''Mee goreng'', or ''mi goreng'', refers to fried noodles in the Malay-speaking cultures of several countries, such as the

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

n states of

Brunei Brunei, officially Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, and

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. A notable variant, ''mee goreng mamak'' is associated with

Mamak stall Mamak stalls are indoor and open-air food establishments found in Southeast Asia, especially in Malaysia and Singapore, that typically serve food derived from Indian cuisine, Indian Muslim and Pakistani cuisine, Pakistani cuisines, unique to t ...

s operated by Muslim Indian communities within the region, and is often spicy in taste.

Origins

Numerous distinct variations of ''mee goreng'' may be found in Brunei, Malaysia, and Singapore. One version is believed to have been developed by Indian immigrants, often of Tamil Muslim origin, who drew influences from other cultures and incorporated them into their cooking. This style of ''mee goreng'' is regarded as a dish unique to the region, as it cannot be found in India.

Preparation

There is no standard method of preparing ''mee goreng'' or any derivative variant which use other types of noodles, as each dining establishment employs different techniques and ingredients. A typical method may involve stir-frying the noodles with

vegetable Vegetables are edible parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. This original meaning is still commonly used, and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including edible flower, flo ...

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...

s, and other ingredients such as

tofu or bean curd is a food prepared by Coagulation (milk), coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into solid white blocks of varying softness: ''silken'', ''soft'', ''firm'', and ''extra (or super) firm''. It originated in Chin ...

and

meat Meat is animal Tissue (biology), tissue, often muscle, that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted and farmed other animals for meat since prehistory. The Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of vertebrates, including chickens, sheep, ...

. Common ingredients for Indian-style ''mee goreng'' may include spices, tomato sauce, potatoes, cabbage, and sweet soy sauce. A slice of lime, usually of the calamansi variety, is often placed at the side of the plate as a garnish.

Malaysia

In Malaysia, Mamak-style ''mee goreng'' is prepared and sold at Mamak stalls around the country. The word ''mamak'' is from the Tamil term for maternal uncle; in Malaysia and Singapore, it is traditionally used an honorific to respectfully address shopkeepers or proprietors of dining establishments. ''Mee goreng mamak'' is often associated with Indian Muslim cuisine offered at

s, and is regarded as a fusion food that incorporates Chinese yellow noodles with seasonings and spices typical of Malay and Indian cuisine. Maggi_Goreng

''Maggi goreng'', or ''Maggi mee goreng'', is a variation of Mamak-style ''mee goreng''. It uses Maggi brand of instant noodles, prepared with hot water before stir-frying, instead of fresh yellow noodles.

Singapore

In Singapore, ''mee goreng'' is often associated with cooking typical of Indian Muslim cuisine, known for its frequent use of ingredients such as lamb or

mutton Lamb and mutton, collectively sheep meat (or sheepmeat) is one of the most common meats around the world, taken from the domestic sheep, ''Ovis aries'', and generally divided into lamb, from sheep in their first year, hogget, from sheep in thei ...

. A famous variant developed by restaurateurs of Chinese ethnic origin for their restaurant in

Punggol Punggol ( or ) is a Planning Areas of Singapore, planning area and New towns of Singapore, new town situated on the Tanjong Punggol peninsula in the North-East Region, Singapore, North-East Region of Singapore. The town directly borders Sengka ...

during the 1970s was cooked with seafood, bean sprouts, coriander, and a

sambal Sambal is an Indonesian chili sauce or paste, typically made from a mixture of chillis with secondary ingredients such as shrimp paste (terasi), garlic, ginger, shallot, scallion, palm sugar, and lime juice. ''Sambal'' is an Indonesia ...

(spicy chilli relish) sauce made up of twelve herbs and spices.

Sri Lanka

''Mee goreng'' exists in

Sri Lankan cuisine Sri Lankan cuisine is known for its particular combinations of herbs, spices, fish, vegetables, rices, and fruits. The cuisine is highly centered around many varieties of rice, as well as coconut which is a ubiquitous plant throughout the count ...

due to historical Malay cultural influences.

References