Khow Suey (pronounced khao soo-ay) is a Burmese one dish soup meal. Its traditionally made with egg noodles and beef or chicken, served with a coconut curried broth. You may wonder what is so special about a simple soup. But the thing I love about this dish is the variety of contrasting condiments that is served with soup and the flexibility with flavours. These are served on the side, which you can add according to your tastes, and truly make a customised dish to call your own.
Since I'm vegan for a few weeks, this was the perfect dish to make. Minus the meat, khow suey is naturally vegan and I didn't have to sacrifice any key ingredients or taste. You can obviously add meat while making the stew for the non vegetarian version. I have to mention, though this dish is easy to make, it does have a lot of components, so please account for some prep time.
Serves 6
For the Coconut Soup:
400ml or 1 can of Coconut milk
100ml Water or vegetable stock
2 tbsp ginger or galangal
4 cloves of grated garlic
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 whole lemon grass
10 curry leaves
Juice and zest of half a lemon
1 pack of noodles (Try using thick noodles like spaghetti or egg noodles. I've used rice noodles as its vegan)
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 cup mushrooms (optional)
1 cup tofu (optional)
For the accompaniments:
You can really add any fresh herbs or veggies to accompany this dish. See my topping suggestions at the end of the recipe
1 cup fried onions
1 cup spring onions
1 cup fried garlic
1 cup bell peppers
1 cup mint leaves
1 cup lemon wedges
To begin with, boil noodles in salted water and add a dash of oil to prevent it from sticking. Once noodles are cooked, drain in a colander and run under cold water to stop them from cooking further. Drizzle a little oil incase they are too sticky. Set aside.
In a deep pot pan, on a low heat add some oil and let it heat up. Add in the ginger and garlic and sautee. Add in the curry leaves, cumin, turmeric and chilli powder. Cook for 2 mins and then add in the tofu and mushrooms. You can fry the tofu before hand if you like it firm. Cook for another minute or so. Now add in the coconut milk. Ensure the heat is on low throughout or the coconut milk may curdle. Add in the stock and the whole lemon grass. Simmer for around 10mins or until all flavours are incorporated. Fish out the lemon grass and discard. Add in salt and pepper to taste. Add in the lemon juice and zest and stir.
While the coconut broth is simmering, prep the accompaniments. Deep fry the onions and set aside. Deep fry garlic until crispy. Chop up the spring onions and peppers. Arrange all ingredients in different bowls.
To Serve:
Each guest must have a large soup bowl to call their own. You can choose to serve the noodles and sauce separately. However, I have mixed the two in one big bowl. Place all accompaniments around it in smaller bowls so that guests can add everything according to their liking. I personally would recommend that one adds all topping in their bowl...so delicious!
Accompaniment Suggestions:
If I weren't vegan I would definitely have boiled eggs and prawns as an accompaniment. Besides these I would definitely recommend having some fresh chillies or chilli flakes, coriander (cilantro), crispy fried noodles, hot chilli oil, peanut oil and sesame oil. This is ofcourse over and above the existing list of accompaniments.
