Bami II (Javanese way) – noodles

by Pauline Chavannes de Senerpont Domis · Published November 24, 2014 · Updated June 22, 2017

This bami (fried noodles) is prepared the Javanese way. The Chinese way, which Beb also describes in her book, is with mushrooms, pork, and celery. Also delicious. But today I choose ‘bami Jawa’. This version is with shrimps and chicken, delicious. The shrimps bring a wonderful aroma to the dish and seasons it as well. This is the perfect food to serve to unexpected guests. Most ingredients are in your pantry and you can put it together fast. They will love it for sure!

Bami II (Javanese way) – fried noodles #493 translated from Beb Vuyk’s Groot Indonesisch Kookboek, page 396.

Ingredients

1/2 kg noodles
400 grams of chicken meat
2 eggs
2 tablespoons of dried shrimp or 50 grams of fresh shrimps
6 tablespoons oil

Herbs and spices

3 tablespoons chopped onions
3 chopped cloves of garlic
1 large chopped leek
100 grams of raw sliced cabbage
100g snow peas, sliced diagonally
100 grams bean sprouts
3 tablespoons chopped celery
1 tablespoon chopped chives
soy sauce
lemon juice
cucumber slices
pepper
salt

Soak the dried shrimps for 1 hour at least. Fry the onions in the oil until crispy brown. Take the eggs, some salt, and pepper to make an omelet and cut it into thin strips when it’s cooled down. Boil the noodles like I show in the ‘noodle cooking‘ section.

Cut the chicken meat into cubes and fry it in the oil together with the shrimp until the meat is brown. Add the leeks to it and garlic and cook those for a few minutes. Then fry the cabbage and snow peas and bean sprouts for 1 to 2 minutes, the vegetables should stay crunchy. Work all the noodles through your mixture, while the heat is on until the whole dish is heated thoroughly. Mix in soy sauce, chives and half a celery, salt, and pepper. Place the food in a dish and garnish the top with the rest of the celery, the strips of omelet and the fried onions. Lay unpeeled cucumber slices around the edge.

Handy to have dried shrimp (ebi) in stock in your pantry. Let them soak for a while. The shrimp will become moist again almost like fresh shrimps, but with a more intense flavor. Taste the dish properly. It may be possible some more salt is needed, or soy sauce. Beb does not mention in her book what to do with the lemon juice that is in her ingredients list. I just splash some drops of lemon juice over the finished dish, just before serving.