I’ve never been to Burma. I’ve never traveled at all to Southeast Asia. But I have a strong affinity for the flavors of the region and am absolutely obsessed with cooking and eating food from Thailand, Vietnam and Burma. At this point I think most everyone is familiar with the most popular dishes from Thailand and Vietnam (however inauthentic they may be from the takeout joints we buy them from) but Burmese food is less commonly found here, at least in New York. A few years ago, though, I stumbled upon a Burmese restaurant called Café Mingala and I’ve been hooked ever since.
After my first meal at Café Mingala, where I inhaled a fermented tea leaf salad (my absolute favorite) in a cute muraled dining room, I came across the beautiful book Burma by Naomi Dxxxx. It’s filled with recipes that I’ve had great success cooking through, based on ingredients that are mostly similar to those I use in Vietnamese and Thai cooking, but they are put together in a different, distinctly Burmese way.
If you’ve been to a Vietnamese restaurant, you’re probably familiar with the number of condiments that arrive accompanying the meal you order. In Burmese food, there’s a similar amount of extras associated with each recipe. It has the effect of making any given recipe look a little intimidating, but in many cases these extras can be bought rather than made, or made ahead of time so that the preparation of the actual dish is not actually that time consuming. In the below recipe, I’ve modified slightly to remove aspects that I found didn’t quite work for me or to substitute store-bought items so that you don’t have to spend a full weekend putting this together.
The best part of this dish is the way the disparate ingredients come together in a blend of flavors and especially textures. Chicken is cooked simply in turmeric and scallion oil. The fat rice noodles are gummy and slippery, different than any noodles I’ve tasted in Asian cuisine before. The noodles and chicken are topped with chopped roasted peanuts with great crunch, fresh herbs to cut the richness of the chicken and its sauce and the whole thing is rounded out with fried shallots. It is really a masterpiece of flavors on a plate, and I think representative of cuisine in Burma.
All of this preface is to say – please try this. It’s a little different but it’s filled with flavors that are familiar enough to your palate. It’s not too difficult to put together and ingredients can be sourced online. It looks incredible. It’s inspired in me a deep desire to travel there, and I hope that this food inspires something in you as well.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 - 2 lbs. boneless chicken legs and breasts, rinsed
- 1 1/2 - 2 lbs. fresh round rice noodles, or 1 lb. dried rice noodles
- 1/4 cup peanut oil
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/2 cup minced shallots
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1 cup water
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 2 tablespoons shallot oil (you can buy this or make it)
- 3 - 4 tablespoons fried shallots
- 3 - 4 tablespoons chopped roasted peanuts
- 2 eggs, hard-boiled, cut into slices
- 2 limes, cut into wedges
- Crushed red pepper
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
- 2 tablespoons minced scallion greens
Instructions
- First cut the chicken into 1-inch pieces and refrigerate.
- Heat the oil in a large wok or a wide pan over high heat and stir in the turmeric. Lower the heat to medium-high, toss in the minced shallots and coot for 3 to 4 minutes, until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or so. Add the chicken and cook, stirring frequently, until it has all changed color, about 7 minutes.
- Add the water, fish sauce and salt. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes, or until the chicken is very tender. Taste for salt and adjust if necessary. Set aside.
- Bring a medium or large pot of water to a boil.Toss in the noodles and cook until tender, 1 minute or so for fresh noodles, 3 to 5 minutes for dried rice noodles. Drain and immediately transfer onto the soup bowls or plates. Sprinkle about 1 teaspoon of shallot oil onto each serving and toss gently. Top each serving with some chicken and sauce, then sprinkle with 1 or 2 teaspoons of fried shallots, a teaspoon or so of peanuts, a slice of hard-boiled egg, a squeeze of lime, a pinch of red pepper and about 2 teaspoons of chopped cilantro.
Notes
Adapted from Burma
