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Mohinga (Burmese Fish Noodle Soup)

Name: Mohinga (Burmese Fish Noodle Soup)
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 40 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Burmese
Ingredients: 600 g White fish; 400 g Thin rice noodles; 2.5 L Water; 5 tbsp Oil; 2 Onions; 6 cloves Garlic; 30 g Ginger; 3 stalks Lemongrass; 1 tsp Turmeric; 4 tbsp Fish sauce; 1 tsp Shrimp paste; 200 g Bamboo shoots; Salt; 60 g Chickpea flour (besan); 2 tbsp Toasted rice powder; 4 Hard-boiled eggs; Split-pea fritters; Cilantro and spring onion; Onion; 2 Limes; Chili flakes and fish sauce

Myanmar's national dish: finely flaked fish simmered with lemongrass and turmeric into a broth thickened with toasted chickpea flour, ladled over thin rice noodles. The contrast between soft noodles and crisp fritters, boiled egg, raw onion and lime is the whole point — and in Myanmar it's breakfast.

Ingredients

6servings

White fish · catfish is canonical; mackerel or cod also work600 g
Thin rice noodles · vermicelli thickness400 g
Water2.5 L
Oil5 tbsp
Onions2
Garlic6 cloves
Ginger30 g
Lemongrass · blend the tender part, bruise the rest whole3 stalks
Turmeric1 tsp
Fish sauce4 tbsp
Shrimp paste · for local ngapi (fermented fish paste)1 tsp
Bamboo shoots · stands in for banana stem; can be left out200 g
Salt · to taste
Body (this is what makes it mohinga)
Chickpea flour (besan) · must be dry-toasted first60 g
Toasted rice powder · optional, adds nuttiness2 tbsp
Garnish (without it, it isn't mohinga)
Hard-boiled eggs · halved4
Split-pea fritters · local pè kyaw; fried garlic or any crisp fritter works
Cilantro and spring onion · generous
Onion · thinly sliced, raw
Limes2
Chili flakes and fish sauce · added at the table to taste

Steps

Simmer the fish in 2.5 L water with the bruised lemongrass stalks, one halved onion, a few slices of ginger and salt for 20 minutes. Lift the fish out, discard skin and bones, and flake the flesh finely. Strain and keep the broth.
⏲ 25 min
Dry-toast the chickpea flour in a pan over medium-low heat for 5 minutes, until it darkens a shade and smells nutty. **Skip this and the broth tastes of raw flour.** Let it cool.
⏲ 5 min
Blend the tender lemongrass, garlic, ginger and remaining onion into a paste. Fry it in the oil for 8 minutes, until the raw smell is completely gone.
⏲ 10 min
Add the flaked fish, turmeric and shrimp paste and fry 3 minutes to coat.
⏲ 3 min
Pour in the strained broth, add the bamboo shoots, and simmer 15 minutes.
⏲ 15 min
Whisk the toasted chickpea flour into 300 ml of the broth until lump-free, **pass it through a sieve**, then add it gradually while stirring. Simmer 10 more minutes until the broth clings to noodles but still pours. Season with fish sauce.
⏲ 15 min
Cook the rice noodles separately, rinse in cold water and drain. Never boil them in the broth — they fall apart and cloud it.
⏲ 5 min
Put noodles in each bowl and ladle the hot broth over. Top with halved egg, a fritter, cilantro and raw onion, and squeeze over the lime. Chili flakes and fish sauce go on at the table.

Tips & Variations

Variations

Vegetarian mohinga: Leave out the fish and fish sauce and build the broth on dried mushrooms and kombu. It holds up better than you'd expect, because the chickpea-flour body and nuttiness are still there.
If you can find banana stem: Southeast Asian grocers stock it. It has a faintly astringent bite that bamboo shoots can't replicate, and it's part of the original.
A heavier broth: Two extra tablespoons of toasted rice powder takes it toward the thicker southern Burmese style.
Chicken mohinga: Some regions use chicken instead of fish. You lose the distinctive fishiness but it's easier to source.
Shortcut: Tinned mackerel cuts step 1 to 15 minutes; use shop-bought fish or anchovy stock for the broth.

Tips

Toast the chickpea flour, sieve it, and add it gradually. Untoasted it tastes of raw flour; dumped in at once it clumps. The two most common failures in this dish both live in that one step.
Flake the fish and strain the broth. You want fish dissolved through the whole bowl, not chunks rolling around in it.
Give the lemongrass paste the full 8 minutes. Under-fried, it leaves a grassy rawness in the broth.
Never cook the noodles in the broth. Boil them separately, rinse, and ladle the broth over in the bowl — which is exactly why street stalls keep the two apart.
The garnish is half the dish. Soft noodles and thick broth against crisp fritter, boiled egg, raw onion and lime acid — that contrast is mohinga. A perfect broth with no garnish isn't finished.
In Myanmar this is breakfast. It's widely called the national dish and stalls sell it all day. The broth deepens overnight, so making it the day before is a real advantage.

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