Mohinga - The Burmese Fish Noodle Soup

One of the dish that I enjoyed on this visit to London was a Burmese dish called Mohinga. It was supposedly served for breakfast but of course one could enjoy it anytime of the day. I looked up the recipe on the internet and stumbled upon MiMi's website : Meemalee. She is a writer, a cook and a food blogger. Her new book titled Noodle! will be out soon. :) Yay

Anyhow, the recipe seemed simple enough though certain ingredients I completely omitted because my first encountered with Mohinga didn't come with it. My adapted version below is a lazy not so authentic Mohinga. Click on the link to MiMi's website above for her original recipe.

Recipe on the next page.

Mohinga - adapted from MiMi's Mohinga recipe

Broth :
2 tbs rice flour
1 carton vegetable stock (1 qt or 946 ml)
1 can mackerel in salt water (425 gr)
1 can sardine in spicy tomato sauce (155 gr)
2 large onion quartered
1 tbs fish sauce
2 litre water (about 8.5 c water)

These are can fish I used.

Spice paste :
4 cloves garlic, peeled
3 cm fresh ginger root, peeled
2 lemon grass stalked, trimmed off woody bits
1 small bunch of cilantro, stem only
6 tbs canola oil
1 tbs cayenne pepper (because I like it spicy) or use mild chilli powder
1 tbs turmeric powder
1 tsp freshly ground pepper

To serve:
1 pack dried rice stick
1 pack fish cake, sliced thinly about 1.5-2 in length.
4-6 hard boiled eggs, cut into wedges
1 English cucumber, cut in half lengthwise, sliced thinly
1 small bunch cilantro leaves
Fried shallot (it's better to buy ready made one)
3-4 limes, cut into wedges

Preparation
Toast the rice flour in a frying pan. It burns easily so watch it while using a spatula to stir it around. Let it cool it off and then sieve it. Whisk the toasted flour with 500 ml water in a bowl until smooth. Set it aside

To make the spice paste, grind the garlic, ginger, lemon grass and cilantro stem using a food processor until it becomes puree.

Heat the 6 tbs of oil in a stock pot on medium high. Fry the spice paste and the rest of the ingredients until fragrant (about 3-4 minutes).

Then add the fish including the sauce it came in and mash it using your spatula or fork till smooth. Mix it well with the spice mix. Pour in the flour solution and the vegetable broth.

Bring to a boil and turn it down to simmer for 30 minutes. Then add the quartered onion and the 2 litre of water. Turn to medium low and simmer for 2 hours, stirring from time to time.

Meanwhile boil water in a medium size pot. Put in the rice stick and quickly take it out of water as soon as they become soft. Do not overcook. Drain it on a colander.

When ready to serve, grab a handful of rice stick noodle and put it on a serving bowl. Top with the egg.
 wedge, fish cake, cilantro, fried shallot and cucumber. Heat up the broth and laddle the broth onto the bowl. Serve it with wedges of lime

Enjoy :)