San Pyoke - Burmese Congee

 

San Pyoke

This congee or rice porridge brings back memories of our childhood in Rangoon, Burma (now known as Yangon, Myanmar). Rice is cooked for hours in water or chicken broth until silky and creamy and it's the most comforting thing to have when sick in bed with the flu. Here I have made a basic congee using catfish nuggets then garnished with celery leaves, pickled mustard leaves, tomatoes and balachaung, a dried shrimp condiment.

Egg-Topped Glass Noodles Soup

Egg-Topped Glass Noodles Soup

Fall is in the air which fits the bill for hot and soul-satisfying soups for lunch. All the left-over bits of vegetables and tofu from the fridge form the base for this meal in a bowl. 

Egg Adds More Protein

My preference for glass noodles over egg noodles lies in its make-up. Glass noodles are made from mung beans whereas egg noodles are made from wheat so there are less carbohydrates in the former. Tofu is high in protein and low in fat which makes it an excellent choice for this meal, but any form of protein works in the soup.

Fast & Easy Prep

The ingredients for the soup were previously chopped and left over, making it really easy to dump into some chicken broth. The glass noodles simply need to be soaked in boiling broth and cut with scissors into smaller lengths directly in the saucepan. I used triple-washed baby spinach, kale and other greens that came prepped from the store. To add some more flavour, the egg was beaten with a touch of chicken bouillon powder before topping the soup.

Thai Tom Yum Goong - Hot & Sour Shrimp Soup

Thai Hot & Sour Soup

Bowl of Tom Yum

The inspiration for this soup came from a friend on Facebook asking for a Hot & Sour Soup recipe which led me to Closet Cooking. We had it for lunch for lunch today which along with an egg roll each, made for a filling and satisying meal. Because some of the ingredients were missing from my pantry, I had to make some modifications so I've described, below, what I did to reproduce the recipe.

The hot part of this soup came from a combination of minced green chilies and gochujang, a Korean chili paste that I love! The sour aspect came simply from the juice of one lime. I dropped the squeezed out rinds of lime into the soup and fished them out before serving. This made up for the absence of lemon grass. 

Mung Dal-er Khichuri - Mung Beans Lentil Stew

Mung Dal-er Khichuri for Lunch

Khichuri is a lentil stew that is usually made with lentils and rice. I spied a South Indian pongal preparation on Facebook that combined lentils with oatmeal which appealed to me because I have to watch my carbohydrates. The resulting khichuri, which I made with split mung bean lentils and oatmeal, was thick and creamy and totally yummy!

Mung Dal-er Khichuri for dinner

For dinner we had the khichuri topped with Cajun-grilled fish fillet and hard boiled eggs.

Vegetable Khichuri - Vegetables, Rice & Lentil Stew

Vegetable Khichuri
Garnished with Deep-Fried Onions

Vegetable Khichuri 
Garnished with Eggs

Khichuri made with eggplant and green beans. First rice and lentils were cooked with ginger and garlic pastes, salt and touch of turmeric. Diced green beans and diced tomatoes were added when rice and lentils were cooked. In a separate pan, cubed eggplants were fried with more ginger and garlic, onions and tomatoes and a pinch of hing. This was poured over the khichuri and served with eggs and deep-fried onions.

Burmese Bottle Gourd Broth - Buthi Hinjo

Buthi Hinjo

Burmese meals almost always include a bowl of Hinjo (soup) or Hinga (sour soup). These soups are composed of different vegetables in very light and clear broth. Unlike a soup course in a Western meal, Hinjo is not served as a first course. It is sipped throughout a Burmese meal because it serves to wet and cleanse the palate so that the distinct tastes of salty, sour, bitter or sweetness can be better enjoyed. Water is rarely served at a Burmese table; Hinjo is served in its place.

Ingredients (makes 4 servings)

3 cups water + 2 cups chicken broth (vegetarians use 5 cups water)

1 tsp. shrimp powder (vegetarians use 1 heaped teaspoon julienned nori)

1 Tbsp. fish sauce (optional)

1/2 bottle gourd/lauki, peeled and cubed (seedless cucumber works too)

1 small onion, diced

1 cup romaine lettuce, shredded

salt to taste

Lime, cut in wedges

2 green onions, sliced thin

Directions

1. Divide lettuce and green onions between 4 bowls & set aside.
2. Bring water and chicken broth to a boil and turn heat down to med-low.
3. Add remaining ingredients and simmer until lauki is soft.
4. Ladle soup over lettuce in the 4 bowls (lettuce will wilt in hot broth).
5. Serve with wedges of lime.

Rice & Lentil Stew with Flaked Fish

This is the beginning of March with no end of winter in sight! It’s the perfect weather for this rice & lentil stew.

Khichuri, a Bengali one-pot-meal once considered comfort food for the poor, is now a delicacy served during the monsoon or rainy season when the weather turns considerably cooler. Core ingredients are rice and lentils but vegetables, eggs, poultry or meat are added according to taste. I decided to experiment by adding fish to the mix. It tastes wonderful!

Tilapia is commonly available in supermarkets around here and even though I prefer them cut into steaks, filleted tilapia generally makes it to the table because hubby prefers to eat fish without having to be bothered with the bones. Fillets are fine, except that the stomach half of a fillet is a useless waste of space in a gravy or curry. That end of the fish generally disintegrates completely because it's not firm enough to withstand simmering or stewing. So this part of the fish fillet can be blanched, flaked and used the same way packaged tuna is used. In this case, I have added it to this rice and lentil stew, which is just perfect for a winter's day.

Burmese Hsan Pyoke With Meatballs (Congee or Rice Porridge)

Yield: Serves 6   

Prep Time: 5 minutes 

Total Time: 30minutes 

Hsan Pyoke (English translation is Rice Boiled) is a recuperative comfort food for wet/cold weather or when someone is recovering from an illness. I used day-old short-grained, steamed white rice which I've used to make fried rice, as well. This is a quick version of the same soup I made a short while ago, except this time I had all the vegetables on hand, the soup was made in under half an hour, the minced chicken was replaced with meatballs and the soup base was made with a teaspoon of Ajinomoto instead of dried shrimp.

Ingredients

2 cups rice

5 cups water

2 Tbsp. dried shrimp (or scallops), diced

   or 1 tsp. Ajinomoto

10-12 meatballs, quartered

1 heaped Tbsp. ginger, julienned or paste

2 cups diced carrots, celery, onions and peas

Salt to taste

Garnish:

Cilantro, chopped

Deep fried onions & garlic
Coarse Salt*

Lime or lemon juice

                                                                                          

Directions:

1. Cook rice and water until rice is very soft.
2. Add dried shrimp or Ajinomoto, salt and vegetables.
3. Stir well and simmer until vegetables are very soft.
4. Add meatballs & ginger; simmer uncovered to gruel consistency.
5. Adjust salt to taste, remove from heat and pour into serving bowls.
6. Garnish with cilantro, fried onions & garlic, coarse salt, sesame oil & a squeeze of lime.

** Coarse Salt, or Muoi Tom in Vietnamese, is a garnish that contains the following ingredients: Salt, Chilli, Dried Shrimp and Garlic. It tastes great sprinkled on soups, noodles, rice & butter/ghee, lentils or on buttered toast.

Vietnamese Coarse Salt and Ingredients

Burmese Hsan Pyoke (Congee or Rice Porridge)

Yield: Serves 6   

Prep Time: 5 minutes 

Total Time: 45 minutes + overnight

Hsan Pyoke (translated in English to Rice Boiled) is a recuperative comfort food for wet/cold weather or when someone is recovering from an illness. I used left-over steamed white rice from the Chinese restaurant, which I've used to make fried rice, as well. The package of frozen vegetables contains diced carrots, onions, peas, celery and potatoes.  Cooking rice the night before and leaving overnight at room temperature gives this soup a smooth and creamy texture. The minced chicken in this recipe can be omitted or replaced with flaked catfish, salmon or imitation crab and the chicken stock can be replaced with vegetable stock or plain water.

Khichuri - Rice & Lentil Soup

This is the perfect soup for a cold and rainy or snowy day. Equal portions of rice and mung and/or red lentils along with a variety of vegetables (cauliflower & potatoes are a must) are fried with spices and onions before being cooked long and slow at a simmer. It is garnished with hard-boiled eggs, a wedge of lemon and deep-fried onions.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup red lentils, washed and drained

1/4 cup mung dal, washed and drained

1/2 cup Basmati rice, washed and drained

1/4 cup wheat berries*, washed & drained (optional)

1/2 pkg Freshlike frozen vegetables

2 russet potatoes, chopped small

1/2 cauliflower, cut in florets

4 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1 cinnamon stick

4 green cardamoms

6 cloves

1/4 tsp. cumin seeds

1/4 tsp. fennel seeds

1/4 tsp. paprika or Kashmiri mirch powder

1/4 tsp. cumin-coriander powder

1/8 tsp. turmeric

salt to taste

2 onions, chopped fine

1 green chili, chopped fine

2 Tbsp. grated coconut, unsweetened

1 tomato, chopped fine

1 tsp. ginger paste

1/2 tsp. sugar

1 lemon, cut in wedges

4 hard-boiled eggs, shelled and chopped

1/4 cup deep fried onions

2 tsp. ghee

Directions:

1. Wash rice and lentils, soak in water and set aside.
2. Add eggs to a pan of cold water and boil for 10 minutes.
3. Remove pan from heat, cover eggs and set aside for 10 minutes.
4. Drain eggs and cool, remove shells, chop and reserve for later.
5. Heat oil over high heat in a large saucepan.
6. Fry cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and star anise for 2 minutes.
7. Transfer cardamom, cloves and star anise to a stainless steel tea ball or tie in a cheese-cloth and set aside.
8. In same oil, sputter cumin and fennel seeds.
9. Add 2 Tbsp. deep fried onions, chopped onions, grated coconut and green chilies and fry until onions turn translucent.
10. Add tomatoes, turmeric, paprika and cumin-coriander powder and stir-fry for 2 minutes.
11. Stir in frozen and fresh vegetables and fry until vegetables are well coated with the rest.
12. Add rice and lentils, salt to taste and stir well until thoroughly combined.
13. Add 8 cups of boiling water along with tea ball with spices and simmer until potatoes are cooked and soup is reduced by half.
14. Adjust salt to taste and stir in ginger paste, sugar and ghee.
15. Ladle soup into bowls and garnish each with chopped eggs, deep fried onions and juice of one lemon wedge.

Khichuri with a side of pan-fried eggplant

* Wheat berries are grains of whole wheat. They are pre-packaged and sold in Indian grocery stores and are used in a dish called Haleem. Because everything in this soup becomes really soft and merges together, the wheat berries give a surprising texture and bite to this dish.

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'. 

KHAWK-SWE KYAW & DUMPLING SOUP

Ingredients