Mie celor — South Sumatra, Indonesia

Mie celor is a noodle dish from South Sumatra in which thick wheat noodles are served in a rich, pale soup thickened with coconut milk and built on a shrimp-based stock. The word celor refers to the noodles themselves in the local dialect. This version is reported as a specialty of the city of Palembang, the capital of South Sumatra, where it is eaten as a breakfast or light-meal dish alongside other noodle and rice specialties of the region. Shrimp shells are simmered to make a stock, into which sautéed garlic and shallot, ground dried shrimp, and coconut milk are added and gently simmered; a little flour slurry thickens the broth further. Peeled shrimp cook directly in this broth. Fresh wheat noodles are briefly blanched, placed in a bowl with bean sprouts and halved hard-boiled egg, then covered with the hot broth and finished with sliced spring onion and fried shallot. What sets mie celor apart from other Indonesian noodle soups is the broth itself, thickened with both coconut milk and a flour slurry into something closer to a light sauce than a clear soup, and its shrimp-forward stock rather than a beef or chicken base. Portions and the amount of shrimp used vary between stalls in Palembang, but the thick coconut-shrimp broth is the constant.