MiMi's Burmese Coconut Chicken Noodles (Ohn-No Khao Swè)

Burmese Coconut Chicken Noodles (Ohn-no Khao Swè)

Burmese Coconut Chicken Noodles (Ohn-No Khao Swè) is taken from Mandalay (Bloomsbury Absolute) by MiMi Aye. Recipe reprinted with kind permission.

Read more about this episode here. You can listen to MiMi prepare the dish and talk about Burmese food here.

Serves 4–6

·      300g dried thick egg or wheat noodles

·      Vegetable oil, for frying

·      3 onions, finely chopped

·      1cm piece of ginger, peeled

·      4 garlic cloves, peeled

·      2 spring onions, trimmed

·      2 tablespoons gram flour

·      2 tablespoons fish sauce

·      1/4 teaspoon MSG or 1/2 tablespoon chicken bouillon

·      500g skinless chicken thigh fillets, cut into small strips

·      3 tablespoons paprika

·      3 tablespoons dried chilli flakes

·      1 teaspoon salt

·      Small handful of dried flat rice noodles (rice sticks)

·      300ml coconut milk

·      1 teaspoon sugar

To serve

·      2 banana shallots or 1 red onion, shaved thinly, soaked in cold water

·      2 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and sliced into wedges or rounds

·      fish sauce

·      1 lime, cut into wedges

Cook the dried egg noodles according to the packet instructions. Drain in a colander and rinse thoroughly with running cold water, then set to one side in the colander so that any residual water can continue to drain.

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large saucepan or stockpot over a medium-low heat, add the onions and fry for 10 minutes until soft and translucent. Take a tablespoonful of the fried onions out of the pan and place in the bowl of a food processor or blender. Add the ginger, garlic and spring onions to the food processor, then blitz together to form a rough paste. Set to one side.

Place the gram flour in a jug or bowl and slowly whisk in 100ml cold water. Add to the saucepan of fried onions with the fish sauce and MSG. Bring to a simmer over a medium heat, then top up with 500ml cold water. Bring the broth back to a strong simmer, then turn the heat down to keep simmering gently while you prepare everything else.

Mix the chilli flakes, 1 tablespoon paprika and salt in a heatproof bowl or cup. Heat a 5cm depth of oil in a deep frying-pan/wok. When you can feel waves of heat coming off the top with the palm of your hand, carefully ladle enough oil over the chilli flake mix to cover. It will sizzle and become fragrant. Set the toasted chilli oil to one side.

Next, snap the dried rice noodles straight into the hot oil so they puff up, and then use a slotted spoon to fish out the now-crispy rice noodles onto some kitchen paper. Turn off the heat and pour away most of the oil from the wok (keep this to dress salads etc), reserving about 3 tablespoons of oil in the wok.

Turn the heat back up to high, add the ginger-garlic paste to the wok and stir-fry for a couple of minutes till fragrant. Add the chicken strips and 1 tablespoon paprika, toss to combine and stir-fry for about 5 minutes, until the chicken is cooked and browned.

Gently stir the coconut milk, the sugar and the remaining 1 tablespoon paprika into the saucepan of simmering broth. Add the stir-fried chicken mixture, bring back to the simmer over medium heat and cook for 15 minutes. At this stage the broth can be cooled, covered, and kept in the fridge for 24 hours or frozen, if you like (see Cook’s Note).

When you’re ready to serve, thoroughly drain the shaved shallots.

Divide the cooked egg noodles between pasta bowls, then ladle enough hot chicken broth over to cover them. Fan the shaved shallots, and sliced egg over the top and scatter with the crispy rice noodles. Add another dash of fish sauce to each serving and serve with chilli oil and wedges of lime for squeezing.

Cook’s Note

The chicken broth freezes well and can be kept for up to 1 month. Thaw, then warm gently over medium-low heat until piping hot.