'MY mother was a hawker and had no time to cook, so we usually had to sort out our own lunch. I grew up in a kampong and most of the stores had attap roofs. One particular stall that I absolutely loved was run by a Malay lady who served lovely lontong and to-die-for dried mee siam,' says Ms Lee.

'I went to that stall about four times a week over a period of one year and was offered the recipe by the owner, Mak Chik. My early attempts were more like bee hoon soaked in assam water, but she taught me how to do it right, and I often cook the dried mee siam during the festive season.'

Ingredients

• Bee Hoon (vermicelli, soaked)
• Bean sprouts
• 1 bowl dried chilli (soaked)
• 1 bowl shallots
• 10-15 buah keras (candlenut)
• 1 tablespoon sambal belachan
• tamarind juice
• 3 tablespoons tau cheo (fermented bean paste)

Garnish

• boiled eggs
• prawns (boiled and peeled)
• koo chye (Chinese chives, cut about 1/2 inch long)
• lime
• fresh green chilli (sliced)
• tau kwah (bean curd, diced and fried)

Method

1. Heat up wok; when hot add oil, put in 1/2 bowl of rempah (spicy chilli mix). Fry till fragrant, add soaked bee hoon, fry and slowly add water. When bee hoon is quite soft add beansprouts and fry till soft, springy and moist. Lastly, stir in fried tau kwah.

2. For gravy, mix tamarind with water and sieve into a pot, add tau cheo, bring to boil. Add salt, sugar and a little rempah oil (for colour), boil for another 5 mins.

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