hour or till beef is tender.
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  2. Once beef is cooked, remove the meat.
  3. Dice the beef into small cubes.
  4. Strain the beef stock and set aside.

Preparation of the sweet potatoes:

  1. Under running water, rinse and remove any soil from the sweet potatoes.
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  2. Put them into a steamer and steam for about 20 minutes or till soft.
  3. Peel skin and then puree the sweet potatoes. Set aside.

Preparation for the blend/pound ingredients:

  1. Roughly cut the ingredients and put them into a blender and blend with some oil or water till it is a smooth paste.

Preparation of the gravy:

  1. Heat up the wok/pan with 3 tablespoons of oil.
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  2. Transfer the blended/pounded ingredients and the lemongrass into the wok/pan and sauté till fragrant (about 10 to 15 minutes).
  3. Add 2 cups of beef stock into the rempah and mix well.
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  4. Add the mashed sweet potatoes, beef cubes, and the gula Melaka. Stir until well mixed.
  5. Add another cup beef stock to the gravy until your desired consistency. Bring the gravy to boil and set side. (A good advice from Guai Shu Shu – Adding stock gradually will give you a chance to control the consistency. If too much is added, it is rather hard to salvage the situation)

For the Final Dish:

  1. Put some beansprouts and yellow egg noodles in the bowl.
  2. Pour hot gravy to cover the beansprouts and yellow noodles. Ensure that the gravy covers the beansprouts and noodles.
  3. Top some fried shallots, green chilli, firm bean curd cubes, egg, fried udang geragau and calamansi/lime. Serve immediately.

Mummy's Kitchen

Hi! My name is Josephine Go. I blog at BeyondNorm.com in a segment called Mummy’s Kitchen. I love to use fresh and natural ingredients in my cooking to promote healthy eating. Some of my recipes may not be in line with the traditional methods of cooking to the extent that some of the ingredients are different, but hopefully new recipes are being created in my style. I certainly hope that what I do will help guide kitchen first-timers on how to cook their first meal as well as further equip kitchen veterans with new recipes. My loving husband and two wonderful children are my best guinea pigs and critics. They have enjoyed (or endured) the food that has been served to them for all these years. Mind you, I did not know how to cook or ever knew that I could cook till I got married. So there is hope for everyone. If I can cook, you can cook. You will not know how good or talented you are until you put your hand in the plough.

7 thoughts on “Recipe: Mee Rebus – Traditional Style (Noodles in Sweet Potatoes Gravy – 马来卤面)

  1. Thank you for the recipe – is there any substitute to gula melaka as it’s absolutely non existence in this part of the world.

    1. Hi there, you’re most welcome! You can substitute gula melaka with brown sugar or raw sugar instead. Do note that the taste will vary a bit. Happy Cooking! 🙂

  2. flavouredfun says:

    Can i substitute beef with another meat option?

  3. Hi there, i’ve never cooked this dish. But was inspired to try. Was wondering what you did with the beef cubes after you used it to make the stock. Wouldn’t it be tasteless. Thanks.

    1. Hi Iris, I added the beef cubes into the gravy as stated in Step 12. Hope this helps! 🙂

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