The Secret For The Best Vegetarian Bee Hoon Goreng Ever

How To Cook Bee Hoon (Without Breaking It)

The first mistake people make is boiling their rice noodles when making vegetarian mee hoon. A lot of people google, “how to cook glass noodles” or “how to cook rice vermicelli”. The answer to that, is you don’t really cook them. Both noodles are different but you make them the same way. 

Soak Your Noodles

These noodles are thin and don’t need a lot of time to cook. You only need to soak your rice noodles in warm water for about 10 minutes. Not hot water, just plain old warm water.

When you boil and then stir fry vermicelli noodles, you’re essentially cooking them twice. This will result in soft, mushy, easy-to-break, overcooked noodles. So, next time you try to make a glass noodle stir fry recipe, remember: soak your noodles, do not boil them.

To help you whip this up at lightning speed, here are some tips:

Tips To Make This Fried Bee Hoon Recipe 

Fried bee hoon is absolutely delicious, comforting, easy to make and comes together very quickly if you know the secret ingredients: timing and prep. Well, also tomato ketchup but more importantly, timing and prep.

Some other important things to also keep in mind:

• Prep bee hoon ingredients ahead of time

When making any stir fry it is important to prepare your ingredients ahead of time. Stir-frying is done on high heat and fast, this is no time to be measuring or chopping things. 

• Timing

As mentioned above, stir-frying is done quickly on high heat but timing is key. Knowing when to add your ingredients is key. Start by adding ingredients that need the longest time to cook first and the noodles last. Once you’ve added the noodles and it has absorbed the sauce, there’s no need to cook it more.

• Separate the tough stems from leafy greens

Leafy greens cook quicker than stick stalks, be sure to add the tougher vegetables first and then add the leafy greens and bean sprouts.

• Do not boil vermicelli

We repeat, do not boil your noodles. Simply soak them in warm water for 10 minutes.

• What to do with stinky bean sprouts?

Sometimes, bean sprouts tend to smell a little funky when they sit in the fridge too long. If this is the case, rinse them under cold water to remove that funk.

Now that you’re armed with an artillery of tips to make this recipe, let’s get right into it.

How To Make Low FODMAP Bee Hoon Goreng

Aside from all the ingredients listed, you know you need two additional components, timing and prep. Let’s start with the prep for this vegetarian bihun goreng recipe.

Prep

In a large bowl filled with warm water, soak your vermicelli noodles. Make sure they’re completely submerged. While your noodles are soaking, let’s move onto the tofu.

Psst… Firm or extra firm tofu is low fodmap in serving sizes of 170 grams. Pat your tofu dry and cut it into cubes. Add your cubed tofu to a bowl with some corn starch and toss it to ensure each tofu cube is coated evenly. Shallow fry your tofu until it is a light golden brown, this took us about 5-6 minutes.

While the tofu is frying, you have some time to prepare your vegetables. Start by rinsing your bean sprouts (and if you have the patience, remove the little scraggly tails). Slice your tomatoes into wedges and cut your bok choy into bite sized pieces. Remember to separate the tough stems from the leafy greens.

Note: It should be noted that napa cabbage is typically used in bihun goreng and although it is low fodmap in 75 grams serving size, our bowels don’t tolerate it. Which is why we opted for bok choy.

Drain your vermicelli noodles that have been soaking in warm water and set them aside.  Have your eggs in a bowl and lightly beaten with a fork. Measure out your wet ingredients and mix them together in a bowl so it is ready to use. Tomato ketchup is not a traditional ingredient in bee hoon goreng but Aisha’s mom adds it in hers and this is a game-changer. Trust us on this.

Timing

With all the prep done, we can start cooking and focus on the timing. Start with a hot pan or a wok with your garlic oil on high heat. Add your tomatoes and only the stems from your bok choy and saute for a few minutes. Push the vegetables to one side of the pan and add in the eggs. Start scrambling them to break them up into pieces. When the eggs are completely cooked, mix in the vegetables. Here’s a visual:

Add in sauce, followed by the noodles, then finally the leafy greens, bean sprouts, and tofu.

Use large motions to incorporate the noodles with the veggies, sauce, and egg. Once everything is incorporated, turn off the heat and voila: you have yourself a lovely low fodmap bee hoon goreng dish ready to serve.

You can garnish this with the tops of green onions, add chili, sprinkle some additional fried tofu on top or even add egg ribbons (you can find them here). If you’re one of the lucky ones, opt for the traditional topping of fried onions. 

What Is Bee Hoon?

Bee hoon goreng is a noodle dish made from rice vermicelli noodles. The rice noodles are typically paired with an array of vegetables, stir-fried with meat and or fish, and a sauce. This vermicelli stir fry can be found in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore with similar variations throughout Southeast Asia.

Speaking of variations, these noodles also have different names depending on who you ask. It is also known as bee hoon goreng, bihun goreng or even (meehoon) mee hoon goreng. Whatever you call it, you’re making the same thing if you’ve looked up bee hoon, mee hoon or bihun goreng vegetarian recipe.

Traditionally, this noodle dish has ingredients that are high fodmap and include chicken and or seafood like shrimp. Our vegetarian fried bee hoon is a family recipe from Aisha’s mother that we’ve made low fodmap and meat-free.

Now that we know what bee hoon is and where it originates from, let’s talk about noodles.

What Is Vermicelli?

This vegetarian bee hoon recipe uses vermicelli noodles. Sometimes also known as rice noodles, vermicelli is a thin noodle made from rice starch (because of this, yes, rice vermicelli gluten free). Vermicelli noodles should not be confused with glass noodles by the way. Those are completely different.

Of course you can use glass noodles in place of vermicelli noodles if you don’t have them but they are not the same thing. To clarify the difference between the two, let’s look at the next section of this post: what is the difference between vermicelli and glass noodles?

The Difference Between Vermicelli And Glass Noodles?

Glass noodles (also known as cellophane noodles) are commonly made from mung beans while vermicelli noodles are made from rice starch. Some glass noodles are made from various vegetable starches like sweet potato or pea.

When dry, both noodles resemble thin strands but glass noodles are, well, glass-like and semi-translucent while vermicelli looks like white thread.

When cooked, vermicelli noodles remain opaque but glass noodles become transparent. Texturally, glass noodles are springier and chewier whereas vermicelli noodles have less of a bite.

If you only have one or the other, there is no crime in substituting glass noodles for vermicelli noodles when making bihun goreng. You can even make thai stir fried glass noodles or pad thai glass noodles with this vegetarian mee hoon goreng!