Recipe: Kuching tomato noodles - Keo Jiap Mee 茄汁麵

I wanted to try cooking a noodle dish from Sarawak after successfully making 3 other dishes - Sarawak braised beef soup, stir fried manicai with eggs and umai scallops.

One of my aunts gave us a pack of wantan noodles that she deep fried. Perfect timing, since Kuching tomato noodles is a dish made using crispy egg noodles. I came across this recipe for Kuching tomato noodles, also known as keo jiap mee 茄汁麵 (keo jiap = tomato ketchup, mee = noodles in Hokkien) on 3 Hungry Tummies. The Unc's friend from Kuching tells me that another popular version is using kway teow (flat rice noodles).

Kuching tomato noodles

Last week, I was watching Best In the World on 8TV and they were also showcasing Sarawak cuisine and one of the dishes was tomato noodles. A sign from above that I should make this, for sure! Tomato noodles is very often compared to wat tan hor (滑旦河) since both have a thickened sauce poured over the pre-fried noodles, the former with tomato sauce and wat tan hor with an eggy sauce.

The tomato noodles tastes lighter than wat tan hor and also very appetizing, thanks to the tomato sauce. This is another simple noodle dish, that most of us can prepare since the noodles are easily available in Malaysia.  If you do not wish to deep fry the noodles, you can just lightly pan fry it with some oil, otherwise you can also use yee mee noodles. I used prawn and chicken strips, I think other popular additions in Kuching are crabsticks and squid. For the sauce, cornstarch is used to thicken it.

Kuching tomato noodles 茄汁麵
Recipe adapted from 3 Hungry Tummies
Preparation time: 5-10 minutes
Cooking time: 10-15 minutes
Serves 2

Ingredients
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
4-5 slices of old ginger
1 tbsp cooking oil

8-10  king prawns, shelled and deveined

70g chicken breast, sliced thinly
1/4 tsp light soy sauce
1/4 tsp sesame oil
A pinch of white pepper
1/2 tsp cornflour

4 stalks of choysum, cut into 2" lengths
2 stalks spring onion, cut into 2" lengths
a handful of sliced fish cakes (I omitted this)

2 dried egg noodles (approx. 100g - I used wantan noodles)

1 cup chicken stock
3 tbsp tomato ketchup
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp of light soy sauce (I omitted this since I found it salty enough)
White pepper, to taste (I used about 1/2 tsp)
Corn flour solution for thickening (I used 1 tbsp cornflour diluted in some cold water)

Sliced red chilies in vinegar, to serve


1. Marinate chicken slices with a dash of light soy, sesame oil, white pepper and cornflour for about 2-3 minutes.

2. Boil the noodles until al dente, rinse with cold water and drain well. Either deep fry or pan fry the noodles, according to preference. Place noodles in two separate plates.

3. Saute ginger and garlic with the cooking oil for 2 minutes until golden brown, then add in the chicken and cook for a minute.

4. Add choysum and prawn, cook for 30 seconds before adding the stock, tomato ketchup, oyster sauce and season with soy sauce and white pepper (to taste).

5. Thicken the sauce with the prepared corn flour solution.

6. Pour the sauce over the noodles and serve with some red chillies in vinegar. 

Full set of photos can be viewed on my Facebook page here.

*This recipe was featured on Asian Food Channel's FB page on 25 Sept 2012.



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