GEORGE TOWN, Oct 11 — When it comes to fried noodles, the popular choices are char koay teow, char bee hoon or even the Hokkien char but there is another type of fried noodles that is relatively unknown and almost always overlooked.

It is the char mee suah or fried wheat noodles that has more bite than the regular rice vermicelli, and is thinner and firmer than the yellow noodles.

This type of noodles originated from Fujian, China and the char mee suah is believed to be a Hokkien cuisine.

Unlike char koay teow (fried flat rice noodles) that has strong flavours due to its sauces and mix of cockles, shrimps and Chinese sausages, the char mee suah is a simpler, lighter affair.

It is also unlike the humble char bee hoon that is fried with a mixture of dark and light soy sauce.

The char mee suah requires more work before the dish is cooked together with its ingredients.

The mee suah, also known as longevity noodles, is commonly cooked in soups for a new mother’s confinement or cooked in herbal soups.

The mee suah soup is also a common dish that used to be served on birthdays as the length of the noodles is symbolic of longevity.

The mee suah comes lightly salted and is very thin and brittle, almost like bee hoon (rice vermicelli).

To prepare it for frying, the mee suah will first have to be deep fried to a golden brown first.

After it has been deep fried to a golden crunchiness, it is then dipped into hot boiling water until it softens.

This process is to toughen the noodles so that when it is stir-fried, it doesn’t break into tiny pieces since the noodles is originally very fragile and brittle.

After the noodles have softened, it will then be stir fried with shrimps, chicken or pork slices, vegetables, bean sprouts and an egg stirred in.

The noodles, lightly seasoned with the slightest tinge of soy sauce, is best eaten with a dash of homemade sambal (chilli paste).

Usually, hawkers selling a variety of fried rice will offer the char mee suah.

Here’s our pick of five hawker stalls to try out the char mee suah:

Mutiara Selera Restaurant, Lorong Delima 5
GPS: 5.382153, 100.304588
Time: 6pm-10pm

Super Tanker Food Centre, Taman Lip Sin
GPS: 5.343197, 100.295601
Time: 6pm-11pm

Goodall Cafe, Gottlieb Road
GPS: 5.432966, 100.302495
Time: 6pm-11pm

Cecil Street Market
GPS: 5.407670, 100.328872
Time: 11am-4pm

Roadside hawker stalls, Lebuhraya Jelutong
GPS: 5.387355, 100.312219
Time: 6pm-11pm