Kerabu = a spicy, sweet & sour salad.
Kerabu Beehoon is a vibrant Nyonya dish of rice vermicelli tossed with sambal belacan, calamansi juice, and lots of herbs. Nyonya is a culture and cooking style, from the influence of Chinese and Malay cultures in areas of what is now Malaysia and Singapore.
Kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, shallots, garlic, torch ginger flower, and mint leaves mixed together with springy rice noodles, then tossed with spicy chili sambal and zesty calamansi lime. This colorful Kerabu Noodle truly represents Malaysian cuisine and also diverse culture.
Even though preparation takes a while – lots of herbs to chop, it’s worth the work. The flavors dance on my tongue (and continue to do so even after I’m finished), leaving me sated and wishing for more.
This light & flavourful dish can be eaten anytime of the day – for breakfast, lunch, dinner and even teatime.
This recipe is to be submitted to Muhibbah Malaysian Monday! May Round-up
| Kerabu Mee Hoon |
- 200g Rice Vermicelli – soak in water until soft and drain
- 100g Beansprout
- 12 medium Prawns – shelled and deveined
- 2 pieces Firm Tofu
- 6 Kaffir Lime Leaves – finely sliced
- 3 stalks Lemongrass – bruised and finely sliced
- 10 Shallots – thinly sliced
- 2 cloves Garlic – minced
- 2″ Ginger – minced
- 2 Torch Ginger Flower (Bunga Kantan – finely sliced
- 2/3 cup freshly Grated Coconut
- 1/4 cup Dried Shrimp – pounded
- 4 fresh Red Chili
- 4 Dried Red Chili
- 1 tablespoon Belacan (Shrimp Paste)
- 1 tablespoon Palm Sugar (Gula Melaka) or Raw Sugar
- Juice of 3 Calamansi Limes
- Pinch of salt, or to taste
- Garnishing:
- A handful of Mint Leaves – finely sliced
- Calamansi Lime – halved
- Fried Shallots (optional)
- Place sliced kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, shallots, garlic and torch ginger flower in a large mixing bowl.
- Pound fresh chili, dried chili and with a pestle and mortar. Alternatively you can pulse the ingredients using a food processor.[br][img src=”http://www.justasdelish.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/KerabuBeehoon3.jpg” width=”202″ height=”171″ /] [img src=”http://www.justasdelish.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/KerabuBeehoon5.jpg” width=”202″ height=”171″ /]
- Bring a big pot of water to boil, blanch beansprout for 1 minute. Set aside.
- Using the same pot, cook rice vermicelli for 1-2 minutes until soft. Drain under cold water and set aside.[br][img src=”http://www.justasdelish.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/KerabuBeehoon8.jpg” width=”202″ height=”171″ /] [img src=”http://www.justasdelish.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/KerabuBeehoon9.jpg” width=”202″ height=”171″ /]
- Dry fry grated coconut until brown. Set aside.
- Pan fry tofu with 1 tablespoon oil until light brown and cut into small cubes.
- Heat oil, fry dried prawns till fragrant. Add garlic and fry till golden brown. Add chillies and fry for 1 minute. Add prawns and fry till cooked.[br][img src=”http://www.justasdelish.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/KerabuBeehoon4.jpg” width=”202″ height=”171″ /] [img src=”http://www.justasdelish.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/KerabuBeehoon7.jpg” width=”202″ height=”171″ /]
- Add vermicelli, bean sprouts, prawn sambal, grated coconut and lime juice in the large mixing bowl and mix well to get an even colour.
- Garnish with tofu, mint leaves and calamansi limes. [br][img src=”http://www.justasdelish.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/KerabuBeehoon10.jpg” width=”202″ height=”171″ /]
Comments
20 responses to “Malaysian Kerabu Beehoon (Rice Noodle Salad)”
[…] Kerabu BeeHoon (link) […]
Hi Shannon,
I have pinned your post in Jabayi.com — Malaysia’s very own Pinterest-clone specializing in Food, Health and Travel.
See you there!
Thanks for the recipe. Wish I could find ginger flower in California. Is there any substitute for the flower?
I’m not aware of any possible substitute for the ginger torch flower. I search online and it seems there’s no plant that is close enough in the taste. you can omit out the flower as the dish is quite flavourful from the chili paste.
My goodness, this is so delicious~~~~~! My mom cooked (Japanized) beehoon before but I realized I haven’t cooked for ages, at least not after kids were born (so 6 years?). Wow got to buy the noodles. What a delicious dish Shannon. Presentation is beautiful too!
thank you Nami! Japanized is a new term for me 🙂 I love beehoon, cook quite often – soup or stir fry, but it’s my first time making this vibrant kerabu beehoon.
Great recipe. Would you be happy to put up a link to it in my Food on Friday – Asian Food Series.
Hi Carole! Thanks for dropping by. Off to check your site
Your link worked just fine. Thanks for joining in building a great collection of recipes.
i have always had kerabu rice, but didnt try beehoon before 🙂 would love to try your delicious cooking
thank you fish! kerabu meehoon is very delicious, you should try it sometime
Ok, let’s make a deal … kerabu meehoon for pineapple tarts … how’s that? 🙂
I looove this but it’s so much work to make. I’d hang out at the padang in Penang for this each time i go.
This is beautifully done, Shannon. Look at all those colors! Perfectly nyonya!
thank you & you’ve got a deal! For me, making tarts is much more work than this kerabu meehoon, i’m not much of a baker 🙂 are you referring to the dato keramat padang?
This looks so yummy! Good thing I have most of the ingredients at home; I can make this tomorrow.
Sounds delicious. I’ll need to find a place that sells shrimp paste and dried shrimp in DC so I can try this!
Hi Vicky, you can try checking Asian stores. but I have to warn you the smell of shrimp paste might be very pungent, do keep the kitchen airy when you fry it.
I always want to make this! Your recipe and pics looked fabulous!! Thks for sharing… 🙂
thanks for your lovely comments! hope you get to try this recipe and do update me how it turn out.
That looks so very good. Lovely site. Cheers, Tara
thanks for dropping by Tara!