GEORGE TOWN, Oct 5 — Topped with large shrimps, Mee Udang is a dish made popular by roadside stalls near coastal areas such as Teluk Kumbar on the south-west side of Penang island, at the secluded island of Pulau Aman in Penang, at Sungai Dua in Butterworth and even at Kuala Sepetang in Perak.

As its name suggests, Mee Udang is literally prawn noodles consisting of two main ingredients — large juicy shrimps and yellow noodles.

Though it may sound similar to the Penang Hokkien Prawn Noodles (or simply Hokkien Mee) as both are shrimp-based dishes, the Mee Udang offers a completely different spectrum of flavours and textures.

While the Hokkien Mee is an ethnic Chinese preparation where pork ribs are also boiled along with shrimp shells to make the spicy soup stock, the Mee Udang is made of a simpler soup base consisting mainly of tomato sauce and shrimp stock.

The soup is sweet and sour from the tomato base and the shrimp stock adds the dash of seafood flavour to the concoction.

Due to the fact that only two main ingredients make up the soup base, it is a clean, straightforward dish where you can enjoy the large juicy prawns which flavours are balanced out by the slighly bland yellow noodles.

Fresh greens such as shredded lettuce or in some cases, chye sim (mustard greens), are also added to the dish to provide a much needed contrast to the sweetness of the soup and the salty fragrance of the boiled prawns.

The preparation of the dish is rather simple as the soup stock involves simmering shrimp shells in a tomato based soup for a strong shrimpy and tomato flavour before some light soy sauce or salt and sugar are added to further enhance the multi-layer of flavours.

The actual large succulent shrimps to be served with the noodles are also scalded in the soup stock, often left simmering gently in a huge pot on the stove, before it is poured on  top of blanched noodles and garnished with crunchy fried shallots and fresh green vegetables.

In some cases, there are also other additional garnishings such as slices of hard boiled egg, a slice of calamansi lime, spring onions and bean sprouts.

Mee Udang stalls are a common feature in coastal areas in Penang, particularly in Malay villages as it is a Malay hawker dish, though the origins of the dish is hard to determine.

Each stall has a different take of the dish so finding one that is the best is hard especially when it depends largely on what the taster prefers, be it a sweeter, thicker bowl of noodles or a lighter and spicier version.

Here are five stalls in Penang to try out:

1. Ayu Mee Udang

936B, Lengkok Kampung Masjid Satu, Teluk Kumbar

GPS: 5.288635,100.228658

Time: 12pm–9pm

2. Selera Sri Tambang

1, Pengkalan Tambang, Permatang Pasir, Bukit Mertajama

GPS: 5.430342,100.431583

Time: 12pm–12am

3. Mee Udang

7, Tingkat Pasir Belanda 8, Teluk Kumbar

GPS: 5.287962,100.2206

Time: 12pm–7.30pm

4. Restoran Terapung Pulau Aman 

Pulau Aman

GPS: 5.265153,100.406885

Time: 10am–5pm

5. Restoran Aur Gading

Jalan Pengkalan Machang, Titi Timbul, Sungai Dua

GPS: 5.43236,100.431079

Time: 12pm–12am