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Mee Rebus is a Malaysian noodle dish made with tender beef, egg noodles and a sweet potato gravy!
It’s served with tofu and hard boiled eggs and garnished with fried garlic and green onions. So good!
This noodle dish is a medley of sweet, spicy and tangy flavors! The beef is slow cooked so it’s tender and juicy, and the sweet potato gravy is seasoned with a homemade chili paste.
This isn’t a quick meal but it's easy and absolutely worth the wait!
We love to garnish mee rebus with a little sambal and if I have extra time I make a batch of this sambal belacan!
If you’re short on time but still craving Malaysian flavors, I highly recommend this prawn laksa, Mee siam or these Malaysian butter prawns!
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Why this recipe works
- This noodle dish is full of flavor! It’s spicy, sweet and tangy.
- I’m using beef back ribs but the recipe is flexible so you can use almost any cut of beef with bones.
- The recipe includes an easy homemade chili paste that adds amazing flavor to the gravy that coats the noodles!
- The flavor of the gravy is even better the next day, so this is the perfect make ahead dinner!
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What is mee rebus?
It translates into boiled noodles and it’s a popular Southeast Asian noodle dish. Egg noodles form the base of the dish and it’s topped with a sweet, spicy and tangy gravy made from sweet potatoes and chili paste.
Ingredients
For a full list of ingredients and quantities used, please refer to the recipe card below.
You’ll need 1 pound of beef with bones for this recipe. I used beef back ribs, but you can use what you have on hand. Make sure the beef has bones as this produces the most flavorful beef broth which gets added to the sweet potato gravy.
The recipe calls for 1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed. The potato is steamed and mashed into a paste. It helps thicken the gravy and adds a slightly sweet flavor.
A little tanginess is added to the gravy with 1 ½ teaspoons of tamarind concentrate, which has an intense flavor and syrup-like texture. If you can’t find any, try substituting with pomegranate molasses.
For some warming spices that pair well with the sweetness of the potato, you’ll need 1 tablespoon of garam masala. You can use store-bought but I love the flavor of homemade garam masala.
To serve with the beef and gravy, the recipe calls for 8 ounces of Chinese egg noodles, cooked to package instructions. They come in different varieties, so just use what you prefer.
The gravy is seasoned with a spicy chili paste. We’re going with a homemade chili paste that’s made with dried Thai chilies, lemongrass, dried shrimp, ginger, shallot, garlic and soy bean paste.
I’m using 2 lemongrass stalks, with the tough outer portion removed. You can also substitute lemongrass paste if that’s easier to find.
To add a salty, umami flavor to the chili paste, ¼ cup of dried shrimp is added to the paste. If you can’t find them at your local grocery store, you can order them online.
For the fermented soybean paste, you can use doenjang or Taucheo. Most Asian stores will carry doenjang, but Taucheo is more difficult to find. You can also substitute white miso paste in a pinch.
Step by step instructions
Place the beef in a pot and cover it with water. Bring to a simmer and cook, covered, for 60-90 minutes.
While the beef is cooking, steam the sweet potatoes until soft, about 7-10 minutes. Remove and mash into a paste, making it as smooth as possible.
Remove the beef from the pot, reserving the liquid.
Let cool then slice the meat off the bones and set aside.
To make the chili paste, combine all the ingredients together in a food processor and blend until mostly smooth.
Heat the oil in a large, high sided skillet over medium heat.
Add the chili paste and fry for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly to avoid burning.
**If it starts to burn, just add a couple of tablespoons of the reserved beef cooking liquid.
Add the garam masala, salt and tamarind to the paste and cook for 30 seconds.
Add ½ cup of the reserved beef liquid and stir in the mashed sweet potato and crushed peanuts.
Cook for 2-3 minutes. The consistency should be close to the thickness of a thinner gravy. **If it's too thick, add more of the beef cooking liquid.
Adjust for salt. (You may need to add additional salt if you added extra beef cooking liquid - taste and adjust).
Stir in the egg noodles and beef.
Squeeze lime juice over the top and serve garnished with tofu, eggs, fried garlic, sambal and green onions.
Expert tips
- While I steamed my sweet potato, you can also boil it.
- To ensure it steams or boils quickly, cut the sweet potato into cubes. A whole potato will take longer to cook.
- Make sure you mash the sweet potato until smooth. If it’s lumpy, it will make the gravy lumpy.
- To make the chili paste, you will need a food processor. A blender will also work.
- Don’t throw out the liquid from cooking the beef. It will be used to thin out and season the gravy.
- If the gravy is too thick, just add more of the reserved beef liquid.
- If you prefer this noodle dish served more as a soup, add even more reserved beef liquid.
- While this is a noodle dish, you could leave out the noodles and serve the beef and gravy over some coconut jasmine rice.
Common questions
Mee rebus has sweet, tangy and spicy flavors, which balance each other out. While it’s not hot, if you’re not a fan of spicy at all, you may wish to use milder dried chilies when making the chili paste.
Yes! You can use any type of egg noodle. I used thin, dry noodles, but you can use thicker noodles and fresh noodles work too. Just cook them according to package directions. In a pinch, you can even use spaghetti, rice, soba or ramen noodles.
Yes, you can cook the beef and make the gravy in advance and store covered in the fridge. You can even cook the noodles in advance and store them separately. When ready to enjoy, combine the noodles with the gravy and beef and warm in the microwave or in a high-sided skillet on the stovetop.
You can freeze the beef and gravy but I don’t recommend freezing the noodles.
We love to serve this noodle dish with plenty of toppings and garnishes. Fresh limes are a must to add additional tangy flavor. For extra protein, we add sliced tofu and hard boiled eggs. This is optional but I highly recommend it. To garnish, fried garlic or crispy shallots are delicious, along with a spoonful of sambal and a few sliced green onions.
Storage and reheating
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. If you know you’re going to have leftovers, you may wish to store the noodles separately from the gravy as the noodles may get a little mushy.
To reheat, just warm on the stovetop or in the microwave until heated through.
More Southeast Asian inspired recipes
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Recipe
Mee Rebus
Ingredients
- 1 pound beef with bones
- 1 sweet potato peeled and cubed
- 8 ounces Chinese egg noodles cooked to package instructions
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 ½ teaspoons tamarind concentrate
- ¼ cup crushed peanuts
- 1 tablespoon garam masala
- 2-3 limes for serving
- 4 ounces sliced tofu optional but recommended
- 2-4 hard boiled eggs optional but recommended
- Fried garlic or crispy shallots for garnish
- Sambal for garnish
- Sliced green onions for garnish
Chili Paste:
- 10 dried Thai chilies
- 2 lemongrass stalks tough outer portion removed (substitute lemongrass paste)
- ¼ cup dried shrimp
- 1 inch fresh ginger chopped (substitute ginger paste)
- 1 shallot chopped
- 3 garlic cloves
- 2 tablespoons fermented soy bean paste doenjang or Taucheo
Instructions
- Place the beef in a pot and cover it with water. Bring to a simmer and cook, covered, for 60-90 minutes.
- While the beef is cooking, steam the sweet potatoes until soft, about 7-10 minutes. Remove and mash into a paste, making it as smooth as possible.
- Remove the beef from the pot, reserving the liquid.
- Let cool then slice the meat off the bones and set aside.
- To make the chili paste, combine all the ingredients together in a food processor and blend until mostly smooth.
- Heat the oil in a large, high sided skillet over medium heat.
- Add the chili paste and fry for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly to avoid burning. (If it starts to burn, just add a couple of tablespoons of the reserved beef cooking liquid).
- Add the garam masala, salt and tamarind to the paste and cook for 30 seconds.
- Add ½ cup of the reserved beef liquid and stir in the mashed sweet potato and crushed peanuts.
- Cook for 2-3 minutes. The consistency should be close to the thickness of a thinner gravy. (If it's too thick, add more of the beef cooking liquid).
- Adjust for salt. (You may need to add additional salt if you added extra beef cooking liquid - taste and adjust).
- Stir in the egg noodles and beef.
- Squeeze lime juice over the top and serve garnished with tofu, eggs, fried garlic, sambal and green onions.
Expert Tips:
- While I steamed my sweet potato, you can also boil it.
- To ensure it steams or boils quickly, cut the sweet potato into cubes. A whole potato will take longer to cook.
- Make sure you mash the sweet potato until smooth. If it’s lumpy, it will make the gravy lumpy.
- To make the chili paste, you will need a food processor. A blender will also work.
- Don’t throw out the liquid from cooking the beef. It will be used to thin out and season the gravy.
- If the gravy is too thick, just add more of the reserved beef liquid.
- If you prefer this noodle dish served more as a soup, add even more reserved beef liquid.
- While this is a noodle dish, you could leave out the noodles and serve the beef and gravy over some coconut jasmine rice.
Nutrition
George
I LOVED this dish! All the ingredients are a little intimidating, but making the dish was actually really easy. And so yummy!
Danielle
Yay that's so great to hear!
Anne
I wasn't sure if this was going to come out like the real dish or not, but it was so close! I thought it would be more difficult, but it was pretty easy to make. Definitely will make again.
Danielle
So glad you tried it!