Or ah mee sua (蚵仔面线) or Taiwanese oyster vermicelli is one of the classics of Taiwanese street food. If you haven’t stood by a night market stall slurping oyster mee sua, then you haven’t really been to Taiwan! This vegan or ah mee sua uses straw mushrooms to replace oysters, and thick tofu rolls (腐竹卷) to replace the pig intestines.
Mee sua is a thin wheat noodle commonly eaten in by Hokkien people. This includes those from the Fujian province in China, and also Taiwan. Although a traditional Hokkien dish, this mee sua soup found its popularity in Taiwan. In night markets, this dish is often served in a cup for maximum walking-slurping action!
The broth is very important for our vegan or ah mee sua. I used a combination of mushroom-soaking water and kombu stock. For extra umami, I also added a little bit of mushroom powder. You can use any combination for your broth, including vegan dashi powder or homemade vegetable or mushroom stock.
If we follow the traditional carnivorous recipe, the ‘oysters’ are coated in sweet potato flour then blanched. This gives them an extremely silky and gooey coating. I find it very pleasurable, but my husband thinks it is positively slimy. So whether you batter and blanch depends if you actually like the texture of oysters. If not, just add them to the stock and boil (better for lazy people too).
Tips
- A good quality mee sua is thick and has long strands that are not broken in the packaging.
- The perfectly cooked mee sua should not break when you pull it upwards out of the soup, but soft enough to pinch into half between your fingers.
- I serve this hawker-style with minced garlic. The garlic is not cooked but scalded in hot oil. This preserves the strong garlicky punch.
- I love to add a few leaves of fresh basil as it levels up the flavour a lot!
- Other topping choices: Fried shallots, coriander, spring onion.
- The mee sua needs to be cooked just before serving. If left for ages it turns into stodge.
Ingredients
- Cornstarch slurry
- For toppings
Instructions
-
Mince the garlic cloves. I like using a garlic press here to get very fine and juicy mince.
-
Head 1 tbsp of oil until smoking and pour over the garlic. Leave it to steep.
-
Rehydrate the tofu rolls by soaking them overnight in the fridge in cool water. This way they will be nicely rehydrated all the way through.
- OPTIONAL: Coat the straw mushrooms in sweet potato flour. Blanch them for 1 minute in hot boiling water, and cool immediately in cold water.
-
Fill the pot with 3 cups of water or vegetable stock.
-
Bring to boil and add mushroom stock granules and dark and light soy sauce.
-
Add the tofu rolls and straw mushrooms (if you didn't batter and blanch them) and cook for 10 minutes.
-
Remove the tofu rolls and straw mushrooms, and add the mee sua. Make sure you don't cook it into mush (see tips above)! Remove into serving bowls when done.
-
Make a cornstarch slurry and add slowly into the soup, reducing until the desired thickness.
-
Assemble and serve hot with chosen toppings.
