Red Glutinous Wine Mee Sua

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Update (4 Aug 2014): First posted in Apr 2010, now updated with new photos and improved recipe.

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Whenever my mum goes back to her hometown in Sitiawan, Perak (Malaysia), I will beg her to bring back some her hometown’s famous mee suah (aka flour vermicelli 面线) and ang zao jiu (aka red glutinuous wine 红槽酒) back for me. Details on where to buy them at the end of this page. The Chinese population in Perak is largely Foo Chow (hock chew 福州) and the Foo chow red glutinous mee sua and chicken are famous specialties there. With the best ingredients money can possibly buy, it is very easy to whip up this one-dish meal of red glutinous mee sua with chicken (红槽鸡面线).

Similar Recipe: Red Glutinous Wine Chicken

When I ask my relatives about the art of wine making, superstitions come flying around. “You must be in a good mood when making the wine”, “You must NOT ask about the status of the wine or the whole batch will be ruined” etc. It all sounds unbelievably irrational, until I realised that somehow, the best glutinous red wine I have tasted are always home-made. I don’t even want to start ranting on how bad some of the mass-produced factory wine lees taste. To me, as long as you can procure good quality wine and wine lees, you can get way with “anyhow cooking” this dish (sometimes I even skip the chicken marination part) – which explains the simplicity of this recipe.

If you ever have a chance to visit Sitiawan, Perak, I urge you to buy some of the quality wine lees and hand-made mee sua (福州面线) there. The shop I am recommending (see contact details at the end of the page) has been around for more than twenty years, and today, their mee sua is still hand made. If you visit their shop, you can see the mee sua being sun dried on poles. Being hand-made, they are not the thinnest mee sua out there, yet the texture is superior! Our car boot back from Malaysia is always filled with friends and relatives requests for them. Their particular mee sua is (deliciously) salty on its own, so cooking them separately in a pot of water is a must.

Like their mee sua, their red glutinous wine (and lees) are deliciously savoury on its own, which is why you can see that my recipe is so minimum with simple seasonings.

Where to buy good quality red glutinous wine & mee suah
家發手工福州麵線 Perusahaan Makanan Jia Fatt
No. 2179B, Kampung Bintang, 32000 Sitiawan, Perak, Malaysia
H/P: 012-5709507, 016-5003955

Note: This is NOT a paid or sponsored mention. I am just sharing good finds with my readers :)