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Mee siam is a dish of thin rice vermicelli of hot, sweet and sour flavours, originating in Penang but popular among the Malay people and Peranakan communities throughout Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, although the dish is called "Siamese noodle" in Malay language and thus appears to be inspired by or adapted from Thai flavours when Thailand was formerly known as Siam. Mee siam is related to kerabu bee hoon although there is a significant difference between the recipes.
As Singapore was established in the early 1800s, many straits Chinese families from Penang moved to Singapore, thus introducing the dish to Singapore.
In Singapore, it is served with spicy, sweet and sour light gravy. The gravy is made from a rempah spice paste, tamarind and taucheo (salted soybean). Mee Siam is typically garnished with a hard boiled egg, scallions, bean sprouts, garlic chives, and lime wedges. A "dry" version is sometimes more commonly found, which is essentially stir frying the rice noodles with the same ingredients.
The sauce is made from coconut milk mixed with minced pork, prawns, firm bean curd, salted soybean, bean sprouts, garlic chives, and tamarind. It is served with thinly sliced egg omelette, fresh bean sprouts, fresh garlic and banana blossom.
A similar noodle dish in Laos is known as mee ka tee.
Another similar dish found in Myanmar is known as Mohinga.
Yet another similar dish found in the Philippines is known as pancit palabok, and features a much saltier gravy made with annatto seeds and additional shrimp.
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