Recipe
Mee Kola (recipe)
Rice vermicelli tossed with fried garlic oil, nuoc mam and dried shrimp powder, served with quick pickles, egg, herbs and peanuts.
This recipe for mee kola (មីកុឡា), rice noodles with pickles and dried shrimp, comes from the food site Curious Cuisiniere.[1] Mee kola is a meatless noodle dish of Pailin Province, believed to have begun among the Kola people who resettled there.[1][2][3] Kola cooking shows Shan, Mon and Burmese influence, including a fondness for rice noodles. In Pailin the dish is traditionally eaten for breakfast, mainly at morning markets.[1]
The noodles are dressed in a sweet and salty sauce and topped with dried shrimp powder and fried garlic. Herbs, pickled vegetables, peanuts and egg are served alongside. The pickles and the nuoc mam sauce may both be made a day ahead and kept in the refrigerator.[1]
Ingredients
- 2 cucumbers, quartered and cut into 1.5-inch pieces
- 0.5 carrot, julienned, plus 1 tbsp julienned carrot for the sauce
- 0.5 shallot, julienned
- 1 cup water, for the brine
- 0.33 cup sugar, for the brine
- 0.5 cup white vinegar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 0.33 cup water, for the nuoc mam
- 2.5 tbsp sugar, for the nuoc mam
- 1 tbsp vinegar, for the nuoc mam
- 1 clove garlic, minced, for the nuoc mam
- 4 tbsp dried shrimp
- 120 g rice vermicelli
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 clove garlic, chopped
- 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 0.33 cup nuoc mam
- 1 boiled egg, sliced
- Mint leaves
- Cilantro leaves
- Roasted peanuts
- Chili, sliced
Method
- Quick-pickle the cucumber, carrot and shallot in the boiled sweetened vinegar brine for at least two hours.
- Mix the nuoc mam ingredients, refrigerating them overnight if working ahead.
- Soak the dried shrimp in hot water about ten minutes.
- Boil the vermicelli five to six minutes, then drain and rinse it cold.
- Roast the soaked shrimp three to four minutes and grind them to a powder.
- Fry the chopped garlic in oil over low heat one to two minutes.
- Toss the noodles with the dark soy sauce, nuoc mam, shrimp powder and garlic oil.
- Plate the noodles with the sliced egg and pickles alongside.
- Garnish with shrimp powder, herbs, peanuts and sliced chili and serve extra nuoc mam separately.