Burmese Khow Suey - The Indian Way

Khow Suey is a fabulous one pot meal that never fails to impress. It’s a Burmese dish which consists of noodles, a lentil infused chicken or vegetable gravy and many toppings that add flavor to every bite of this delecatbale dish. No one makes Khow-Suey better than my mother does. Whenever I visit India, this is the dish that all my freinds want to come home to eat. Here is her “secret” recipe:

CHICKEN/ VEGETABLE KHOW SUEY

4-6 lbs boneless chicken thighs cubed / or mixed veggies like carrots, green beans and cauliflower chopped

10-12 garlic cloves

1- 2” ginger

6 medium onions

3-4 cups split yellow peas (channa dal) – soak in a pot of water for a few hours

2 cans coconut milk

Turmeric

Cayenne pepper

2 cubes chicken bouillon/ or vegetable bouillon

METHOD:

Lentils/ Daal

• In a big stockpot cover the lentils with water. Add about 4 times the amount of water as you have lentils.
• Add approx 1/2 t of turmeric powder to it (if you don’t have turmeric it doesn’t matter u can skip it)
• Boil the lentils till they dissolve, cook it on medium heat and keep skimming the scum that comes out. This takes about ½ hr
• When the lentils are cooked, puree the lentils to make it smooth and set aside.

Onion Mixture

• Heat some oil and add chopped onions, garlic and ginger.
• Cook till it browns very well – about 25 minutes
• Grind (don’t be alarmed if the mixture turns green – the ginger does that sometimes)
  

Chicken/ Vegetables

• Add about 1 teaspoon of turmeric and 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper (more if you like it spicier) and salt to the raw chicken
• Make sure the spices evenly coat all the chicken (do the same to the vegetables if you are making it veggie)
  

• Heat the ground onions mixture and add the chicken/ veggies to it
• Cook it till chicken/ or vegetables are cooked through well

• Add this chicken/ veggie and onion mixture to the pureed lentil mixture and mix it well. Heat.
• Let it cook together for about 15-20 mins and add 1-2 cubes of chicken/ vegetable stock to this and let it dissolve. Mix well
• Add about 2 cans of coconut milk to this and cook on medium heat for about 15 mins
• Mix it all well keep the heat on medium so it doesn’t burn at the bottom
• Add salt

Serve with:

• Cooked noodles or pasta (I use spaghetti)
• Crushed chips (Lays are good – or Ajnabi chips if you are in Madras)
• Lots of lemon juice
• Grated boiled eggs
• Sliced onions
• Chopped cilantro leaves
• Cayenne or chopped green chilies
  

The way you eat this dish is that you put some noodles in a bowl. Then you spoon in the khowsuey on top of it. Make sure you make it wet enough. Then you add the toppings you like – egg, onions, cilantro, chili, lots of lemon juice and you have to top it off with the crushed chips.

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