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.

Burmese Garlic Noodles with Pork - Hsee Chet Khawk Swe

Stir-Fried Burmese Garlic Noodles with Pork

Hsee Chet Khauk Swe in the Bowl

Hsee Chet refers to the garlic oil which is used to stir-fry and garnish this dish. Pancetta is a fatty bacon that the Italians use in pasta. Like fish sauce, oyster sauce and bacon, pancetta is highly salted, so please taste the noodles before adding any salt.

Panthey Khauk Swe - Egg Noodles in Rich Chicken Curry Sauce

This noodle dish is a simplified version of Ohno Khauk Swe, more suitable for small groups of people, and influenced by the Indo-Chinese Muslim population in Burma. The chicken curry recipe provided below may be replaced by left-over Chicken Sipyan to which a cup of coconut milk is added and the gravy reduced by half. If you choose to do that, ignore Chicken Curry ingredients and skip to step 8 of Directions.

Burmese Noodles with Cilantro Pesto - Khawkswe Thoke

Khawkswe Thoke

Khawkswe Thoke & Taster's Bowl
with Garnishes

This recipe is a modified version of one I made a while back. I cut down the cilantro from one bunch to half a bunch and added a couple of more ingredients to the garnishes. Look here for the original recipe.

Burmese Noodle Salad with Cilantro Dressing

Noodle Salad with Cilantro Dressing

Taster's Bowl (bottom right) garnished with
fried onions & garlic, roasted sesame seeds,
crushed cashews and a squeeze of lime

Fish Tofu

For another variation of this recipe, take a look at Burmese Noodles with Cilantro Pesto.

The cilantro dressing is reminiscent of pesto which is usually made with basil and pine nuts. This dressing uses cilantro and cashew nuts, along with other Burmese ingredients. The salad can be eaten at room temperature, cold or microwaved for 30 seconds, just enough to take the chill off. I added fish tofu (similar to fish cake) to add some protein to the dish.

KHAWK-SWE KYAW & DUMPLING SOUP

Ingredients

Khawkswe Thoke

Khawswe Thoke

There's always plenty left over from an Ohno Khawkswe feast.

Combine the leftover noodles, chicken soup and all the garnishes (except lime wedges, roasted red chili flakes, fried onion and garlic) into the saucepan in which the soup was made, and refrigerate overnight.  This allows the noodles to absorb the gravy and the garnishes flavor the entire dish beautifully.

Make a flavoured oil. Place a Tbsp. of roasted red chili flakes, fried onion and garlic in a glass jar and fill with heated vegetable oil. This chili, onion and garlic flavoured oil is perfect as a garnish for any Burmese thoke (salad) dishes.

To serve the Khawkswe Thoke, fill a serving bowl with the noodles and heat it in the microwave. Garnish with flavoured oil, more fried onions & garlic, and a generous squeeze of lime wedges.

Enjoy!

Ohno Khawkswe

Burmese Coconut Chicken Noodle Soup

Chicken Soup 

The garnishes, clockwise from top left:
cilantro, green onions, hard boiled eggs, fried garlic,
fried onions, limes, red chili flakes.