Name: West Coast Mohinga
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: Myanmar (Burma)
Ingredients: About 3 tablespoons fish sauce; 1 tablespoon peanut oil; About 2 tablespoons Shallot Oil or Garlic Oil; 2½ to 3 pounds fresh rice vermicelli or thin rice noodles (flat or round) or 1½ pounds dried rice vermicelli or narrow dried rice noodles; 2 teaspoons fish sauce; About ¾ teaspoon white or freshly ground black pepper; ½ teaspoon shrimp paste (ngapi); ½ cup chopped coriander; About 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped galangal; One 1¾- to 2-pound whole fish such as carp, trout, or snapper, or several smaller fish, cleaned and scaled; ⅛ teaspoon salt; 5 inches banana stem, peeled, sliced, soaked in cold water for an hour, and drained (optional); Green Chile Paste (optional); ¼ cup hot water; About 3 tablespoons Toasted Chickpea Flour (optional); ¼ teaspoon turmeric; 5 cups water; 2 tablespoons peanut oil; Generous ¼ cup dried red chiles; 1 heaping tablespoon tamarind pulp, cut into chunks; 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped garlic; ½ cup hot water

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Burma

By Naomi Duguid

Published 2012

About

Rakhine State is known for its spicy cuisine. More chiles and chile powder are used in dishes and even more chile pastes are out on the table as condiments. This version of mohinga is a good example.

Here fish is poached to make a broth, then the flesh is lifted off the bones, flaked, lightly fried in turmeric-flavored oil, and served on top of the noodles. The mohinga can be served with all the suggested extras, or you can simplify and omit some.