Red Glutinous Wine Mee Sua
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, 016-5003955Note: This is NOT a paid or sponsored mention. I am just sharing good finds with my readers :)
You are so lucky to be so near Malaysia and have people bring you ang zao and mee suah. I am desperately trying to get my hands on some, do you think this company sell their goods in Johore or Kuala Lumpur ? If they do, at least I can beg my sister’s friends to bring me some. Meanwhile, I am going to try your recipe tonite. Thank you for being so unselfish in sharing this wonderful dish. Will let ang zao fans know the progress.
The company looks like a small time home business to me. Maybe you can call them to ask if their products are available in other states of Malaysia?
You can find wine lees in Hong Kong? Maybe it’s good as well, yes do let us know the progress. Thanks :)
2nd day of my first attempt, the ang zao looks very much the same as when I bottled it. No liquid has been observed. I am keeping my fingers crossed. I cannot find wine lees here in Hong Kong and I have not been back to Singapore for almost two years. Sigh……. will keep you guys posted on my ang zao. Thanks.
oh woah, you’re making your own ang zao. Wish you all the best :)
thanks so much for sharing ur recipes!
my mum is also from sitiawan.. i hv been eating this since very young and i absolutely love it! can eat it everyday! and yes, the mee sua from sitiawan is really good.. every time we have relatives coming to spore, we have to ask them to bring lots of mee sua for everybody!
last year, i finally had the chance to learn how to make the wine from scratch.. but i still cant re-create my grandmother’s taste whenever i try to cook this.. i guess i just to keep trying!
good for you to learn to make the wine! I hope you succeed. And don’t give up. Fewer and fewer new generation know how to make this and it will be sad if this skill is lost ;)
7 day old, my ang zao is still stubbornly sitting there. No wine or even a drop of liquid is detected. Wonder if I will ever get to eat ang zao again, really in despair……………
I heard it takes two months for the wine to ferment?
Oh! It really takes two months? Ok then i shall wait patiently, thank you.
You can even use the wine lees to fry the pork’s belly..yummy.
good idea! any recipe to share? ;)
It’s more or less how u do the chicken except reduced the water cos it’s a dish and not soup base. Also just add some sugar or rock sugar and salt to enhance the taste. Sorry, I do not know how to write it out but hope u will give it a try. Maybe your followers from Sibu, Sarawak or other foochows can give a more detailed one. Mine will be something like this : Just lots of ginger or according to your taste, fried with some sesame oil or veg oil till fragrant, then add some wine lees, again according to your taste, n fry till aromatic, then add the pork’s belly, halfway through cooking, add some wine to it and simmer till meat is cooked. Add some rock sugar n salt to taste. The smell is heavenly, i can promise you. Serve with steamed rice.
Hi Jenny thanks so much for sharing. I can almost smell the aroma as you described how to cook it. My aunt is coming to Singapore soon and she will be bringing some wine lees for me, I can’t wait to try our your recipe. Excited to learn more than one way of enjoying this ingredient. Thanks again :)
Ang zao looks like it has decided to settle finally. It looks kinda soft now, not stiff anymore, I could see teeny bit of liquid, looks promising. Feeling a bit more optimistic now, hee hee …..
My mum makes this and it takes at least 6 weeks for the whole fermentation process. Be patient :) Good things come to those who wait!
We fry our food with both the red rice wine and the wine lees, and we add it only towards the end when the food is almost cooked – we find that this retains the flavour of the red rice wine.
I like to add the wine at the end too … so that I can totally savour the taste … I love the wine aroma :-)
Hi, Ytd ordered bottle of the red rice wine and the wine lees at $10 each from Tiong bahru 23 Jalan Membina Kopitiam (Bian Mian) stall. Any one tried theirs?
I been eating that stall Bian Mian (both my hus and my fav bian mian – soup / Dry) and recently then heard from his fren that they patronise the stall for 红槽 to cook during his wife’s pregnancy. They dont put any advert/signboard on the 红槽 and you have to ask them to bring it down for your collection on the other day (Coffee shop too hot for the 红槽 to be placed there else will spoilt).
I am a newly married (now then start learning to cook) Fuchow girl but my mom never learn to cook this fav Fuchow dish from my grandma (I used to help her grind dont know wat to make the 红槽 when i am very young, something that look like little crabs/shells) when she alive..haiz.. now i hope i can use your receipe to try it out and see if can get tat “Wai Po De Wei Dao”. I hope i can suceed ..
Hi KT! thanks for sharing your quest for the wine lees! Actually I am really salivating for a bowl of 红槽é¢çº¿ right now and guess what, I ran out of the sitiawan wine lees. Will try out the ban mian stall if I’m in the area, and glad to know of a new place to buy the wine less. Let me know if you like my recipe after trying ok? :)
If you want to go Tiong Bahru and eat Ang Zhao, can only go on weekend. Their Ang Zhao is thick and strong, alternatively you can call 9822 6535 to enquire:)
Dear Wiffy,
My ang zao has been sitting there for one month and 5 days. It looks soft but I don’t seem to see much wine in it. It does smell of wine though. Is this normal? Do I put it into the fridge now or do I leave it out for longer?
Hi priscilla,
do store the ang zhao in fridge and u can keep it for long long time.