Foochow Cha Chu Mien (Fried Cooked Noodle)

I had prepared this post for a while but wanted to get the ingredients more accurate. And Maria, one of our readers requested for this. So hopefully it will worked for you!

This is a very distinct foochow dish in Malaysia like the Hokkien Noodle of the Hokkiens, Hailam Mee of the Hainans, Cantonese Hor fun for the Cantonese, Heng Hua Mee of the Heng Huas etc. Definition of Cha Chu is to stir fry the noodle first, then to cook it in superior soup. Cha basically means stir fried and Chu means cook. So this dish is basically a soupy fried noodle dish popular among the Foochows in Sarawak. The name itself gives a good indication of how to cook it. And when we do it at home, we can really use good ingredients like good fish fillets or huge prawns. And cooking at home does not mean the taste is inferior, in fact it is really delicious.

Serve 3-4
450gm of Oil Noodle, get the freshest and best quality ones (those with eggs instead of colouring) you can find
3 tbsp of oil
1 tbsp of minced garlic
3 tbsp of good quality dark soya (Chinese ones like Pearl bridge are NOT recommended, try Camel or Yeo Hiap Seng or Lee Kum Kee)

1 tbsp of light soya
3-4 tbsp of Foochow Red Wine

1) Loosen and clean noodles by running through some hot water. Heat up wok with oil. Add garlic and stir fry till fragrant. Add noodles and with two spatulas, toss noodles. Add dark soya and light soya. Continue tossing. Add red wine. Toss till all ingredients are even. Don't overcook at this stage or you will get mushy noodles later. Process should take less than 5 min. Dish out and set aside.


1.2 litre of superior stock (Simmer pork bones and chicken bones with slightly over 2 litre of water for more than an hour or if you ran out time 1.2 litre of water with 1 tbsp of chicken stock powder like Knorr)
200 gm of fish fillet like Tapah, Patin, Garoupa
4 pcs of fresh water King Prawns halved or 8 pcs of XL sea prawns
80 gm of chicken/pork meat, sliced
4 stalks of medium choy sum
2-3 pcs of dried black fungus, stripped
100 gm of pork balls, fish balls, fish slices, liver (optional)
approx 3/4 -1 cup of Foochow Red Wine (quantity based on taste)

3 tbsp of dark soya

1 teasp of pepper, salt and msg to taste

1) With a little oil, stir fry meat slices to cook the exterior. Add stock and bring it to boil. Add black fungus, balls and let it simmer for a little.

2) Add the large prawns followed slightly later by fish fillets while the stock is kept simmering.

3) Return noodles to stock. Add choy sum and dark soya, seasoning and half of foochow red wine. Turn to boil till all ingredients are cooked. Dish out noodles onto individual bowls, divide the rest of ingredients evenly followed by the soup to cover noodles. Drizzle rest of red wine evenly right before serving.