A little piece of home. Coconut chicken noodle soup

Memory.  The word itself is small but the meaning and the substance behind the word memory is so unbearably vast, isn't it?  Someone once asked me if I dream in Burmese or English.  I found I couldn't answer that question because not only do I not remember my dreams but because my Burmese and American identities are so immersed together.  If I am going to be really honest though, my memories of Burma and who I was then seem like a very distance memory that I keep trying to hold onto.  What I do remember are smells...smell of monsoon rain...intoxicating sense of jasmine...always present smell of food.  I sometimes wake up in the morning under my thick comforter expecting to smell the fragrance of shallots and garlic being fried in a bubbling oil over a very old and beat up wok.  There is a sense of disappointment and slow rising of home sickness that crawl up from the pit of my stomach.  That feeling is always fleeting and most of the time, I wake up thinking it to be part of a dream.  So much of my feeling toward my birth place is engulfed with my love for food.  It is the single most important part of my memories of home.  When I close my eyes to conjure up whatever fragment of my past, I smell my grandmother and mother's home cooked meals.  I hear the laughter of my mother and her sisters that never cease to bring such comfort into my soul. Their wonderful conversations of sisterhood always happen around the dinner table or around food.  As a child, I felt so lucky to be apart of this sisterhood of strength and unbreakable love.  The fact of the matter is Burmese people are just obsessed with food.  I don't think they would wake up in the morning if they knew there wouldn't be a good hearty breakfast to be eaten.  We discuss what we are going to eat for lunch while sipping our sweet morning coffee.  We plan out our tea time treats while preparing our lunch.  We make plans for dinner during our tea time.  Of course between those times, we find ourselves snacking on delicious street snacks.

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You can walk down any street and find the most delicious and freshly made food.

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If I could go back in time, I would wake up with the rising of the morning sun and walk around street market with my grandmother to shop for the day's menu.  Every morning, my little grandmother would wake up at 5 to walk to our local market.  No body can stop her.  I think cooking is such a huge part of her identity.

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If I could go back in time, I would ask those strong women of mine to teach me all that other previous strong women of theirs have taught them.  I know now that what I know of my culture is so little and what I want of my home is too much.  Almost everyday I cook Burmese food at home.  I love it when friends come over and ask for a Burmese dish I have cooked for them.  I love the excitement of all my food loving friends who circle around my stove while taking turns tasting the food right out of the pot...for you know, just to see how it tastes.  : )  I cannot explain to you the joy I feel in those moments when I feel like my grandmother or mother...for in those moments, I feel closest to them.  This dish is very special to my heart.  It is called coconut chicken noodle soup or in Burmese, Ohn No Khao Swe.  People usually make this dish for special occasions but you can find many little street vendors making this delicious soup as a breakfast item.

I have not met one person who doesn't love this soup.  If you like coconut, you will love this.  It is the perfect cold day soup.  Just like in most Asian soups, garnishes are the most essential and fun part of the meal.

I always cook myself a huge pot of this thinking it will last me a few days but somehow it is gone in a day.  I cannot tell you how many calories are in this soup but I can assure you it is not for the faint of heart. : )

Next time you feel like you don't know what to cook for the day, I hope you give this soup a try.  

Ingredients

- 1 large onion
-2 small cloves of garlic
-4 tbsp of vegetable oil
-1 tbsp of paprika
-1 tbsp of turmeric
- 1/2 tsp of Cayenne pepper <optional>
-1 lb of boneless, skinless chicken <I use chicken thighs but you can use breasts also.>
-4 tbsp of fish sauce <if you don't have fish sauce, you can use salt but fish sauce is the BOMB>
-1 can of coconut milk <not the kind that you find at the refrigerated section but the kind you can find in an Asian food section.  It comes in a tin can.>
-1 can of evaporated milk
-32 oz of chicken broth
-egg noodle

Garnish

-boiled eggs
-cilantro
-sliced shallot
-red pepper flakes
-lemon juice

Direction

Cut chicken into bite size pieces.  Finely chop onion and garlic.  Heat oil in a pot over medium-high heat then sauteed onion and garlic mixture until they become translucent.  Put paprika, turmeric and cayenne pepper into the pot and stir until fragrant.  Put chicken and cook for about five minutes.  Put a tbsp of fish sauce and mix with the chicken.  Stir in coconut milk and evaporated milk and cook for three minutes or so.  You can really smell the coconut just about now and it is like heaven.  Then pour in chicken broth and fish sauce and turn the heat down to medium-low.  Cover your pot and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes.  Season to taste.  When you are ready to eat, put the cooked egg noodle into a bowl and pour the soup over it.  Then garnish it with sliced boiled egg, cilantro, shallot, chili flaked and squeeze some lemon juice and enjoy!


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