Xiamen Chow mei fun (厦门炒米粉) is a tasty rice noodle dish served at many Chinese restaurants and often served at weekend dim sum brunches.
Although it’s probably not as well known as the curry-spiced Singapore Noodles dish, it’s just as delicious. As far as Chinese noodles go, these rice noodles are among the top of my favorites list.
The dish originates from a city in the Fujian province of southern China, where spicy foods are not as common. At this point, I have to admit that I have exhausted my knowledge about the city of Xiamen.
What’s also weird is that “Xiamen” is the Mandarin pronunciation of the city’s name, while “mei fun”, sometimes spelled “mai fun”, is a Cantonese word for rice noodles.
Ok, have I lost my credibility yet?
Hopefully you charitably answered ‘no’ to that question, because I do know my chow mei fun or rice noodle recipes, and this one is especially great.
For those of you who like a little heat in the dish, break out the chili oil! What could be better?
Xiamen Mei Fun: Recipe Instructions
Be sure to start soaking the noodles about an hour before you’re ready to start preparing the rest of the dish.
When you’re ready to cook, start by heating a tablespoon of oil in your wok. Scramble the eggs and set aside.
Add a little more oil, turn the heat up to high, and sear the shrimp just until they’re cooked through and a little crisp on the outside.
Heat another 2 tablespoons oil in your wok until it just starts to smoke. Add the Chinese roast pork and stir-fry for about 20 seconds.
Add the onion, garlic, and pepper, and stir-fry for another minute. The heat should still be high, and you should be stirring constantly.
You want enough sizzle to produce that “wok hay” (literally translated to: ‘breath of the wok’) flavor.
Add the ham and stir-fry for another 30 seconds.
Add the soaked rice noodles and give everything a good stir.
Toss in the eggs and shrimp and stir-fry until the noodles are heated through (about 3-5 minutes).
Add the Shaoxing wine, sugar, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Mix well. If your noodles begin to stick, the wok is probably not hot enough.
Just use your metal wok spatula and make sure to scrape anything off the bottom of the wok so it doesn’t burn!
Finish with the scallions and continue to mix until the scallions are cooked to your liking. I like them barely heated for this dish myself. Serve with your favorite hot sauce or chili oil!
Xiamen Mei Fun Rice Noodles
Ingredients
- oil
- 2 eggs
- 6-8 medium shrimp
- 4 oz. Chinese roast pork (110g, sliced thin)
- 1 medium onion (thinly sliced)
- 1 clove garlic (minced)
- 1 small green or red bell pepper (julienned)
- 4 oz. Virginia or boiled ham (110g, sliced thin)
- 10 oz. rice noodles soaked in warm water for 30 minutes to an hour (use kitchen shears to cut the noodles to about a 10-inch length so they don’t bunch up when stir-frying)
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
- 1/8 teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 scallion (cut into 2 inch pieces)
Instructions
- Start by heating a tablespoon of oil in your wok. Scramble the eggs and set aside. Add a little more oil, turn the heat up to high, and sear the shrimp just until they’re cooked through and a little crisp on the outside.
- Heat another 2 tablespoons oil in your wok until it just starts to smoke. Add the roast pork and stir-fry for about 20 seconds. Add the onion, garlic, and pepper, and stir-fry for another minute. The heat should still be high, and you should be stirring constantly. You want enough sizzle to produce that “wok hay” (literally translated to: ‘breath of the wok’) flavor.
- Add the ham and stir-fry for another 30 seconds. Add the soaked noodles and give everything a good stir. Toss in the eggs and shrimp and stir-fry until the noodles are heated through–about 3-5 minutes.
- Add the shaoxing wine, sugar, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Mix well. If your noodles begin to stick, the wok is probably not hot enough. Just use your metal wok spatula and make sure to scrape anything off the bottom of the wok so it doesn’t burn!
- Finish with the scallions and continue to mix until the scallions are cooked to your liking. I like them barely heated for this dish myself. Serve with your favorite hot sauce!
Bill this was awesome!!! Where have you guys been all my life! ?
Wish I had some chilli oil to go with it!
Hi Rheena, Sounds like you have to make this dish and some of our hot chili oil recipes. You can find all of our recipes categorized in our visual recipe index, but here is a link to our Chinese condiment recipes HERE. These chili oil recipes will really get you going!
Hi how many portions does this dish serve?
Hi Saku, I think this recipe will make at least two good-sized adult portions and maybe enough for one child!
Thanks for the great recipe! Mine did not have much flavor so I doubled the sauce. Is the 10oz package of rice noodles the correct amount for this dish? Maybe that was the problem…?
Hi Liz,
I think the noodle portion is correct but you can always increase the sauce as you did – the beauty of home cooking. The sauce brands do vary in the salt level and we love to eat these noodles with different hot chili oils which have salt and sometimes salted black beans in it already. Glad you enjoyed it!
Yum! This looks so delicious! Perfect for this cold weather!
Hi Allyson, Totally agree, and thanks for dropping by!
Just saw this dish on foodgawker and I had to pop over and say how DELICIOUS these noodles are – and that I definitely will be making the recipe after Christmas!!
Thanks Thalia, hope you enjoy it!
Thanks Thalia!
Thanks for coming and linking up at #TheWeekendSocial. Please be sure to come back this week starting Thursday at 9PM EST on KitchenDreaming.com ! I hope to see you there! Pinned
Thanks Dina!
Oh yum! I can’t wait to try these noodles! Knowing they’re a little milder than Singapore noddles, hopefully my nephews (under 7 years of age) will like these too. Thank you for sharing & inspiring me
I bet your nephews will love it! We did as kids :-)
This looks amazing. I can’t wait to try it!
Thanks Jess!
Another wonderful dish. BTW- what type of wok do you recommend for a standard gas stove?
Thanks Erlene! I like using a round bottom carbon steel wok with a handle for a standard gas stove. We have a post coming soon about woks and such so stay tuned!
I’ll be looking out for that post.
This looks so great!!