I recently got to sample a series of instant noodles from Red Chef featuring flavors I’m very familiar with as a person hailed from Penang, and all I can say is.. how I wished these were available back when I was studying in KL and abroad missing the taste of home. But alas, for those of you who are in the position I was in, this is great news!
home cooked Penang style hawker noodle series from Red Chef
The products I tried were these four:
- Spicy sakura prawn soup rice vermicelli and noodles
- Pandan white curry noodles
- Green tom yum soup noodles
- Spicy sakura prawn soup noodles
These instant goodness shares something in common – they’re all made with fresh, natural ingredients without artificial coloring, and all can be prepared in your kitchen within minutes just by having a pot. Do check out the video below as I “cooked” all four of them.
To me, prawn mee (or we call Hokkien mee in Penang) should come with mee + meehun, and before trying this product from Red Chef, is something that I never imagine we could get in an instant noodle format, talk about innovation!
The spicy sakura prawn soup rice vermicelli & noodles (a long name… I know) requires a 2-step cooking method, by first boiling the mee + meehun for 2-3 minutes, then transfer it to another pot of fresh boiling water before adding condiments. The result tastes pretty much like those prepared at the hawker stalls, especially if you add some prawns, eggs, kangkung, and maybe even bean sprouts to the mix.
spicy sakura prawn soup rice vermicelli and noodles
The paste contains key ingredients made from 3 different types of prawns, and together with the chili paste and crunchy fried shallots, you do really get the authentic taste of Penang style prawn mee, fantastic package.
If mee + meehun isn’t your thing, there’s a version with instant noodle that comes with the same paste & seasoning as well as fried shallots that is simply called spicy sakura prawn soup noodles.
Another one of my favorite Penang hawker offering is undoubtedly the curry mee, and here Red Chef delivers as well. The pandan white curry noodles come with a paste that’s formulated with 15 types of spices, together with other fresh ingredients such as garlic, onion, and shrimp paste. Pandan leaves is used here to give it an elevated aroma as well.
The result is a very competent bowl of curry mee that’s at about medium spiciness. I added tofupok, prawns, cockles, and some mint leaves from the garden to complete the dish.
I am thinking this would be even better with mee+meehun like the prawn mee, hmmm..
Last but not least, for the tomyam lovers, do check out their green tom yum soup noodles.
As with the other products, natural ingredients is used here with the paste cooked by converting “mortar & pestle” method into machinaries that doesn’t completely break the natural fibers, and thus maintaining aroma & taste, resulting in noodles that is similar to version that is cooked from scratch.
I like the balance between sourness and spiciness of the tomyam noodle, with tomato, prawns, chili padi, and kaffir lime leaves (I have this plant at the garden), makes for a good bowl of goodness that made my stomach happy.
These instant noodles will now find a permanent place in my kitchen pantry for when the craving strikes. Thanks Red Chef!
Happy New Year! May 2021 bring you much joy and hopefully some delicious meals too!
Monica: happy new year to you and your family!
Ooo, I got these from Red Chef too (I think it was about 2 years ago)…not to review but as a gesture of thanks for a blogpost I wrote on their instant noodles (the spicy sakura prawn soup noodles) earlier. Yeah, their prawn noodles (for a convenient instant version) is pretty good.
eatwhateatwhere: Oh, that’s great! Yah the spicy sakura prawn soup noodle is now my favorite, especially the one with mee+meehun.
Haven’t seen this here…otherwise, I sure would grab a few packs to try.
suituapui: you should order from online!
I’m pretty impressed by the flavour of the prawn mee soup, for instant noodles satndard, I would say. The other two I have yet try, but seem like they are equally good, according to your review, looking forward to it!
Choi Yen: yaa, try them all!