Singapore Mei Fun with Shrimp

Before Shane and I got engaged and I moved Upstate, I used to eat Chinese take-out at least twice a month, sometimes more. It was cheap, it was flavorful, it was everywhere.

But Shane isn’t a big fan of Chinese food, and I haven’t found any Chinese restaurants I really like, so now I eat Chinese food maybe three or four times a year.

So I was thrilled to walk into Wegmans a few weeks ago and see them pushing their recipe for Singapore Noodles with Shrimp. Make no mistake — this is definately a marketing tactic, with the goal of you spending your money in their store, on their products.

But I hadn’t had Singapore Mei Fun in ages, and the mere thought of it transported me to 2000, when I would buy a quart of it for $4.00 from a tiny, dingy restaurant around the corner from my first real job at the corner of Broadway and Houston. The place was always packed at lunchtime, with people from all walks of life: executives, construction workers, hungry students, shop girls and guys, all looking for something fast, tasty and cheap.

The memory pushed me up and down the aisles, pulling ingrediants off the shelves, and then drove me home and into the kitchen. Things came together fairly quickly (though it made me wish I had a bigger wok) and result was suprisingly tasty, with a strong curry flavor, and shockingly healthy.

The only changes I made to the recipe below were to increase the curry (which I love) by 2 teaspoons — I might add more the next time; and skip the egg to streamline the entire process. The recipe also says it serves 4, but I think you’ll get more like 6.

Singapore Mei Fun with Shrimp (adapted)

1 pkg (8.8 oz) Mei Fun (rice vermicelli)
1 Tbsp plus 2 tsps Hot Madras Curry Powder
1/4 cup Oyster Sauce 1/4 cup Thai Culinary Stock or chicken stock
1 egg
1 lb. frozen, peeled and deveined shrimp (41-50 ct)
1 Tbsp +2 tsp vegetable oil
1/2 large onion, peeled, thinly sliced (about 1 cup)
12 oz. Cleaned & Cut Asian Slaw (a mix of Napa cabbage, carrots & celery)
1 cup scallions, thinly sliced

Follow directions for preparing mei fun; drain well and set aside.

Combine curry powder, oyster sauce, and stock in small bowl; set aside.

Blanch shrimp 30 to 60 seconds in large pot of boiling salted water. Add slaw and green onion; blanch 5 seconds. Drain well; set aside.

Drizzle 2 tsp oil around sides of the largest wok you have; tilt pan to distribute evenly. Heat oil in pan on high until oil faintly smokes. (If oil smokes too much, pan is too hot.) Add egg; cook, scrambling it, just until set. Set aside. Wipe out pan with paper towel.

Drizzle remaining Tbsp oil around sides of pan; tilt pan to distribute evenly. Heat oil in pan on high until oil faintly smokes. Add onion slices; cook, stirring, about 2 min.

Add noodles and curry powder/stock mixture to pan. Stir fry about 1 min. Add shrimp, vegetables, and egg. Stir fry 1 min.

Nutrition Info, based on 4 servings: Each serving (2 cups) contains 330 calories, 43 g carbohydrate, (3 g fiber), 21 g protein, 7 g fat, (1 g saturated fat), 200 mg cholesterol, 280 mg omega-3 fats, and 910 mg sodium.