The Hirshon Burmese Curried Chicken Noodle Soup – ခေါက်ဆွဲ

Ingredients

• For the gravy:
• 2 ¼ pounds organic chicken breast, washed and cut into bite-size pieces
• 3 cups thick coconut milk
• ***
• Combine in a blender or food processor:
• 3 finely chopped onions
• 2 tablespoons garlic paste
• 1 tablespoon ginger paste
• 2 inch stalk lemongrass, finely minced
• 1 teaspoon microplaned lime zest
• ¾ teaspoon turmeric powder
• 2 tbsp freshly grated or dried coconut
• Sufficient chicken stock to make a paste
• ***
• 2 jalapeños, chopped fine
• 1 ½ teaspoons coriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• ½ teaspoon cardamom seeds
• 4 dried red chiles (I use chiles de arbol)
• 1 tablespoon hot paprika
• 3 tablespoon chickpea (aka gram) flour
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil
• Salt to taste
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce, TFD prefers Red Boat brand
• 1 ½ cups low-salt or homemade chicken stock
• Crushed black peppercorns to taste
• 1 tablespoon Palm sugar or brown sugar
• ***
• To serve:
• 500 grams of egg noodles
• Chunks of freshly-cut limes
• ***
• For the toppings:
• Fried onions
• Finely chopped shallots
• Finely chopped scallions, just the greens
• Finely chopped and fried potato straws
• Finely chopped and fried garlic
• Fried peanuts
• Fried coconut slices
• Ground peanuts
• Finely chopped mint
• Finely chopped coriander
• Finely chopped chiles, red and green
• Finely chopped boiled eggs
• Finely chopped Chinese pickled mustard greens
• Garlic oil (from frying the garlic)
• Sesame oil
• Fish sauce
• Basil oil

Instructions

1. Grind together onion, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, lime zest and turmeric powder into a fine paste.
2. Heat a large non-stick pan or pot. Once the pot is hot, work quickly and add the cumin seeds, coriander seeds, cardamom seeds and dried red peppers. They’ll immediately start sputtering and will brown quickly so give it a constant stir and remove from heat once they become fragrant.
3. Grind to a powder in a spice grinder.
4. In the same pot, add oil and when very hot add combined ginger/garlic paste, the jalapeños and the gram flour, and sauté well for 5-6 minutes.
5. When the onions are fully translucent, add the chicken and fry till the chicken gains some color.
6. Add all the ground spices, sauté 5 minutes or so, then add the coconut milk and allow to simmer for 20 minutes or till the chicken is cooked.
7. Add stock, mix and cook further, whisk well. Add salt, sugar and crushed peppercorns and mix well, bring to a boil.
8. Add salt to taste and stir in the fish sauce. Cook for another minute or two. Cover and set aside.
9. To serve:
10. Place the noodles or rice in a dish.
11. Top with the chicken gravy.
12. Add toppings as per taste. And finally, but most importantly - add a big squeeze of lime to each serving.