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Semur Bihun - Javanese Rice Noodles in Sweet Soy Sauce
Semur bihun is a recipe that is easily adaptable to suit whatever you have in your pantry. What I present is the bare minimum. You can always add more meat or other protein of your choice, and even more vegetables to make this an even more filling and nutritionally balanced meal. Also, feel free to add chilies or sambal if you like a spicy version.
Semur Bihun - Javanese Rice Noodles in Sweet Soy Sauce
Ingredients
- 200 gram dried rice noodles (Indonesian: bihun kering), soaked in cold water until soft, drained
- 10 gram dried wood ear fungus (Indonesian: jamur kuping kering), soaked in cold water until puffed up, cut into thin strips
- 2 tablespoon anchovies (Indonesian: ikan teri), soaked in hot water until soft, drained
- 2 tablespoon oil
- 50 gram shallot (Indonesian: bawang merah), thinly sliced
- 2 tomatoes, cut into wedges
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 4 tablespoon Indonesian sweet soy sauce (Indonesian: kecap manis)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
- 1 scallion (Indonesian: daun bawang), thinly sliced
- 4-6 stalks cilantro (Indonesian: daun ketumbar), thinly sliced
- Grind the following together into a spice paste
- 25 gram shallot (Indonesian: bawang merah)
- 5 cloves garlic (Indonesian: bawang putih)
- 3 candlenuts (Indonesian: kemiri)
Instructions
- Heat oil in a wok/frying pan, sauté thinly sliced shallot until fragrant, about 3 minutes.
- Add spice paste, and cook for another 2 minutes.
- Add wood ear fungus and anchovies, cook for another 2 minutes.
- Add rice noodles and tomatoes, mix well. Pour the chicken stock and sweet soy sauce, mix well.
- Bring to a boil, cover the wok/pan and continue cooking until all the liquid has been absorbed by the rice noodles, about 8-10 minutes.
- Open the lid, add ground white pepper, scallion, and cilantro. Mix well.
- Turn off heat, transfer to serving plates and serve immediately.
Comments
Ci Anita, anchovies nya bisa diganti ke ebi?
Bisa kok Sherly :)
Hi Anita, the noodles must be very delicious, I have tried some noodles recipe before, but never make a Japanese one. Want to try one this weekend.
I made this on impulse when I was craving for instant noodle- I usually don't feel very successful with noodle dishes, but I had most of the stuff on hand (anchovies, yaaay!) so instead of giving in to Top Ramen, I made this- which was actually really easy and came out great!
I wasn't sure how long to soak the noodles- I let mine sit for about an hour or so, just enough so they don't break with a little bending. The noodles also held up pretty well as a leftover the next day (unlike our dear instant noodle friends hahah)
I did not have any tomatoes on hand, so I used a can of tomato pieces (rinsed, so it didn't turn into tomato soup) and red onion instead of shallot. Flavor-wise, it's quite good, but I added a touch of salt; could be because I used some low-sodium chicken broth and guesstimated the amount of noodle and wood ear.
This dish is super easy and tasty, and I like a basic version that can be easily suited to many tastes. I think the only thing that makes it seem troublesome is to make the spice paste (I will always complain about cleaning the grinder!!) but I think I've sort of come to expect it now. I definitely want to make this again, and I'm thinking about adding cabbage, scrambled egg, and maybe some leftover meats hahah. What else is good? Uh oh, thinking about it make me hungry again!
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