Mohinga (Aromatic Fish Noodle Soup)
A classic of Burmese cuisine, Mohinga is a fragrant fish soup served over noodles. This recipe from The Rangoon Sisters is a simplified version of the traditional dish.
From the book
The Rangoon Sisters: Recipes from our Burmese family kitchen
The definitive guide to creating authentic Burmese dishes at home
Easy-to-follow recipes for noodle and rice dishes, curries, salads and more
From impressive dinner party centrepieces to quick weeknight meals
Introduction
This is probably Burma’s national dish, and our version was Guardian restaurant critic Grace Dent’s ‘best thing I ate in 2017’. This fish noodle soup is traditionally eaten at breakfast, but is readily available as a ‘snack’ at any time of day on the streets of Burma. The best we’ve had was cheap as chips, for as little as 30p a bowl, and eaten as we sat on plastic stools at the side of the road. Typically it is made with a type of catfish we can’t source easily in London, but Grandma has used pilchards as a substitute for years and it works brilliantly to replicate the flavour. Mohinga also usually contains sliced banana stem, but we tend to just add more whole shallots instead.
Ingredients
| 2 tbsp | rice flour |
| 6 | garlic cloves, peeled |
| A thumb-sized piece of | ginger, peeled |
| 3 | lemongrass stalks |
| 6 tbsp | oil (vegetable, sunflower or peanut) |
| 3 | medium onions, thinly sliced |
| 1 tbsp | paprika |
| 2 tsp | turmeric powder |
| 1–2 tsp | chilli powder |
| 1 tsp | shrimp paste (optional) |
| 2–3 tbsp | fish sauce, plus extra to season |
| 400g tin of | pilchards in brine NOT ketchup (if you can’t find pilchards use tinned sardines) |
| 300g | shallots, peeled |
| black pepper | |
| To serve: | |
|---|---|
| 400g | dried rice vermicelli (0.8–1mm size), cooked, rinsed and left in cold water |
| 3 | limes, cut into wedges |
| garlic oil | |
| chilli flakes or chilli flakes in oil | |
| 6 | hard-boiled eggs, cut in half |
| coriander leaves | |
| 1 batch of | crispy chana dal crackers, broken up (see p148 of The Rangoon Sisters Cookbook) |
Method
First prepare the rice flour. Toast it in a dry frying pan over a medium heat for 3–5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Tip the flour out onto a plate and set aside.
Crush the garlic and ginger to a paste using a pestle and mortar or blitz in a food processor. Cut off and discard the first 5cm of the thin end of the lemongrass stalks and remove the tough outer layer, then bash what remains with a pestle or rolling pin to release the flavours.
Heat the oil in a large casserole dish over a medium heat. Add the sliced onions and cook until soft, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add the crushed garlic and ginger mix and stir for 1 minute, then add the lemongrass stalks.
Add the spices, shrimp paste, if using, and fish sauce and stir well. Then add the contents of the pilchards tin, including the brine. Mash the fish then add the toasted rice flour and mix well to prevent it sticking to the bottom of the pan. Top up with 1.2 litres of water and add the whole peeled shallots. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 1 hour, uncovered, stirring occasionally.
Once cooked, remove the lemongrass, add a good grinding of black pepper and adjust the seasoning with a little fish sauce.
Put some drained rice noodles into each individual serving bowl, ladle over the soup, add a squeeze of lime, a drizzle of garlic oil, some chilli, as desired, and top with boiled eggs, coriander leaves and your broken up crackers. Serve immediately.
Storage notes: The fish soup can be made in advance and stored in the fridge for up to 4 days. It can also be frozen for up to 3 months.
