Malaysia's mamak-style fried noodles. Yellow wheat noodles tossed hot with garlic, shallot, chilli paste and boiled potato slices, with fried bean curd, fish cake and calamari rings for body, finished with the wok-charred edges that define the dish. Hawker food, kitchen edition.

Mee goreng mamak takes its name from the Tamil Muslim (mamak) traders whose stalls dominated Malaysian street food in Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Ipoh. The dish is the meeting point of Chinese noodle technique, Indian spice and Malay vegetables: a hybrid that could only have come from a hawker centre.

The wok-char (wok hei, the breath of the wok) is what separates a real mee goreng from a flat one. Get the wok smoking hot before the oil goes in, work fast, don't overcrowd. The noodles need to touch the bare metal of the wok to pick up that signature charred-smoky edge that defines all great wok cooking.

The sauce is layered: chilli paste for heat, kecap manis for sweetness, light soy for salt, tomato paste for body. The egg is cracked into the wok and scrambled through the noodles in the last thirty seconds; the half-set strands carry the sauce. Serve with a wedge of lime, sliced cucumber and a few fresh sliced bird's-eye chillies on the side.