I actually posted my Indonesian dinner last Saturday -- you can check it out here Indonesian Dinner -- My Kitchen My World -- it was amazing and I was craving the spicy flavors all week long. I decided to try another Indonesian dish yesterday, Mie Goreng. I had never even heard of Mie Goreng until I visited Michelle of My Year to Get Skinny -- she chose the amazing country of Indonesia, composed of many cuisines and tiny islands, as out country of the week. She has visited Indonesia not once but twice, and has me really wishing we could go. One of the dishes she made for MKMW Indonesia was Mie Goreng, Fried Noodles.
Anyone who knows me knows I love noodles and I love spicy. I read through many many Mie Goreng recipes online, and just came up with an easy vegetarian version. In the recipes I looked at there were many different veggies in each recipe, some had cabbage, carrots, peppers, bean sprouts, and many more all which sound delicious, so I'm sure I'll make this again, but for my first Mie Goreng I just used peppers and mushrooms. I used two kinds of chili sauce, hot, and sweet, which gave the noodles an amazing flavor when the first hit your tastebuds, but then leave you hot hot hot and wanting something to drink -- or just some more noodles :) I absolutely loved it.
The recipes I read through all used different types of noodles as well, some used fine eggs noodles, some soba, some ramen style, and some even spaghetti, of course not authentic but would work in a pinch. In Indonesia, mie goreng is a popular street vendor food, you can get many different varities, I even read about a "satay mie goreng" which has peanut butter mixed into regular mie goreng and peanuts sprinkled on top. Kind of reminded me of pad thai. Yum! I made little bowls of both Mie Goreng and Satay Mie Goreng and loved them both but think I preferred the regular mie goreng. Along with pad thai, mie goreng reminded me a little of lo mein, although I generally think of lo mein as noodles in a sauce, while mie goreng noodles taste more 'infused' with the 'sauce.' I think I prefer mie goreng to both because of the way the noodles are stir fried in hot peanut oil with the spicy paste from the chili sauces and soy sauce, the noodles really absorb the flavors and you get nice crispy spots throughout your noodle bowl.
If this some spicy noodles with lots of flavor sound good to you you need to try this dish! I'm not posting a recipe because I just used bits and pieces from lots of different recipes I found online and didn't write anything down. I will be making mie goreng again for sure, and will be on the lookout for more authentic reipes so I can make it taste more like it would in mie goreng's homeland of Indonesia. Oh, sorry the pictures don't look amazing, what this missed in looks it made up for in flavor and then some :)
