Penang in the northern state of Malaysia is a good place to visit. It can be reached by flight or drive through the North-South Expressway.

From my house in Selayang, we drive through the highway in the morning and reach Penang within four hours.

Alongside the highway, we can see the beautiful  Titiwangsa Ranges landscape, one of the oldest rainforests in the world.

We checked into our accommodation in Penang Island for sightseeing. Later in the evening, we went to Sungai Dua for their famous Malay Prawn Noodles. (For the recipe)

Sungai Dua is an area in Seberang Prai with a few villages. 

There are many restaurants along the road that provide Prawn Noodles. You can choose any restaurant as the recipe and the price is varied.

The restaurants in this area operate from 1 pm until 12 am.

Inside the restaurant

We settled down to one of the restaurants to have prawn noodles. As we entered the restaurant, the menu and the price was put high up at the wall.

The wording is big and can be seen clearly by the customer as they enter the premises.

The restaurant also has other menu items such as prawn fried rice and prawn fried kwetiau. 

This is an open restaurant and anyone can walk in without making a booking.

Well, this is dinner time, and many people are waiting for the order to be served at their table.

They always come here in groups and normally they are one family member sitting at one big table.  

Even though the restaurant provided another menu, we had decided to eat prawn noodles.

We went to the seafood station and selected the prawns. It is fresh as Sungai Dua is not far from the fisherman area.

The staff weigh the prawn and ask the noodles for how many people. After confirming the order, we choose to sit at one table and order drinks from the waiter that comes to our table.

Prawn Noodle at Sungai Dua restaurant

It is a plate of yellow noodles topped with huge fresh prawns in sourish tomato gravy that makes the noodles appealing.

The prawn can be picked up and weighed according to the customer’s desire when you order noodles. The price of noodles varies from one person to another following how many prawns we take.

After we make a selection of prawns, we have to wait at the table for the fresh prawn then be cooked to make a gravy.

The gravy is watery with noodles and vegetables mixed together in a bowl. The fresh prawn was put on top of the noodles. 

They serve the noodles separately for each person and the prawns are divided according to how many prawns we bought earlier at the seafood station.

The taste of noodles is sourish tomato like what the gravy was made from. The sweetness of fresh prawn makes the dish appetising. 

The combination of tomato taste, paprika and prawn produce a sour-sweet-hot taste.

It is satisfying for dinner as there is a vegetable, carbohydrate and protein in one serving.

The making of prawn noodles at home 

Sungai Dua is far north of my place and it is inconvenient for me to go there if I want to have it again. 

So the alternative is to make prawn noodles at home. I bought the noodles, vegetables, prawns and ingredients at Pasar Selayang Baru wet market.

From the recipe explanation, the secret of delicious prawn noodles lies in the freshness of sea prawns we use to make gravy.

In that case, I bought big and fresh sea prawns at the market. The bigger the prawn the better the taste of prawn noodles.

In other words, to make good prawn noodles is by using sea prawns only, not farm prawns. 

Malay Prawn Noodles

Preparation Time : 25 minutes

Cooking Time : 20 minutes

Serving size: 2 persons

• 10 medium sized prawn
• 3 garlic
• 3 dried chillies
• 4 tablespoon cooking oil
• 1/3 cup tomato sauce
• 1 litre water
• 1/2 cup slices carrot
• 260g yellow noodles
• Spring onion and soup leaves (slices)

Preparation of the ingredients

Clean the prawn and put it aside.

Pound garlic and dried chilli using mortar and pestle.

Sauté the pounded ingredients

Preheat the oil and sauté the pounded mixture until fragrance.

Add in tomato sauce and mix well for two minutes.

Adding the main ingredients

Pour in water and bring to a boil for one minute.

Put in prawns and cook until the prawns turn opaque with some pink and bright red colour.

Then, add in carrot slices. Stir for a while.

Following, add the yellow noodles in the gravy. Let it cook for another two-three minutes.

The prawn noodles is ready.

Serving idea

Garnish it with remaining carrot slices, spring onion and soup leaves.