Non-vegetarian vegetarian bee hoon....

One of my most favorite Singaporean food is vegetarian bee hoon. My dad used to buy it for us for breakfast on weekends from a food centre at Bedok South. And my mom makes the yummiest vegetarian bee hoon. From her, I've learnt a thing or two about cooking vegetarian bee hoon.

In the states, bee hoon is called "Maifun" (sounds like cantonese?). The texture is somewhat different from our bee hoon...I feel it's more like "dong fen (bean thread noodles)".

Anyway, I'm missing my mom's veg bee hoon today...so I decided to cook it for lunch. I shredded some carrots, green cabbage, dried shiitake mushrooms as well as some back bacon (hence, it's not exactly vegetarian!).

I soaked the bee hoon in some water for a short while till it's slightly soft.

First, I added very little bit of oil to a heated pan and stir-fried the bacon pieces. Then I added the mushrooms and the carrots (& some soup stock) to cook for awhile. Then, I added in the cabbage (& more soup stock if necessary) to stir-fry till cooked. I'd usually add fried tau-kee (dried beancurd skin) but I haven't had any luck finding it here. Once cooked, set aside the vegetables. Look at the lovely colors!

In another pan, I added some chicken gravy (from yesterday's chicken stew) and soup stock. As my gravy and soup stock were already a little salty....I didn't add any more salt/soy sauce. Then add the bee hoon to the pan and let it soak up the liquids. Keep stirring the bee hoon with a pair of chopsticks. If the bee hoon appears too dry....then keep adding more soup stock or water. When the bee hoon is almost cooked....add in the mixed vegetables and keep stirring till well-mixed.


Here's my version of the non-vegetarian vegetarian bee hoon. RG came up with an ingenious way to add some "crunch" to the beehoon since I didn't have fried tau-kee - he crushed some peanuts & potato chips and sprinkled it on the bee hoon...really gave the bee hoon some extra kick!

For the true vegetarian version....just omit the bacon & use vegetable soup stock instead. It'd taste just as good!