Shan Khauk Swe (Shan Noodles)

Shan is one of the states in Burma bordering China, Thai and Laos. Their regional food has different types of noodles that are well known throughout the country. This dish is originally from there but I got to taste it when my sister was visiting us and she cooked for us. We loved it so much that I have been making this few times after her visit.

There are different versions of this dish and is usually served with some chicken broth soup and sour mustard greens. This is a dry version and I usually eat it by itself as it does taste pretty good on its own. During her time living in Loikaw (capital of Kayah State, neighboring state of Shan), my sister got this recipe from a lady that sells these noodles. 

 

Shan Khauk Swè (Shan Noodles)

Serves: 4
Preparation Time: 40 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
For Gravy
2 pounds Tomatoes – slit a cross-shape just through the skin with a sharp knife, at the bottom of each tomato
1 teaspoon Salt
1 pound Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast
3 tablespoon Soy Sauce (adjust to taste)
3 tablespoon Oil
8 cloves of Garlic – crushed or finely chopped (about 2 tablespoons)
1/8 teaspoon Turmeric Powder
4 teaspoons Red Chili Powder (adjust to taste)
2 tablespoons Tomato Paste
2 teaspoon Fish Sauce (adjust to taste)

Other Ingredients:
1 pound fresh Vietnamese Flat Rice Stick Noodle (Banh Pho)
1/2 pound Chinese Greens (Yu Choy) – discard few inches off the bottom; cut into 2 inch pieces and wash well
1/2 cup Roasted Peanuts – coarsely grounded
4 teaspoons Soy Sauce (adjust to taste)

Directions:

1. In a pot big enough to fit all the tomatoes; fill it with 1 cup of water and add salt. Stir and add the tomatoes, cover the pot and bring it to a boil. Once water comes to a boil, cook for about a minute or two, just to loosen up the skin but not to cook the tomatoes.  Remove from heat, pour out the water and leave the tomatoes to cool uncovered.
2. Meanwhile, chop the chicken into as small as you can or about less than 1/4 inch pieces. It will look almost like minced chicken. Add 2 tbsp of soy sauce mix well and keep aside. (I find that partially frozen chicken is easier to work with when chopping it.)
3. When the tomatoes are cool, remove the skin and discard. Cut the tomatoes in half and remove as much seeds as possible without removing any pulp. Discard the seeds, chop the tomatoes finely and keep aside.
4. Heat a pot with oil over medium heat. Once hot, add garlic, turmeric powder, chili powder and cook for few seconds till fragrant. Be careful not to burn the garlic.
5. Add chicken, increase heat to high and cook stirring frequently until all chicken pieces turns opaque and it starts to release water. Stir for few more seconds and add chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, fish sauce and the remaining 1 tbsp of soy sauce.
6. Stirring occasionally, cover and cook over medium heat for about 10 to 15 minutes until all tomatoes are crushed and the oil starts to separate from gravy. You should not need any water but if it is too dry, add some water. Turn off the heat and is ready to be served.

How to serve:
Have all ingredients ready before serving. You will have to work with one serving batch at a time.

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil. The pot should be big or deep enough with enough water for noodles to be dipped in with a noodle-strainer or any strainer that you will be using.
2. Once water comes to a boil, place a handful of Chinese greens into the strainer and dip the strainer in the boiling water for about 10 to 20 seconds for the greens to wilt.
3. Remove strainer from water, place a big handful of noodles into the strainer. Dip the strainer in boiling water for 3 to 5 seconds. Noodles will cook right away and you don’t want to overcook them, so work quickly.
4. Place the cooked noodles along with the greens to a serving bowl. Ladle couple scoops of chicken gravy on top. Top it up with peanuts, crushed chili and 1 tsp of soy sauce (adjust to taste) and serve immediately.
5. Mix everything before eating.

Note:

• If you cannot find the fresh noodles, dry noodles will work as well. Soak them in cold water for couple hours and cook as mentioned above.
• Since vegetables take little longer than noodles, start with vegetables and add noodles. However, they both can be cooked separately but having vegetables at the base while cooking noodles will help with not overcooking the noodles. 
• If noodles are all over the place and not able to fit neatly into the strainer while cooking, remove from boiling water and make sure that they are not dipped into water while gathering them.  
• Make gravy spicy enough so that you don’t need to add more chili at the time of serving. If not, serve with toasted crushed red pepper.

Akha Murgi (Whole Chicken Curry)

Akha Murgi is a special occasion dish that I grew up eating. It is not a difficult dish to make but does require a little preparation. I got this recipe from my sister and this is my first time making it. It turned out better than expected. The chicken was falling apart tender and moist. The taste was little sweet and savory at the same time. This brings back good old memories.

Traditionally, it was cooked on stove top and heated charcoals were placed on top of the pot to give even heat from top and bottom. Dough from wheat flour is also used, to seal the edges of the pot so that it is air tight and no steam will escape. Technically, it is not a curry because it is prepared without much gravy. It is somewhat in between curry and a roast. I’ve made few changes by using oven for cooking, foil for sealing the pot and made it with a bit more gravy (more like curry) since I’m not preparing many other dishes to accompany this. Serve with some rice, naan and light salad.

 

 

Akha Murgi (Whole Chicken Curry)

Serves: 4
Preparation Time: 30 to 40 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Marinating Time: 2 hours to overnight

Ingredients:
1 whole skinless chicken – 3 to 4 lbs
1/2 lb baby potato – boiled - divided
3 eggs – boiled and shell removed -divided
Few drops of yellow food coloring
3 tablespoons of clarified butter (ghee) or butter -divided
3 tablespoons of oil -divided
1 1/2 to 2 medium onions – chopped
Whole spices (4 cardamom pods, 2” cinnamon stick, 2 bay leaves, 4 cloves, 1 star anise, 5 pepper corns)
3 tablespoons of raisins
3 tablespoons of whole cashew nuts

For marinate:
1 inch ginger – peeled and cut in pieces
9 cloves of garlic
4 Thai chilies or 1 Serrano pepper – roughly chopped (adjust to taste)
4 teaspoons cumin seeds – rinsed with water and drained
3 tablespoons white poppy seeds – lightly toasted
10-15 cashew nuts – grind to powder
Few drops of yellow food coloring or few strands of saffron soaked in 1 tbsp of water
1 tablespoon coriander powder
1 1/2 teaspoon garam masala powder
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt to taste

Directions:

1. Remove any innards from the chicken, rinse with cold water inside out and pat dry with paper towels. Poke the chicken gently with sharp knife in few places. Don’t over poke the chicken as it might fall apart when cooked. Just poke a little, here and there.
2. In a food processor or blender grind ginger, garlic, chili, cumin and poppy seeds to a fine paste. Transfer the grinded paste to a big pot or container and add the remaining marinate ingredients and adjust according to taste.
3. Add chicken to the marinate paste, rub all over inside and out with the marinate paste and let it marinate overnight or at least 2 hours in the fridge.
4. When ready to cook, rub the boiled potatoes and boiled eggs with yellow color. Stuff, 2 to 3 of the potatoes and 1 boiled egg into the cavity of the marinated chicken.  Cross the chicken legs, tie with a string and tug the wings.  If there is chicken neck attached, tug it into the cavity. Tie the whole chicken with one long string, wrapping across few times starting from the legs all the way up to the wings. This will prevent the chicken from falling apart to pieces while cooking. Set this aside.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
6. Heat an oven proof pot large enough to hold the chicken, on medium high heat and add 1 1/2 tbsp butter and 1 1/2 tbsp oil. When hot, add whole spices and stir. Add chopped onion and pinch of salt and stir. Continue to cook stirring occasionally until onions are slightly brown.
7. Add the chicken along with marinate paste. Reduce heat to medium low, cover and cook for few minutes. Every few minutes, stir and flip the chicken few times. Do this for about 2 to three times.  If chicken it not oozing out any water, or if it is too dry, add little water.
8. Once chicken is lightly browned on all sides, seal the pot with aluminum foil, cover with the lid and bake it in the preheated oven, for total 1 hour.
9. Meanwhile, in a small skillet, heat the remaining 1 1/2 tbsp of butter and sauté raisins and cashew nuts on low heat until cashew nuts are light golden color. Remove from pan and drain on paper towel.
10. In the same skillet, add the remaining 1 1/2 tbsp of oil and fry the remaining potatoes and 2 boiled eggs till golden brown on all sides. Drain on paper towel and keep aside.
11. After 40 minutes of baking the chicken, remove from oven and add fried raisins, cashew nuts, potatoes and eggs to the pot. Stir once, seal and put back in the oven and continue cooking for the remaining 20 minutes.
12. Serve with Naan or Paratha, Pulau (rice) and Salad.