Almost Low Carb Mee Rebus

Posted on by nomnomprincess

Both hubs and I have very different preferences even though we both love food. I remember when we first started dating we would compare notes – what kind of noodles did we like? He loved thick chewy yellow noodles or flat yellow noodles (mee pok) and I liked soft, comforting flat rice noodles (kuay teow). He loved strip loin and I was firmly a ribeye girl. He liked corn chips and my soft spot was potato chips.

Over the years, cooking for the family there are some things I don’t really cook. One of the measures of competence for local cooks is your ability to make a good mee siam (Malay rice noodles) because that was the one dish people would entertain crowds of visitors with. But I confess although I do love Malay food (let’s do lontong and nasi padang!) but I don’t really like mee siam or mee rebus. Dear hubs adores mee rebus. It’s his definition of comfort food. I was never very impressed because mee rebus always came across to me like a gloopy mess. I think the impression came from the days of primary school where we had 30 cents to spend on recess meals. Back in the day my spice tolerance was low and I think my first encounter with mee rebus I couldn’t finish my plate even though in those days a child’s portion would have been pretty tiny. Also I suspect at 30 cents, the dish would have been very simple with more starch than substance. I was not impressed.

But recently hubs and I got to talking and I realised that the man REALLY loves his mee rebus. He’d been struggling with cravings but had been trying to be good since a sample continuous glucose monitor showed that his blood glucose could swing past 10 mmol/L with meals. Some glucose intolerance setting in there…much to his chagrin.

So I got to making mee rebus. I did try some local recipes but somehow I didn’t quite like the flavor balance. With a few tweaks I managed to land on what I think suits my palate. It’s definitely higher on the protein (I added more beef to give body to the gravy and lots of tofu).

So why is this not a low carb recipe? Well the backbone of mee rebus is actually sweet potato. Sweet potato is 20g carbs per 100g. It’s lower than white rice that is 28 carbs per 100g but still a bit high for me. So my other low carb hacks in this recipe is to substitute the yellow noodles with shirataki noodles, and to use sugar substitutes where sugar is needed in the recipe. It occurs to me that this noodle dish is rather sweet. And with the thickened gravy no wonder it’s hub’s favorite comfort food.

Another finishing touch to mee rebus is the sweet soy sauce that goes on top. We did pick up a tiny bottle of Bango kecap manis (the most famous and best version of kecap manis from Indonesia) on a recent trip to Bali, but I do have my own recipe of sugar free kecap manis here too.

Hubs enjoyed the trials and different versions of mee rebus as I developed this recipe. And he finally gave his 2 thumbs up for this one. Mission accomplished!

Almost Low Carb Mee Rebus

  • Servings: 6
  • Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

    Ingredients for Rempah

  • 1 medium onion, quartered
  • 2 stalks of lemongrass, trimmed and sliced
  • 4-5 inch piece of galangal, peeled and sliced
  • 1 tbsp shrimp paste (belachan)
  • 1/4 cup dried shrimp
  • 1/2 cup tau cheo (fermented bean paste)
  • 6 tbsp curry powder
  • 1/2 cup water (for blending)

    • Ingredients for Mee Rebus

  • 2 medium sized orange or white sweet potatoes
  • 2 tbsp peanut or other neutral oil
  • 200 g of minced beef
  • 2 stalks of lemongrass, trimmed and bruised
  • 4 tbsp smooth sugar-free peanut butter
  • 1-2 tbsp sugar substitute
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 L water
  • 2 cups bean sprouts
  • 2 blocks firm tofu cut into cubes
  • 1 packet of tofu puffs cut into strips
  • 1-2 cups oil
  • 6 boiled eggs, cut in half
  • 6 small calamansi limes
  • fried shallots
  • 2-3 green chillis, finely sliced
  • kecap manis
  • shirataki or (if not low carb) yellow noodles to serve

Directions

  1. Place all the rempah paste ingredients into a blender and blend till fine. Add water for ease of blending.
  2. Cut the sweet potato into cubes and boil for 20 minutes, then drain and mash. Set aside.
  3. Heat up 2 tbsp oil in a pot and fry the rempah and 2 sticks of lemon grass till the paste is fragrant and a little darker (about 5 minutes)
  4. Add the beef mince and fry another 1-2 minutes, making sure there are no large clumps of meat
  5. Add the water and simmer for about 30 minutes.
  6. Add the sweet potato mash, peanut butter, salt and sugar substitute and stir well. Taste and adjust the seasonings. The gravy should be thick and slightly sweet.
  7. In a wok, heat up 1-2 cups of oil and fry the tofu cubes followed by the puffed tofu till browned and crispy. Drain on paper towels, then when cool, place into serving bowls
  8. In another pot, fill 2/3 of the pot with water and bring to a boil. Briefly blanch the bean sprouts, then remove and set aside
  9. Cut the calamansi limes into halves and put in a serving bowl
  10. Blanch the shirataki noodles and place into serving bowls
  11. To serve, top the noodles with the mee rebus gravy, followed by 2 halves of boiled egg, beansprouts, firm tofu cubes, fried tofu puffs, shallots, green chilli and a drizzle of kecap manis. Squeeze a calamansi lime over the mee rebus and serve immediately.

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