Whether you call it mee kari, curry mee, or curry laksa, Malaysians simply cannot resist this savoury and beautifully spicy dish. A local comfort food and a coffee shop staple, many will have you believe that cooking up a hearty bowl of curry mee is a complicated art. The truth is, you can whip it up at home without much difficulty.

Ingredients for preparing Curry Mee

1. Broth / Curry
   • 100g shallots
   • 10g ginger
   • 4 cloves of garlic
   • 3 fresh red chillies
   • 50g meat curry powder
   • 2 stalks lemongrass
   • 200ml fresh coconut milk
   • Cooking oil
   • 4 cups chicken stock
2. Protein (optional)
   • 200g shelled prawns
   • 100g fish balls
   • 100g fish cake
3. Noodles and garnish
   • 500g noodles of choice
   • 150g beansprouts
   • 3 tablespoon fried shallots
   • 1 stalk spring onion
   • 1 stalk celery leaves

How to cook Curry Mee

1. To prepare the curry, place the shallots, ginger, garlic, and chillies in a blender. Blend into into a fine paste. (Alternatively, you may finely dice the ingredients together.)
2. Heat two tablespoons of oil in a large saucepan and add the blended paste, cooking on low heat and stirring until mixture is fragrant.
3. Add bruised lemongrass and cook for another a few minutes before stirring in the meat curry powder.
4. Add the chicken stock and bring the mixture to a boil.
5. Add the prawns, fish balls, and fish cake before stirring in the coconut milk.
6. Bring to a boil and let simmer before removing the heat.
7. Boil a separate pot of water to blanch or cook choice of noodles accordingly.
8. Place noodles and bean sprouts into bowls and ladle the hot curry over it.
9. Garnish with a fried shallot, spring onion, and celery leaves.
10. Enjoy your homemade Curry Noodles.

The Different Types of Curry Mee

As it is with most recipes, the curry mee is one that is easily tweaked to your specific liking. Some like to add long beans to the mixture so the bean sprouts don’t stand alone as the lone source of fibre in the dish, some like having chicken as a protein as opposed to seafood, and others add tofu pok to add another layer of texture to the dish. Some prefer the standard mix of yellow noodle and mee hoon, others like experimenting with wonton or pan mee noodles.

Any way you like it, the spicy broth that is thick and flavourful is definitely a comfort food and a delight to have, especially during the rainy weather.