Burmese Inspired Coconut Noodle Soup

I was inspired by a recipe for Khao Swe when I made this, but this Burmese inspired coconut noodle soup is in no way an authentic recipe as I very much have a "use what you have" mentality when cooking and, also, feel that a lot of the recipes that I read over-complicate things, so I omit or combine steps to move things along.

No matter what, this was delicious and the perfect dinner for the cold and disgustingly dank, bleak evening that it was when I made and ate it.

This made 2 generous servings

For the broth:

2 tsps vegetable oil

1/2 cinnamon stick

1/2 star anise

1/2 small red onion, peeled and sliced into half moons

1 clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped

Small piece fresh ginger (about the size of 1/2 your pinky finger), finely grated

1 Scotch Bonnet pepper

1 stalk lemongrass, whole, beaten with a rolling pin to release the flavors

2 makrut lime leaves, whole

1/3 tsp Kashmiri chili powder

1/3 tsp ground turmeric

3 cups chicken stock

1 cup full fat coconut milk

2 tsps fish sauce

Juice of 1 lime

1/2 tsp brown sugar

For the rest of the dish:

2 portions flat rice noodles, or your favorite noodles, cooked according to the instructions on the package

2 cooked chicken thighs, shredded or (as I did) shredded rotisserie chicken

hard-boiled egg, halved

chopped roasted peanuts

freshly chopped coriander

chopped spring onion

Place the oil in a large saucepan. As soon as it is shimmering, add all of the spices and aromatics to the pan and stir to combine with the oil. Cook over medium heat for a few minutes until the garlic and ginger are fragrant. Stir often so that the spices do not burn.

Add the chicken stock to the pan and lower the heat to low. Cover and let the stock come to a simmer. Let simmer away for ten to fifteen minutes to let the flavors of the spices and aromatics infuse the stock.

Pour the stock into a bowl through a sieve and press down to release any extra flavors into the liquid. Discard the remaining solids except for as much of the sliced red onion as you can find.

Return the stock to the pan. Add the coconut milk, fish sauce, lime juice and brown sugar to the pan and stir to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning, you may want more sugar or a splash more fish sauce.

Bring back up to a simmer while you prepare the rest of the dish.

While the broth is infusing, cook your noodles. They should be ready around the same time as your stock so drain them and place half of them in a deep soup bowl right at serving time.

Pour over half of the broth.

Top with half of the chicken, a hard-boiled egg, the red onion that you salvaged from the solids from the broth, green onion and coriander and some chopped peanuts for texture.

This is definitely a restorative soup. Keep the other half in the freezer (noodles, chicken and broth only) and bring it out the next time you have a cold. You will thank me.

Inspiration recipe, here.