Burmese Shan Noodles

 

Shan Noodles

Rice Noodle Dish from the Shan States of Burma.

I've never made or had this before and was pleasantly surprised at how light this noodle dish was compared to Ohno Khaukswe. No coconut milk anywhere, but delicious nevertheless.

Components are:
Rice Noodles
Chicken Curry
Chicken Broth and
Garnishes 

Chicken Corn Soup

Chicken Corn Soup

Silken Tofu in Spicy Garlic Sauce

 

Silken Tofu in 
Spicy Garlic Sauce

I love the soft, velvety texture of silken tofu. This quick and easy tofu dish is nutritious and low in fat, and is boosted with protein with the addition of ground chicken. Every time we bring home ground chicken, I brown the chicken and freeze smaller portions so that it's ready to cook when I need it. Silken tofu absorbs the flavour of any sauce it's cooked in, much more easily that firm tofu. This tastes good with hot, steamed long-grain rice.

Chicken and Scalloped Potato Casserole

Chicken & Scalloped Potato Casserole

It's time again to pamper Grandboy #2, it being Thursday today. I told him it was a lasagna because all three grandboys have let us know they don't like 'casseroles'. 

Plated

Just one slice was filling enough for dinner, accompanied by a salad and chips. It was an interesting experiment and pleasantly surprising that there was enough to make two casseroles. 

Scalloped Potato Pie

The second pie went to a neighbour who is a great help to us and is himself a chef. Hope he enjoys it.

A Slice of Pie

It's pretty amazing that this casserole took just a few ingredients. Any ground meat can be used; to keep it light, I used ground chicken. The chicken can be cooked and seasoned using your own recipe. I chose to use store bought marinara sauce in keeping with the 'lasagna' theme. The next time I make this, I'll be sure to line my bread pan and pie dish with parchment paper to make it easier to invert. Halve the ingredients if you wish to make just one casserole.

Hsee Kyet Khauk Swe - Burmese Garlic Noodles

Burmese Garlic Noodles

My earliest recollection of Hsee Kyet Khauk Swe is of our school cafetaria that served this occasionally. Two or three of our friends would pool our lunch money to buy food to share family style. Hsee means oil, Kyet means cook and Khauk Swe are egg noodles. These noodles were boiled and stir-fried in oil and a lot of garlic. I added minced chicken and 3 forms of garlic.

Fresh garlic was used up front with sliced onions and browned, and minced chicken. Garlic oil was used as a garnish along with deep fried garlic. Half a head of shredded iceberg lettuce, fish sauce and toasted chickpea flour were some of the other ingredients in this dish.

Ground Chicken and Eggplant Stew

Ground Chicken & Eggplant Stew

I came across a picture of this dish on Facebook, but the recipe had not been added at the time, so this is my take on the dish. Eggplant is a favourite vegetable and combining it with ground chicken sounded too good to pass up. I added diced potatoes because that's what Bengalis do...add potatoes to everything!

Chicken Kababs

Chicken Kababs

These kababs take some time and effort to make so it's a good idea to make a big batch. They freeze well in ziploc bags and can be reheated by placing the frozen patties on a frying pan over low heat just prior to serving. It makes a good first course with salad or raita.

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

A favorite among children, this light and simple meal is fun for them to assemble and hold in their little hands. It’s also easy to brown the chicken and mix the sauce beforehand and cook just before serving. For children this works as a main course, but for adults this probably would work better as an appetizer for dinner or as a main course for a light lunch.

Ingredients:

1 lb. minced chicken

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. hoisin sauce
¼ tsp. sesame oil
1 can water chestnuts, diced

6-8 button mushrooms, diced
12 leaves Boston or Romaine lettuce

½ cup roasted almonds or peanuts, chopped
2 green onions, sliced thinly
salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Separate lettuce leaves, rinse and pat dry with paper towels.
2. Whisk 1 tsp. oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce, hoisin sauce and sesame oil together until thoroughly combined.
3. Add remaining oil to a non-stick skillet on medium heat, and cook chicken thoroughly for about 20 minutes, until browned.
4. Add sauce to chicken in pan along with water chestnuts and mushrooms.
5. Season with salt and pepper to taste and simmer for 2 minutes.
6. Remove from heat and transfer to a serving dish.
7. To serve, place 1-2 Tbsp. chicken in a lettuce leaf and garnish with nuts and/or green onions.

Laksa Soup with Minced Chicken Stir-Fried With Hoisin Sauce

Chicken Laksa Soup & Fresh Spring Rolls

My last post described how I made the fresh spring rolls. The two bowls of chicken laksa soup, pictured above, were made with ramen noodles the same way as Shrimp Laksa Noodle Soup. This tasted better than my Ohno Khaukswe, according to my husband. 

You can swap out the shrimp for chicken & shrimp dumplings with julienned Malabar spinach.

Fresh Spring Rolls with Minced Chicken Cooked in Hoisin Sauce

Fresh Spring Rolls

My big sister, Rene, taught me to make these fresh spring rolls.  They are easy to make if you place a lettuce leaf on the softened rice paper because the lettuce helps the roll keep its shape. 

Fresh Spring Roll Ingredients

These are made with minced chicken stir-fried with hoisin and oyster sauce. Note that no salt is added to the chicken because the oyster sauce is salty enough. They make a great, quick & easy lunch especially served with a soup such as my Minced Chicken Laksa Soup.

Ingredients: (makes 4 rolls)

1/2 lb. (8 oz.) ground chicken

4 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1 onion, minced

1 can water chestnuts, minced

1 tsp. garlic paste

2 Tbsp. hoisin sauce

1 tsp. oyster sauce

1 tsp. dark sesame oil

2 stalks green onions

4 sheets dried rice paper

1 cup cold water

4 Romaine lettuce leaves, trimmed to smaller than size of rice paper

1/2 cup sweet chili sauce for dipping

Directions:

1. Stir-fry the minced chicken & onions in hot vegetable oil until chicken is no longer pink.
2. Add garlic paste, hoisin and oyster sauces, and water chestnuts, and stir-fry for 2 minutes.
3. Stir in sesame oil and sprinkle green onions over the chicken.
4. Remove from heat and bring to room temperature.
5. Pour cold water into a flat dish and line a plate with a paper towel.
6. Slide a rice paper into the water, wetting both sides of the rice paper.
7. Blot each side of the rice paper on the paper towel, making sure to handle the rice paper gently so it doesn't tear.
8. Lay a lettuce leaf on the softened rice paper along with 1 Tbsp. chicken.
9. Roll two opposite sides of rice paper (left & right sides) over the filling and begin rolling tightly from bottom to top.
10. Repeat steps 6 to 9 with other three sheets of rice paper.
11. Serve with sweet chili sauce.

For a visual tutorial on how to make fresh spring rolls, watch this video posted on YouTube by Sav Le of EatNowCryLater.

Chili Chicken

Chili Chicken
(with ground chicken)

GrandBoy #3 spent the evening with us last week and we had 'walking tacos' made with ground chicken. 'Walking tacos' are a salad of taco meat, shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, julienned cucumbers, mild salsa, et al, that are mixed well with crushed doritos. Each person is handed a package of doritos which is crushed in the bag. The chips are topped with taco ingredients and mixed well right in the bag. The idea is that each person is able to walk around and enjoy the bag of 'walking tacos'. It's a great on-the-go dinner that is fun to eat.

There were only three of us for dinner that day, so there was half a package of ground chicken left that I froze to use later. The entire package of ground chicken was browned with onions, garlic and tomatoes, and at that point half went into the 'walking tacos' and half was frozen.

Today, all I had to do was add the sauces, peppers, green onions and quickly stir-fry it for dinner.

Ohno Khauk Swe Made Easy

Coconut Chicken Soup

Lunch is Ready!

My bowl of Ohno Khauk Swe

I've made this meal many times and usually follow the recipe used by my family. You may notice that it's not a simple preparation, so this time I made several modifications to simplify the process. First of all, I planned ahead and did the shopping earlier in the week. Two nights before, after making sure that the ground chicken and chicken thighs had been refrigerated to thaw overnight, I made the onion-garlic-ginger-chili paste and refrigerated that also. The night before, I prepared the soup to which I made one time-saving change. Instead of roasting the half-cup of chickpea flour used to thicken the soup, I cooked half a cup of red lentils (masoor dal) in two cups of water and added it to the soup along with the coconut milk towards the end. This not only saved a whole lot of time, but also added a lovely flavour and creaminess to the soup. It also lightened the soup so it was not as rich as in the original recipe. On the day of the lunch, all I had to do was heat the soup, cook the noodles and prepare the garnishes. Using ready-made deep fried onions and garlic are further time-saving ways of simplifying the preparation of this meal.

Ground Chicken with Chickpeas & Potatoes

Keema Cholay

There are so many ways to prepare keema curry, but this one is really delicious because of the addition of Shan Pulao/Biryani mix, which is available in Indian grocery stores throughout the United States & Canada.

There's lots of texture in this main dish because of the ground chicken & chickpeas/garbanzo beans. Hubby requested this some weeks ago - it worked out so well!

Mayz' Taco Salad

Mayz spent the evening with us last week and on the way home I asked him, 'What is the most interesting thing you ate since we last saw you?' and he thought about it for a while and replied, 'Taco Salad!' With a vigorous nod of his head he said, 'It was very good!' He had it at home, his Mama made it and he gave me a list of everything in it. What he liked best about the Taco Salad were the Nachos that were crushed and mixed in with everything else.

This recipe is dedicated to Mayz, who is GrandBoy #2, age 6.

Chicken Keema & Cabbage - Ground Chicken & Cabbage

An easy chicken curry made with ground chicken and shredded cabbage that tastes great as a stuffing for pita pocket sandwiches or served over steamed Basmati rice.

Ground Chicken Stew with Chayote Squash

A one-pot meal/stew of
ground chicken & chayote squash

This one-pot meal is quite typical of the way the Burmese people make stew. All the ingredients are dumped into a skillet and simmered until the oil resurfaces and chicken & vegetables are cooked.

Laab Gai - Thai Chicken Salad

1st Try

2nd Try

The picture on the left is my first attempt at making a Thai chicken salad and it turned out to be really easy to make and delicious! The sliced shallots are not visible in the salad because I served them on the side in deference to those of my guests who do not like onions in the raw.

On the right is my second attempt at making this salad and is garnished with sliced shallots.

The left-over salad was combined with a package of mung bean noodles (kya zan or glass noodles) that were soaked in hot water for ten minutes. This naturally neutralized the seasonings so the juice of one lime, 2 tablespoons of fish sauce and salt were added. It was delicious and made for a great lunch! 

Chicken Keema Mattar - Ground Chicken with Peas and Potatoes

There are so many ways to prepare keema curry, but this one is really delicious because of the addition of Shan Pulao/Biryani mix, which is available in Indian grocery stores throughout the United States & Canada.

Burmese Stir-Fried Chicken with Peppers

Ground chicken is stir-fried with red, orange and yellow peppers and served with rice and a salad for a quick meal.

  

Chicken Corn Soup

The little red dot is a drop of Sriracha chili sauce

This is one of my family's favourite soups to order at a Chinese restaurant, so here is my take on it. It is a popular item on Chinese menus in Kolkata, India and can also be found at Indo-Chinese Hakka restaurants in Toronto, Canada, where the signs often call out 'Calcutta style Chinese food'.