Hokkien is the dialect spoken by the Chinese in the Fujian Province of China, and also the diaspora around the world from that province, including Malaysia. Penang is a notable Hokkien city.

Do note that "Hokkien" mee can mean different dishes in Penang from the rest of Malaysia/Singapore. It is also called Har Mien (meaning "prawn noodles" in Cantonese). Confusing? Ordering Prawn Mee (Hae Mee in Hokkien) is less likely to result in an error served on your table.

The "prawn" in the name of the dish relates to the stock rather than the topping. The stock is made from prawn shells and heads which are hard fried before being boiled to make the soup base for the dish. Needless to say, this soup base can be difficult to make (needing a reserved stock of prawn heads and shells). It is far easier to buy instant prawn mee stock base. You cannot go wrong with this choice of instant stock base which is usually available at most Asian grocery stores and Woolies in Australia:

The noodles used for the dish is to your liking but usually a mix of thick yellow noodles and rice vermicelli (beehoon). The toppings are cooked prawns, barbeque pork slices (char siew) (chicken slices are substituted for those averse to pork), hard boiled egg, fried fish cake, and greens the classic of which is water convolulus (kangkong) and/or bean sprouts but you can use choi sum or bak choi as good substitutes.