About this recipe
Mohinga is the dish most often named when people talk about a Myanmar national dish: a bowl of thin round rice noodles in a savoury, faintly peppery fish broth, eaten above all at breakfast from markets, street carts and roadside pots across the country. The broth is built from freshwater fish (catfish is common) simmered with lemongrass, ginger, garlic, onion and turmeric, then thickened and given body with toasted chickpea flour and ground toasted rice, and often with tender rings of banana stem. Cooks finish each bowl with crunchy fritters, egg, coriander and lime, and every eater seasons to taste. It is widely associated with Bamar cooking and eaten nationwide, with regional and household versions that differ in fish, thickness and garnish; those variations, and the national-dish claim itself, are logged here for verification rather than asserted.
Recipe facts
- Yield
- 6 servings
- Prep
- 40 minutes
- Cook
- 1 hour
- Total
- 100 minutes
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Spice
- Mild (heat added to taste at the table)
Allergens Contains fish, shellfish (ngapi and/or dried shrimp), egg and, in the fritters, legumes and gluten. Contains fish sauce. Not vegetarian. See the halal-status field.
Development draft. This is an untested development recipe from the cookbook project. It has not been kitchen-tested, and the quantities and timings are the author’s working draft rather than a verified result.
Ingredients
The fish and broth
- 1 1/2 lb (680 g) catfish or another firm freshwater/white fish, whole or fillets
- 10 cups (2.4 L) water
- 3 stalks lemongrass, bruised and knotted
- 1 tsp (3 g) ground turmeric
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) fish sauce, plus more to taste
- 1 tbsp (15 g) ngapi (fermented fish or shrimp paste), optional but traditional
- Salt, to taste
The aromatic paste
- 2 large onions, roughly chopped
- 6 cloves garlic
- 2 in (5 cm) fresh ginger, chopped
- 3 tbsp (45 ml) neutral oil
- 1 tsp (2 g) paprika, for colour
The thickeners and body
- 1/2 cup (60 g) chickpea (gram) flour
- 1/4 cup (45 g) raw rice, for toasting and grinding
- 2 cups tender banana stem, thinly sliced and held in acidulated water (optional, traditional)
To assemble and garnish
- 1 1/2 lb (680 g) thin round rice vermicelli, cooked and drained
- 4 hard-boiled eggs, halved or sliced
- Split-pea or gourd fritters (bought, or fried from a chickpea-flour batter), for topping
- 1/2 cup chopped coriander
- 3 scallions, sliced
- Crispy fried onions and garlic oil
Table condiments
- Lime wedges
- Dried chilli flakes
- Fish sauce
Equipment
- Large stockpot
- Blender or mortar and pestle for the aromatic paste
- Small dry pan for toasting chickpea flour and rice
- Fine sieve
- Frying pan for the fritters
Method
- Simmer the fish in the 10 cups water with the lemongrass and turmeric until just cooked, about 10 minutes. Lift out the fish, reserve the broth, and when cool flake the flesh, discarding skin and bones.
- Toast the chickpea flour in a dry pan over medium heat, stirring, until it smells nutty and turns a shade darker, 3 to 4 minutes; tip out. Toast the raw rice until deep gold, then grind to a coarse powder.
- Make the paste: blend the onions, garlic and ginger to a purée. Heat the 3 tbsp oil in the stockpot, fry the paste with the paprika over medium heat until soft and fragrant and the raw smell is gone, 8 to 10 minutes.
- Add the flaked fish to the pot and stir for a minute, then pour in the reserved broth. Whisk the toasted chickpea flour with a cup of cool water until smooth and stir it in, along with the ground toasted rice.
- Add the ngapi (if using), fish sauce and the banana stem, and simmer 20 to 30 minutes, stirring now and then, until the broth is thickened, cloudy and well flavoured. Season with salt and more fish sauce to taste.
- Fry the fritters if making them: drop spoonfuls of a seasoned chickpea-flour batter (with split peas or grated gourd) into hot oil and fry until crisp and golden; drain.
- To serve, put a nest of cooked rice vermicelli in each bowl, ladle the hot broth over, and top with egg, a fritter broken over the top, coriander, scallion and crispy fried onions.
- Serve with lime, chilli flakes and fish sauce so each person can finish the bowl to taste.
From the foundations
The book pairs this recipe with the following, from the sauces, sambals and pastes that open the collection.
The Complete Edition
Mohinga sits in the Myanmar chapter
The book carries this recipe in full alongside the rest of the Myanmar chapter, the pastes and dips it is built on, and the twenty-seven pantry studies that open the collection.
In review with Amazon KDP
Both editions have been submitted to Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and are currently in review. Submitted prices are $9.99 for the kindle edition and $49.99 for the paperback. Neither is on sale yet, and prices are as submitted rather than final.