Fried Bee Hoon

Greg and I always enjoyed Bee Hoon or Mee Fen (Mandarin), also known as Rice Stick among the fried carbs. Normally we like our Fried Beehoon clear and whitish, that is frying without dark soya. However, the usual ones available commercially are darkish in colour unless we are very specific about it. The ones in the pictures are done with a tad too much of light soya and the char siew, being commercial, actually coloured my mee fen. Hai...that is always the problem with outside food unless you know and frequent certain shops and are sure that they don't cost cutting in fancy ways.

I normally use Jiang Men Mee Fen from China. According to the grocer, this brand is good even for beginner cooks as it does not break up easily or gets gluey after frying. I find it quite true. Finding the right mee fen is important as some do not withstand the process of soaking, the rigorous tossing and stirring. A good plate of mee fen should be soft yet the bite is still there. It is really not attractive to eat a plate of breakup mee fen. Mee fen at home will never really have the wok breath of the commercial ones nor the oiliness, so dont expect that. But we can still make it tasty and wholesome.


Serve 4


1/2 packet of Jiang Men Mee Fen
200gm of chicken dices
80 gm of char siew or luncheon meat or prawns
2 no of eggs
1 piece of tofu gan, cut to 3-4 pieces
30 gm of bean sprout
50 gm of chives or 2-3 stalks of green vegies like chai sim, sliced
Other optional items ~ pork rolls, mushrooms
1/2 no of onion, chopped
1 tbsp of garlic, minced
6-8 tbsp of cooking oil

Seasoning Liquid:

Mix 200 ml of water with 1 tbsp of chicken powder + 1 tbsp of light soya + 1 tbsp of salt + some pepper + 1/2 tbsp of sesame oil and stir them well. Or use fresh 200ml of chicken superior stock + rest of seasoning. Dont ever throw in the seasoning separately because you tend to toss mee fen too long this way and if not evenly tossed, you may get some part salty, some part bland.



1) Soak Mee Fen till soft. Drain and set aside.

2) Season chicken dices with 1 tbsp of light soya, 1/2 tbsp of sugar, 1/2 teasp of salt and 1/2 teasp of sesame oil, 1 teasp of cornstarch and 1 tbsp of water. I normally like to season my meat a little as it gives not only a better fragrance but also smoother texture. Set aside.

3) Beat up eggs and pan fry to thin pancake like shapes. Slice up and set aside. Pan fry tofu gan pieces on all sides, cut them up and set aside.


4) With half of the oil, 1/2 of garlic and over high heat or the strongest fire you can manage on your stove, stir fry the mee fen with two metal cooking spatula or one spatula and one big cooking fork. This is to be done quickly. Dish out.


5) With rest of the oil, stir fry onion and the half of garlic till fragrant. Add chicken, and stir fry till white. Then char siew/luncheon meat/prawns are added. Stir to mix.

6) Vegies and bean sprouts, eggs slices, tofu gan slices are added in followed straight by mee fen in (4). As I can't do the tossing wok act even with two hands, the best option is to use two metal spatula to toss the mee fen for a min or two. This is a better way of cooking as compared to stirring, which tends to break up the mee fen. Add chicken stock seasoning. Continue tossing for another 2-3 min. Dish out and serve.