Mee Jawa is one of Malaysians favourite noodle dish.
Egg noodles serve with crispy fritters, fried beancurd and generous amount of sweet potato soup.

 

What is Mee Jawa?

So what is this mee jawa that gets Malaysians going crazy over a bowl of noodles?

Lets translate the two words :
Mee means noodle, or yellow egg noodles.
Jawa refers to Indonesian island of Java (Jawa in Malay).

But if you try to look for mee jawa in Indonesia, mostly likely there is none!
You can only find mee jawa in Malaysia.
 
A bowl of mee jawa would have egg noodles serve with luscious thick, creamy sweet potato soup.
Crispy fritters, fried beancurd, bean sprout, boiled egg and some greens to be serve as condiments.

For some extra kick, a thick chilli sauce known as sambal is added.

How to Cook Mee Jawa?

Before you start, let me tell you that, it is a lengthy process to cook mee jawa.

If I were to live in Malaysia, I would probably not bother cooking at all, just go out and buy, just to satiate that cravings.
Since living miles away from homeland, learning to make mee jawa is so satisfying.

This mee jawa recipe is from my late mother-in-law, lucky me that hubby managed to get the recipe from his mom.

Printable recipe is at the bottom of this post.

The easiest is to cook the soup base. 
It is just like  making sweet potato soup.

 

Early Prep Work for Mee Jawa condiments

Then you start to prepare the condiment that goes with it.
You can plan to start frying the crackers a day ahead and keep in an air tight container.
Boil the eggs while soup is simmering on the stove.
Fry beancurds and slice them.

Once you plan your task, cooking mee jawa at home is not so daunting.

How to serve Mee Jawa?

If you are using store-bought egg noodles, I strongly suggest to blanch them in hot water prior to get rid of the oil coating.

Divide into bowls, ladle mee jawa soup and add condiments on top.

Add chilli paste if you are after some kick.

How to keep leftover mee jawa?

Mee jawa is best eaten on the day its cook. 

But if there is some leftover, you can keep the noodles, soup, boiled eggs and vegetables separately in the refrigerator.

Keep the crispy fritters in an air tight container in your larder.

 

Can I microwave mee jawa?

Yes you can re-heat mee jawa in the microwave (check with manufacturer's manual) sans the egg, fritters and vegetables.

Just the noodles and soup in a bowl! 
The rest add later to you bowl of mee jawa.

Other Malaysians favourite Noodles

Mee goreng mamak / Malaysian fried noodles
Asam Laksa / Rice noodles in spice fish soup
Malaysian Curry Laksa
Malaysian Nyonya Curry Laksa





 

What I wrote on 18th October 2013

With every bite, with every slurp, with every taste... reminds me of my youth...
My growing up days, living under my parents' roof, eating out was not an everyday or weekly or even monthly occassion for us.

If and when we did go out for meal, my dad would take us for satay and ice kacang treat, to one of the popular eateries in my hometown, a restaurant called Bunga Tanjung. That was in the early to mid 1970's.

 I was happy and contented with my satay, ketupat (compacted rice cubes) and ice kacang treat, until I saw my parents'... they ordered noodles for themselves.

 Mom with her mee kuah (yellow noodles in thick gravy), while dad loved his fried kwayteow (white flat noodles).
... and I, would eye my mom's plate of steamy, delicious looking noodles in front of her.

I believed that was how my love affair for this noodle started, from a glance to that little bite, to that little slurp and that little taste from my mom's plate...

While in Kedah (a state in the north of Malaysia), we called this mee kuah, travelling about 1 hour south towards Penang, they call this Mee Jawa.

 The difference is in the condiments and perhaps the gravy is not as thick.

Its been a while since H cooked Mee Jawa, perhaps, the last time he cooked was...hmmm...let me see... when we were back in KL.

 His excuse was always - too much prep work!
... finally he caved in to his wife's "puppy dog's face" request...

He based on his late mom's recipe, again there is a slight difference (among Penangites) in the ingredients used to make the soup base.