Mohinga, Burmese Fish Soup Noodle

Recently, we were invited for Lunch at our friend's place. They are of Burmese origin and had served us Mohinga, a type of Burmese fish soup noodle. According to Wikipedia, Mohinga is a rice noodle and fish soup from Myanmar and is an essential part of Burmese cuisine. It is considered by many to be the national dish of Myanmar.

It is sort of like Asam Laksa minus the spiciness, looks a bit like mee rebus and tasted sweet, sour and a little sourish.. a very refreshing combination of natural taste without the use of salt or pepper which are quite core ingredients of most recipe.

After some googling around checking out on different recipes, I had attempted to try this out. Ingredients are quite easily available and all I needed was a little twist and combining the various recipes to render this version.

Please note that I had adjusted some of the ingredients due to my low carb diet, feel free to switch it to whichever you are comfortable. And this may not be authentic dish like those in Myanmar but rather my own adaptation based on information gathered from the internet.

Ingredients:

• 3tbsp of olive oil (you can use any oil like canola, or even peanut oil)
• 1/2tsp Natvia (if using sugar, use 1tsp)
• 1 shallots (sliced)
• 2.5 big onions (sliced)
• 6 garlic cloves
• 4 lemongrass stalk (2 pcs halved lengthwise and the other 2 sliced)
• 4-5cups of water
• 2tsp of turmeric powder
• 1tbsp of anchovies powder/granules (I used the japanese type)
• 2tsp salted anchovies paste
• 2tsp of tamarind paste
• 6 slices of ginger
• 300-400g of barramundi fish (cut to cube pieces, you may use any white fish and original recipe in Burma uses catfish)
• 1tsp of smoked paprika (if you are not cooking for kids, feel free to use crushed chilli)
• 1/4 cup of chick pea powder/flour (also known as garbanzo bean)
• 2tbsp fish sauce
• 4 hard boiled egg (either quartered it or sliced)
• 4 servings of cooked rice noodles (I used dried laksa noodle, boiled for bout 5-7mins)
• chopped red chilli for garnishing (and spiciness)
• sliced scallion for garnishing
• chopped cilantro for garnishing
• lime wedges (we used one lime)
• a packet of pea chips to serve along

Steps:

1. In the blender, blend these ingredients together till it form a paste: 1/2 portion of the onions, sliced lemongrass, smoked paprika and 3 slices of ginger.
2. In a pot (I'm using the french oven aka enamel coated dutch oven), add in water, turmeric powder, garlic (crushed), lemongrass (the halved), 3 ginger slices, tamarind paste, anchovies stock, anchovies paste and fish sauce. Let the boil and simmer for bout 5-6mins.
3. Add in the fish to the simmering broth and let it cook. It should only takes bout 2-3mins depending on the size of the cutlet. Sieve the fish out and side aside. 
4. Remove the lemongrass, garlic and ginger from the broth.
5. Pour the chickpea flour on a pan, on low heat, saute it till golden brown. Dish out and set aside once done.
6. Using the same pan, heat 1tbsp of oil in the pan, sprinkle the sugar in it and saute the shallots till light golden brown. Once down, dish out set aside.
7. Again on the same pan, add in the balance of the oil, saute the blended onion mixture till fragrant, add in the fish to give it a stir and coat the fish with the mixture. Dish out the fish and set aside.
8. Now dish the balance of the sauted onion mixture to the broth and continue to let it simmer. While simmering slowly stir in the fried chickpea flour so that it helps to thicken the sauce.
9. Add in balance of the onion to simmer. Simmer till the onion soften.
10. Once done, assemble the serving with noodle, top with the fish. Then scoop the broth with the onion over it. Sprinkle with chopped chilli, cilantro, crispy shallot and a piece of the pea chips.

Nasi Goreng Kampung

Out of a sudden, hub asked for nasi goreng kampung and there goes, a quick search and a little modification to suit the needs for the family.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of cooked jasmine rice
• 1 cup of ikan bilis or dried anchovies, cleaned and gutted
• 1 green chilli 
• 2 shallots (roughly 4tbsp amount)
• 4 cloves of garlic (roughly 4tbsp amount)
• 1/2tsp salt
• a big dash of pepper
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup veggie (any veggie, cleaned and cut to small pieces)
• 2tbsp oil
• 5 bird eyes chilli
• 1/2 shallots
• 1 cherry tomato
• 1tbsp sugar
• 1/2tbsp belacan

Ingredients:

1. Place the green chilli, 2 shallots, 4 cloves garlic and 1/4 cup of the ikan bilis in the blender. Blend till the mixture it fine.
2. Place 3/4 of the ikan bilis in a flat plate, spray with a little oil and put in the microwave. Set it on high for 4mins.
3. Heat up the wok with 2tbsp of oil. Place the blended mixture in it.
4. Saute for roughly 2-3mins till it is fragrant and a little dry. Add in the salt and give it a stir.
5. Then add in the rice and mix till it is all even. Spread it out and break in the eggs.
6. Stir the rice over the eggs and let them mix evenly until the eggs are cooked. Finally, stir in the veggie and pepper.
7. Turn off the fire and dish out to serve.
8. For the sambal, you may either blend the rest of the ingredients or pound them till it is fine. Scoop and served with the rice. Top the rice with the crispy anchovies from the microwave.

Hakka Lei Cha

Hakka Lei Cha is one of my favourite dish. It is packed with lots of healthy fibre from various vegetables and the yummy green tea soup.

Another best part of it is I get to use some home grown harvest like basil, parsley and mint from my garden.

Ingredients:
For the soup:

• about 3/4cups of dried anchovies, washed and drain
• 2l water
• one big handful of basil, roughly 1.5cups (not pushed down, but just put on the cup to measure) 
• a small bunch of mint, after chopped should be roughly 1/4 cup amount
• 3-4 sprigs of parsley
• 1/4 cup of peanut (roasted)
• a small handful of tang-o veggie if you like it to have a little bitter taste
• 2 tbsp of green tea powder (i used japanese green tea)
• 1/8 tsp salt

Other ingredients:

• 2cups of rice - cook like normal
• 3 big cloves of garlic (I'm using local Perth grown garlic that's currently in season and very fat)
• 3/4 Australia leek, sliced finely
• 5 snake/long beans, cut to small cubes
• 3/4 carrots, julienne
• 1/2cups of finely sliced cabbage
• 300g sweet potatoes shoot (mine is home grown too)
• 3tbsp pickled radish, washed
• 3pcs of hard tofu or known as tau kua
• 1/4 zucchini, julienne
• 3pcs of fresh button mushroom, cut to thin slices
• 3tbsp oil to saute

Steps:

1. Place 1/2 cups of the anchovies and water in a pot and boil for roughly 15-20mins. I used the pressure cooker to do this and kept pressure for 4mins. Removed the anchovies and place it in the air fryer along with the balance of the anchovies and AF at 180c for 7mins. If you don't have an AF, just use a non stick pan to fry it (without oil) till it is all crispy.
2. Place all the rest of the ingredients along with the fried anchovies in a blender and blend till it is as smooth as you can get. Add in some of the stock if required as the mixture can be too dry and a bit hard to blend.
3. Pour in the mixture into the stock and let it get into boil and set it aside. That should be about 2-3mins.
4. AF the tau kua at 200c for 3mins, or slightly pan fried it with a little oil. Set aside.
5. Heat a little oil and saute the garlic (divide the garlic to 8 portions for those veggies) and fry the veggies separately. Set them aside.
6. When you want to serve, just place the rice on the bowl, scoop the veggies around the rice and pour in the soup stock to serve.

Note:

• The veggies may vary depending on your preference or seasonal availability. Some also serve with toasted sesame seed and/or peanuts.
• For those who are allergic to peanuts may consider substituting with pine nuts (if you are not allergic to it).
• My first attempt of making this dish, I used pesto sauce instead coz I didn't have basil with me. If you are using pesto sauce, omit the basil and peanuts.

Dino Pasta

I cooked dino pasta for Sophie yesterday... and flavored it with anchovies powder. She ate all those with the powder and refuse to open her mouth for the rest... hahaha... maybe too tired biting already.

Mee Huen Kueh

Feel like eating mee huen kueh yesterday so boil some ikan bilis soup, top it up with fish cake and fish ball....



Had mine served with some dried chilli...

Pan Meen

Had radish based soup for my pan meen... yum2...

Taufu Fishball Soup

Taufu with fishball, mushroom and seaweed cooked with anchovies stock

Yong Tau Fu

Bought these yong tau fu from the morning market. So all I did was prepared some anchovies miso stock, pan fried those yong tau fu and cook them together.

Colorful Porridge

• One small handful of rice


• 4 cups of water


• 1 cups of anchovies stock


• 1 teaspoon of soy sauce


• 1 egg


• 1 pinch of salt


• 1 pinch of pepper


• 1 bunch of pak choy


• 2 cloves of chopped garlic


• 1 chopped shallot


• 1 teaspoon of oil


• 1 tablespoon of preserved radish


• 2 crabstick, cut to four


• 2 sausage, cut to half


• 2 dried mussels


• 2 pcs of dried scallop


• 2 dried chinese mushroom, sliced


• 2 slice of ginger, chopped finely


• 1 handful of wolfberries

1. Boil the rice with water, achovies stock, dried scallop, wolfberries and dried mussels.


2. After about 20mins, add in crabstick, sausage and mushroom. Boil for another 20mins


3. Saute shallot with the oil till golden and set aside.


4. Saute garlic and preserved raddish with the balance oil. Add in pak choy once the garlic is golden. Set aside.


5. Hit the egg on a bowl. Add salt, pepper and soy sauce.


6. Pour the boiling porridge on the egg. Served the fried pak choy and shallot on the porridge.

http://www.grouprecipes.com/14470/colorful-porridge.html

Crispy Anchovies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of dried anchovies (washed)
• 2 teaspoon of olive oil

Steps:

1. Spread the anchovies on a flat microwavable plate.
2. Microwave at medium power for 1.5 mins.
3. Sprinkle with 2 teaspoon of olive oil.
4. Microwave at high power for 3 mins, before changing to medium for another one minute.