Skip to main content
Main

Mee Goreng I

Stir‑fried noodles with tofu, vegetables, and spicy sauce.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 16 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Coriander and cumin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,866 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Mee Goreng I

serves 2
Timeabout 2 minutes for the noodles

Ingredients

Directions

Stir-fry

  1. Set a wok or a large pan over a high heat.

  2. Once hot, add the oil and then the onion, and cook for about a minute, to soften a bit.

  3. Add the tofu and french beans, and cook for two to three minutes, so the tofu takes on a bit of colour. Stir gently as you cook, trying not to break up the tofu.

  4. Next, add the choi sum. When it wilts, add the noodles and carefully spread them in the wok using tongs or large chopsticks.

  5. You want the noodles to get a lot of heat, almost to fry. Mixing gently, cook the noodles for about two minutes.

  6. Now add the spices, sambal oelek, soy sauces, water and beansprouts, and toss carefully. Cook for about a minute, or until the noodles are semi-soft.

Serve

  1. When done, top with lettuce, transfer to two serving bowls and sprinkle with some crisp shallots.

  2. Serve at once, with lemon wedges and a small bowl of extra sambal oelek on the side.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

351Calories
18 gProtein
24 gFat
19 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 13 ingredients. The other 5 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Tofu100g firm76
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Cumin1 tsp ground (2.1g)8
Iceberg Lettuce1 cup shredded (36g)5
French Beannot in our table0
Coriandernot in our table0
Sambalnot in our table0
Waternot in our table0
Beannot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Coriander + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,866 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Beans + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,188 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  3. Beans + coriandertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,261 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  4. Onion + cumintop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,498 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Tofu + beanstop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Firm tofu
Browns lightly on the hot wok surface and holds its shape while absorbing the sauce.
Fresh egg noodles
Form the bulk of the dish and take on colour and flavour from the high heat and soy sauces.
Soy sauces
Add savoury depth and colour to the noodles as they cook in the wok.
Onion
Softens in the hot oil to add a sweet, aromatic base to the stir-fry.
Choi sum
Wilts quickly in the hot wok, adding green leafy texture and fresh bitterness.

The step that matters

Frying the noodles on high heat. Spreading the noodles and leaving them undisturbed over high heat lets them brown slightly and fry, while stirring too early makes them steam and break up. Too little heat leaves them soggy and pale.

Swap the sambal

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, tofu, beans, egg, coriander, cumin, sauce):

  1. Turmericfits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Oreganofits better
  4. Sambalthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, tofu, beans, egg, coriander, cumin, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

You might also like

Lemon SauceLemon Sauce236 recipesCreamy Lettuce SoupCreamy Lettuce Soup8 recipesLettuce SoupLettuce Soup8 recipesGerman Style String BeansGerman Style String Beans7 recipes