Food Review: My Kuali Penang White Curry Mee

It wasn’t until late last week that I finally tried “My Kuali” Penang White Curry Noodle.

This is the instant noodle that has taken the foodie world by storm after being reviewed by The Ramen Rater, who not only ranked it #7 Spiciest Instant Noodles of All Time 2013, but also declared it as “one of the best curry instant noodles I’ve ever had”, giving it 5 out of 5 stars!

I did a quick google for “Authentic Penang White Curry Mee”, and was led to Annna’s page, where she introduced original white curry mee from “Hot Bowl Nyonya Delight”, Lorong Abu Siti, Penang. Apparently, this stall has been around for more than 20 years and the curry mee, when served, comes with cuttlefish, cockles, tofu, beansprouts, and is really white. It only becomes “curry” when chilli paste is added to the milky broth.

My Kuali’s Penang White Curry Mee is fiery red as the chilli paste is added to the pot at the same time as the seasoning and creamer.

Let’s take a look at the noodles.

The packaging, dissected.

The noodles came with a sachet of soup seasoning, non-dairy creamer and some gloriously fiery sambal chilli paste.

The noodle block.

The seasoning packet which included salt, MSG, sugar, and fish & seafood seasoning powder.

Non-dairy creamer to thicken up the curry base.

The unbelievably fragrant sambal chilli paste. Ingredients include onion, garlic, shrimp paste, chilli powder, curry powder, among others. See the full list a few photos down.

A closer look at this magic.

Step-by-step instructions. Remember not to add too much water. I used a measuring jug to ensure I followed the instructions to a T. 380ml of water is really all you need.

The ingredients. I spot MSG in both the seasoning packet and chilli paste.

Nutritional facts. As a comparison, the popular Myojo Char Mee 100 has 360 calories, 1040mg of sodium and 1.2g of saturated fat per packet. Prima Taste Curry La Mian (ranked #2 of Ramen Rater’s Top 10 Instant Noodles of All Time 2013) packs a whopping 720 calories, 1900mg of sodium and 24g of saturated fat per packet. This is insane. The Health Promotion Board recommends no more than 20g of saturated fat intake per day for a healthy adult, and you’re going to blow it on instant noodles?

Ok sorry I digressed. Back to the noodles. More pictures!

So.. how is the taste? What I can say is, these noodles are absolutely delicious! The garlic, onion and crustacean flavours of the chilli paste impart a lovely hint of sweetness to the rich and creamy broth. Transfer these to a claypot, add some prawns, dory fish and tau pok, and these could pass off as seafood curry claypot noodles. The noodles are also nicely balanced- soft enough to soak up the curry while springy enough to still maintain a firm bite. Be warned though.. the spiciness level is 8.5/10 and this is the spiciest instant noodles I’ve ever tried. These noodles are worth the hype AND the calories! My entire kitchen was filled with the aroma of curry mee when I was cooking!

I can’t help but compare this to Prima Taste’s Curry La Mian, which is also one of my favourite instant noodles of all time. But now if I had to choose, I will pick My Kuali’s Penang White Curry Mee anytime. The satisfaction level is comparable.. even a notch higher than Prima Taste.. I prefer the texture of the noodles.. it is less than half the price of Prima Taste’s.. the saturated fat is less than half of Prima Taste’s (9.2g vs 24g my goodness) and the calories are also (almost) half of Prima Taste’s (474 kcal vs 720 kcal). My Kuali wins.

I imagine home-sick students and travellers lugging packets of this overseas. I imagine me doing the same thing, really.

The only thing now is to wait for this to be available for sale at regular prices in Singapore. I heard rumours of it hitting the shelves of Cold Storage and Giant sometime soon.

I love these noodles. If you’ve tried this before, did you like it too?