Peel and chop the sweet potato into cubes and drop them into the pan, with a tsp of salt. Bring back to a boil, then simmer for 15 minutes until the sweet potato is well done.
1 sweet potato, medium (keledek)
Drain then mash the sweet potato cubes and set aside until needed.
1 sweet potato, medium (keledek)
Peanuts (skip this if using peanut butter)
Place the raw or blanched peanuts in a small frying pan over medium heat and toast for 5 minutes. Turn the heat down to medium-low after 2 minutes, so the peanuts don't brown too quickly and burn. Keep tossing and flipping the peanuts until they are a light brown colour and giving off a sweet and nutty aroma.
When done, tip the nuts onto a large, flat plate and leave to cool for for at least 15 minutes or once you've got the mee rebus gravy going.
Place the toasted peanuts in a chopper and pulse to a fine state. Set aside to thicken the gravy.
Mee Rebus Paste
Peel and quarter the onion and drop into your chopper.
Slice off the tough bottom end (the root end) of the lemongrass. And cut off the top part, leaving about 10 cm/4 inches of stalk. Peel off the top layer, if it's particularly dry or dirty, or looking a little yellow. Rinse your lemongrass and dry. Using a sharp knife, slice your lemongrass into thin rings, then add to your chopper. Slicing your lemongrass makes it easier to be ground, as it is fibrous by nature.
Cut off the tough outer layer of the galangal and discard.Slice the galangal into thin rounds and place in the chopper.
Add all the other paste ingredients into the chopper and grind to a fine paste. So that's the shrimp paste, dried shrimp, taucheo and curry powder. Add a little water if you need it.
Mee Rebus Gravy
Slice off the tough bottom ends (the root end) of the 2 stalks of lemongrass that are left. And cut off the top part, leaving about 10 cm/4 inches of stalk. Peel off the top layer, if it's particularly dry or dirty, or looking a little yellow. If not, leave it alone. Rinse your lemongrass and dry. Place your lemongrass on a chopping board and bash hard on the thick end with the back of your knife. This is called bruising your lemongrass.
Now heat the 3 Tbsp of oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and fry the ground paste and bruised lemongrass for 2 minutes.
Add the beef and mix well, breaking up the mince with yuor ladle. Fry the beef for 1 minute. Don't worry too much if it's on the dry side.
Add the water and 1 tsp of salt, mix and bring to a boil.
Lower the heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
At the end of 30 minutes, add the sugar and ground nuts.
Lighten the mashed sweet potato with 2 ladles of the gravy, mix, then add that to the pot too. This will allow to mash to mix easier, instead of giving you lumps of mash.
Simmer uncovered for 5 minutes. Then check the seasoning, add more salt if you want. If the gravy is too thick, add a little more water and check seasoning again.
Other Prep Work (while the gravy is simmering)
Boil the eggs. Then cool, peel and halve.
Chop up the tofu into cubes and fry in oil over medium heat for 5 minutes, tossing to brown slightly all over. You are going for a golden brown colour. Drain onto a kitchen paper lined plate.
Slice the chillies, halve the limes (or cut into wedges), chop up the spring onions thinly and the coriander leaves finely. Set aside.
Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add 1 Tbsp of salt. Drop the noodles in and cook for 1 minute. Drain, reserving the water, as we'll need to do the same to the beansprouts.I use a deep noodle strainer and hang it off the side of the pot and just lift ot our when the noodles are done.
Repeat the blanching with the beansprouts for a minute too. Drain and set aside.
To Serve
Get 6 large noodle bowls, or however many you are serving.
Divide the noodles into the bowls.
Top with beansprouts.
Ladle a generous amount of gravy all over.
Then top with whatever garnish you have prepared or fancy, as in the images on this page. Be as conservative or generous as you like.
Finish off with a squeeze of lime as well as a small drizle of kicap manis. The kicap manis is usually only drizzled over the chilli slices.