Penang Hokkien Mee (Prawn Noodle)

Hokkien Mee.. Hokkien Mee. Mmmmm... Hokkien Mee. I pretty much growing up eating Penang Hokkien Mee . This is because right in front of my house in Air Itam, there is this uncle selling delicious Hokkien Mee at one of the kopitiam. The awesome thing is that, my family buy from this uncle for so many years, that he literally knows what we want and we will still get the same price like 5 years ago. I believe a bowl of Hokkien Mee now cost RM 3.50 or RM 4.00 (the cheapest) but if i were to walk in and buy, i will only be charged RM 2.00 or RM 2.50 and on top of that, my portion is double the size if i were to order from take out instead of dining in. I know my pictures here doesnt look appealing but the taste is as good as you can get in Malaysia. 

When i was working in chinese take out in NY, almost 2 to 3 days a week i have to peel a big lumpsum of shrimps. I am not talking about 1 or 2 lbs. Each time is about 12 to 16 lbs. The chinese take out also only bought headless shrimps. All the shells will be thrown away. So when i wanted to make Hokkien Mee, i will asked my lady boss for the shells and she will be very happily give it to me. Those shells were very precious for me and it save me lots of time collecting it by myself. I would suggest if anyone wanted to make this dish, maybe you can try to ask the chinese take out around your neighbourhood for free shells or even pay them a small amount. They may or may not give it to you or sell to you but no harm trying right?
Here is the recipe. Enjoy!

note: im so sorry that the picture was badly taken

Ingredients for the Stock
4 big ziploc bag of shrimp shells
18 cups of water
2 lbs pork bones
1/2 cup of sugar or enough to taste (please adjust it yourself. 

Salt to taste
4 tbsp MSG or to taste
2 cups of chicken stock
1.5 cups of Sambal Oelek (you can get this at asian market)
3 tbsp belacan
5 tbsp oil

1 lb of yellow noodles (scalded)

1 pack of rice noodle (bee hoon) (scalded)
Some water convolvulus (kang kung) (scalded)
Some bean sprouts (scalded)

Toppings

1 lb shrimps (shelled and deveined)
1 lb lean pork meat (boiled and sliced thinly)
8 hard-boiled eggs (shelled and quartered)
10 shallots (sliced and fried)

Method 

1. Add in 15 cups of water and chicken stock into a big pot and let it boil. Add in pork bones and lean pork meat and cook for 2 hours in medium heat. 
2. Remove only the lean pork meat and set aside. Once it is cool, slice the lean pork.
3. Add in all the shrimp shells and continue to cook 2 to 3 hours in medium heat.
4. Blend Sambal Oelek and Belacan with food proccessor until finely ground 
5. Stir fry the blended chili paste in a hot pan with oil (4.5 tbsp) for about 3 minutes until you can smell the aroma. Set aside.
6. On the same pan (unwashed), add in the remaining oil and stir fry the shrimps until it is cooked. Set aside to let it cool down. Once it is cool, sliced them into halves.
7. Strain the stock using sieve and transfer the stock into another pot. Throw away the shells and the bone.
8. Boil the stock again and add in the chili paste bit by bit until you reach the level of spiciness that you like. (save some of the chili paste aside for serving later)
9. Add in MSG, sugar and salt to taste
10. To serve, place some yellow noodle, rice noodle, sliced pork meat, shrimps bean sprouts, water convolvulus and egg in a bowl. Pour hot stock over and sprinkle with fried shallots

Ready to serve