Noodles
Noodles (khaut swe in Burmese) are used so often in salads and soups that it’s hard to draw the line between a noodle dish and a salad.
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At the Oakland Burma Superstar, Daw Yee has plated countless orders of Rainbow Salad in the three years she has worked there. A perennial menu favorite, the so-called salad is made with four—four!—different kinds of noodles. That’s why it’s included in this chapter. Like Rainbow Salad, Superstar Vegetarian Noodles are also served at room temperature—like a salad. This is actually quite common in Myanmar, where even dishes like Nan Gyi Thoke, rice noodles mixed with coconut chicken curry and topped with hard-boiled eggs, can be served at room temperature. More important than the temperature of the noodle dish is its textural complexity. A good noodle dish has a combination of richness and acidity, soft noodles and crunchy fried bits.
For the uninitiated, the variety of Asian noodles on the market can be intimidating. There are not only so many kinds but also so many names for the same kind of noodle. To help make sense of it all, here’s a breakdown of noodle types. If you’re having trouble sourcing the exact noodle for a recipe, use what you can find—any kind of rice noodle will work for a rice noodle dish and any Chinese wheat or egg noodle will work for a wheat noodle dish. Chances are the flavors and textures will work just fine.
COOKING NOODLES
Be prepared for a wide range of cooking times with Asian noodles. While glass noodles are simply soaked in hot tap water, some extra-large rice stick noodles can take 12 or more minutes to cook through. Compared to wheat noodles, extra-large rice noodles expand more as they cook.
If the noodles are cooked in boiling water, rinse them thoroughly in cool running water to cool them down and keep them from sticking together. This rinsing step is especially important for any kind of noodle used in noodle salads. You can also mix in a little canola oil if you’d like; rice noodles respond especially well to this treatment. Before adding cooked rice noodles to a noodle dish or soup, soak them in lukewarm water to bring them back to life and unstick them.
Rice Noodles
Rice noodles can be either round or flat, and they are sold in various thicknesses. At the store, look for packages of dry round rice noodles, often called “rice stick,” or bun (the Vietnamese term for a round rice noodle). In this book, these round rice noodles are used in two thicknesses, thin vermicelli style and thick, chewy style.
Fine Rice Noodles: These round rice noodles are thinner than spaghetti but thicker than angel hair. They are great in soups, like Mohinga (this page and this page), and also find their way into the Rainbow Salad. These cook much faster than thicker rice noodles or wheat noodles. For brothy soups, they can be soaked in warm water until soft but still a bit firm. Then all you have to do is drain them, add them to a soup bowl, and top with boiling broth.
Extra-Large or Large Round Rice Noodles: For recipes such as Shan Noodles and Nan Gyi Thoke, look for “Jiangxi rice stick XL” or “L.” Found at stores like Ranch 99, Three Ladies Brand makes a good version. If you can’t find these round rice noodles, opt for flat rice noodles.
Flat Rice Noodles: Also called banh pho noodles because they go into pho, they’re also called pad thai noodles because they’re sold in pad thai kits, these noodles can stand in for large or extra-large rice stick noodles. They come in various widths, but medium or large work well for the recipes in this book. Annie Chun’s pad thai rice noodles are widely available and can be used in place of fine or large round rice noodles.
Glass Noodles
You might see labels that say cellophane noodles, bean thread noodles, or bean thread vermicelli, but they’re all more or less the same thing. These noodles are great served cold in salads. In this book, they make an appearance in Rainbow Salad. Burma Superstar uses glass noodles containing mung bean starch, which are more fragile than the kind of glass noodles made with sweet potato starch—those are more common in Korean dishes.
Chinese Wheat Noodles
Burma Superstar uses two kinds of Chinese wheat noodles: flat, ribbon-like noodles and thin round noodles. The flat noodles are the feature ingredient in Garlic Noodles, while the thin round ones are one of the four noodles used in Rainbow Salad. The restaurant buys flat wheat noodles fresh in large boxes labeled “wonton noodles,” and dried lo mein, but don’t get stuck on the type if it’s hard to find. For the recipes in this book that call for Chinese wheat noodles, anything from “wonton noodle” or “Hong Kong noodle” to plain old “lo mein” will work.
SUPERSTAR VEGETARIAN NOODLES
Think of this noodle dish as the vegetarian-friendly version of the Rainbow Salad, with fewer ingredients to prepare. Since it’s served at room temperature, it’s a good party dish or a noodle salad to pack for lunch. The fussiest part of making this recipe is frying the onions, garlic, tofu, and wonton wrappers. But if you happen to have Fried Onions, Fried Garlic, and Onion Oil, then all you need to do is fry the tofu and the wontons—if you want to. (Though if you find a bag of fried wonton strips at the grocery store, go ahead and use those instead.) Any neutral oil can be used in place of the onion frying oil mixed into the noodles at the end.
SERVES 4 TO 6 AS PART OF A MEAL
5 ounces baby potatoes, peeled and quartered
5 ounces firm tofu
¾ cup canola oil
½ cup sliced yellow onion
¼ cup sliced garlic
4 wonton wrappers, sliced into thin strips
12 ounces dried Chinese wheat noodles or 1 pound fresh wonton noodles
½ cup hot water
1 ounce tamarind pulp (see this page)
2 tablespoons sriracha
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced ginger
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon sugar
1 (5-inch) cucumber (or half an English cucumber), thinly sliced
½ cup thinly sliced red onion, soaked in cold water and drained
2 cups shredded green cabbage
1 cup cilantro sprigs, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons toasted chickpea flour (see this page)
Dried chile flakes
1 tablespoon Onion Oil or canola oil
1 lime, halved
Place the potatoes in a small pot, add enough water to cover, and bring to a boil. Decrease the heat to medium-low and cook until tender when pierced with a fork, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain well.
Line a plate with paper towels. Cut the tofu into ½-inch cubes. Put the cubes on the lined plate and put another paper towel over the top, pressing lightly to soak up extra water. Let sit while you prepare the other ingredients.
In a wok or saucepan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Line a baking sheet with paper towels. Add the yellow onions to the oil, decrease the heat to medium, and cook, stirring often, until the onions have evenly browned and turned crisp, about 8 minutes. If the onions start browning too quickly, turn the heat down to low. With a slotted spoon, lift the onions out and scatter on the paper towels. Set aside 1 tablespoon of the onion frying oil.
Add the sliced garlic to the remaining oil in the wok, decrease the heat to low, and cook, stirring often, until the garlic is an even golden color and nearly completely crisp, about 3 minutes. Lift the garlic out of the oil and place next to the fried onion. Add the tofu to the oil and fry until lightly golden, about 2 minutes. Lift the tofu out and place next to the fried garlic. Scatter the wonton strips in the wok (don’t add them in one clump or they’ll stick together). Fry until lightly brown and crisp, about 2 minutes. Place the wonton strips next to the tofu.
Bring a pot of water to a boil. Cook the noodles, stirring often with chopsticks, until nearly soft all the way through, about 4 minutes, or until tender but still slightly chewy. Strain the noodles into a colander and rinse under cool running water. Let the noodles drain while making the sauce.
To make the sauce, in a bowl, pour the ½ cup of hot water over the tamarind and let it soak for 5 to 10 minutes, occasionally using your hands or a spoon to mash the pulp and help it dissolve into the water. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer, pressing down on the pulp to extract more tamarind. Stir in the sriracha, minced garlic, ginger, salt, and sugar.
In a large serving bowl, combine the potatoes, noodles, cucumber, red onion, cabbage, cilantro, chickpea flour, and pinches of salt and chile flakes. Drizzle in the saved onion frying oil and squeeze the lime over the top. Fold in the sauce, followed by the fried onions, fried garlic, fried tofu, and wonton strips. Mix well and serve at room temperature.
RAINBOW SALAD
In Burmese, the original name of this dish translates to “hand-mixed salad,” which doesn’t do much to explain how gloriously over-the-top and colorful it is. There is saffron-infused rice, four kinds of noodles, cabbage, potatoes, tofu, green papaya, fried onions, fried garlic, tomatoes…you get the picture. Years ago, Joycelyn had the genius idea to rename it Rainbow Salad, and the name stuck.
It’s true that this dish has a lot of components, but as long as a balance of crunchy to soft ingredients is maintained, it’s perfectly okay to omit a few—or get creative and add bits of whatever is in the refrigerator. For instance, if out of leftover rice, skip the saffron rice—there’s no need to make rice solely for this salad. If you do happen to buy a green papaya for this recipe, use the remainder in other recipes in the book, like the Chicken Salad and the Green Mango Salad. And if you happen to have a green mango, use it instead of the green papaya. At the restaurants, one order of Rainbow Salad serves up to three people and it’s mixed tableside (with utensils). At home, it’s easier to make one large salad, mixing everything together—with your hands if you’d like—before putting it on the table. If making it ahead, leave the fried wontons out until ready to serve to prevent them from going soggy.
SERVES 6 AS PART OF A LARGER MEAL
¼ cup boiling water
Pinch of saffron threads
Turmeric (optional)
½ cup cooked jasmine rice
5 ounces baby potatoes, peeled and quartered
5 ounces firm tofu
¾ cup canola oil
½ cup sliced yellow onion
¼ cup sliced garlic
5 wonton wrappers, sliced into thin strips
1 ounce glass (mung bean) noodles
3 ounces extra-large or large round rice noodles
3 ounces fine round rice noodles
3 ounces Chinese wheat noodles
2 cups shredded green cabbage
1 Roma tomato, diced
1 cup cilantro sprigs, coarsely chopped
½ jalapeño, diced (seeds removed for less heat)
1 cup shredded green papaya (about ¼ of a small papaya)
½ cup thinly sliced red onion or shallot, soaked in cold water and drained
3 tablespoons toasted chickpea flour (see this page)
2 tablespoons shrimp powder (see this page)
1 teaspoon dried chile flakes
Salt
¼ cup Tamarind Water
Lime wedges (optional)
In a heatproof bowl, pour boiling water over the saffron. Let steep until the water has turned yellow-orange. Add a pinch of turmeric and the rice to the water and mix together.
Place the potatoes in a small pot, add enough water to cover, and bring to a boil. Decrease the heat to medium-low and cook until tender when pierced with a fork, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain well.
Line a plate with paper towels. Cut the tofu into ½-inch cubes. Put on the lined plate and put another paper towel over the top, pressing lightly to soak up extra water. Let sit while you prepare the other ingredients.
In a wok or saucepan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Line a baking sheet with paper towels. Add the yellow onions to the oil, decrease the heat to medium, and cook, stirring often, until the onions have evenly browned and turned crisp, about 6 minutes. If the onions start browning too quickly, turn the heat down to low. With a slotted spoon, lift the onions out and scatter on the paper towels. Set aside 2 tablespoons of onion frying oil.
Add the garlic to the remaining oil in the wok, decrease the heat to low, and cook, stirring often, until the garlic is an even golden color and nearly completely crisp, about 3 minutes. Lift the garlic out of the oil and place next to the fried onion. Add the tofu to the oil and fry until lightly golden, about 2 minutes. Lift the tofu out and place next to the fried garlic. Scatter the wonton strips in the wok (don’t add them in one clump or they’ll stick together). Fry until lightly brown and crisp, about 2 minutes. Place the wonton strips next to the tofu.
Place the glass noodles in a bowl, add hot tap water, and soak for 10 to 15 minutes or until softened. Drain well.
Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to a boil to cook the rest of the noodles in batches. Cook the extra-large rice noodles, stirring often with chopsticks, until cooked through, about 12 minutes. Lift the noodles out of the water with a spider and drain in a colander. Rinse under cool running water, and shake off the extra water. Transfer to a large mixing bowl. To the pot of boiling water, add the fine rice noodles and cook, stirring often, until cooked through, about 4 minutes. Lift the noodles out of the water with a spider and drain in the colander. Rinse under cool running water, and shake off the extra water. Add to the mixing bowl with the extra-large rice noodles. Add the wheat noodles to the boiling water and cook until cooked through, 4 to 8 minutes, depending on the variety of noodle (use the label for guidance). Drain the noodles in the colander, rinse under cool running water, and shake off the extra water. Add them to the mixing bowl. Drain the glass noodles in the colander and add them to the bowl.
To the noodles, add the saffron rice, potatoes, fried onions, fried garlic, fried tofu, cabbage, tomato, cilantro, jalapeño, papaya, red onions, chickpea flour, shrimp powder, and chile flakes. Season with a few pinches of salt. Drizzle in the saved onion frying oil and tamarind water. Give the salad a good stir with clean hands and taste, adding more salt or squeezing the lime over the top if desired. Serve with fried wonton strips on top for crunch.
NAN GYI THOKE
Once, while working on this book, we found ourselves at the end of a long day at a new mall development in Yangon. While malls are commonplace in the rest of Asia, this one was a first for Yangon—though it’s assuredly a sign of what’s to come. We browsed the grocery store on the ground level and then headed upstairs to encounter a lackluster food court with watery Chinese noodles. The only thing worth eating was at the next stall over, a tea shop selling nan gyi thoke. Consisting of chewy, round rice noodles lightly coated in a savory chicken curry topped with hard-boiled eggs, it was a perfectly balanced plate of noodles.
Also called Mandalay mouti thoke—a tribute to its origin city—and nan pia thoke when made with flat rice noodles, nan gyi thoke is a classic Burmese noodle preparation that leverages the richness of Coconut Chicken Curry. Make it when you have leftover curry, or make a batch of curry specifically for these noodles.
SERVES 4 AS PART OF A LARGER MEAL
3½ cups Coconut Chicken Curry
Salt or fish sauce
¼ cup toasted chickpea flour (see this page)
½ teaspoon dried chile flakes
12 ounces extra-large or large round rice noodles
1 lime or lemon, cut into wedges
1 cup sliced red onion or shallot, soaked in water and drained
½ cup minced cilantro
4 hard-boiled eggs (see this page), sliced into wedges
½ cup crispy Fried Onions
In a small pot, bring the curry to a gentle simmer. If some of the pieces of chicken are longer than an inch, chop them up and return them to the pot. Taste the curry. It should be rich and savory. Add a teaspoon of salt or a tablespoon of fish sauce if the flavors need more oomph—the noodles will be bland, so all of the seasoning has to come from the sauce. Mix in the chickpea flour and dried chile flakes. If the curry looks broken (with oil rising to the surface), don’t worry: just give the pot a good stir.
Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add the noodles and cook, stirring often with chopsticks, 9 to 12 minutes (depending on how thick the noodles are) or until tender but still chewy. If the pot starts to boil over, add a cup of cold water to temper the heat of the water. Drain in a colander and rinse well under cool running water until room temperature. Give the colander a shake to remove excess water.
Transfer the noodles to a large mixing bowl. Add the curry and combine with tongs. Taste, adding a pinch of salt or a splash of fish sauce and a couple of squeezes of lime. Stir in the red onion and cilantro.
Divide the noodles among serving bowls or plates and top each with hard-boiled egg wedges and some fried onions.
SHAN NOODLES
If you visit Yangon, chances are your guidebook will direct you to a place serving Shan khaut swe—Shan noodles. Originating in Shan State, which borders Thailand and China, Shan noodles are simple and satisfying. Some versions of these noodles are closer to pho, served in a broth with thinly sliced pork. Others are made without broth, topped with a sauce of minced pork or chicken instead—which is the version on the Clement Street menu, a staff favorite. This version, which is also the dry style, comes from Desmond’s aunt. The unifying trait of both styles is the bowl of pickled Chinese mustard greens served with the noodles, instantly up the flavor impact. If you don’t want to make your own, look for packets in the refrigerated section of Asian grocery stores.
SERVES 4
1½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into ¼- to ½-inch pieces
2 tablespoons paprika
½ teaspoon cayenne
½ teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon five-spice powder
1½ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon dried chile flakes
¼ cup canola oil
2 cups minced yellow onion
¼ cup minced garlic
1 tablespoon soy sauce
10 to 12 ounces extra-large or large round rice noodles
¼ cup crushed peanuts
4 green onions (white and green parts), thinly sliced
½ cup Pickled Mustard Greens
In a bowl, use your hands to mix the chicken with the paprika, cayenne, turmeric, five-spice powder, salt, and chile flakes. Let the chicken marinate at room temperature while you prepare the other ingredients.
In a heavy pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions have softened and the edges start to brown, 4 minutes. Stir in the garlic, lower the heat to medium, and cook 3 minutes more.
Add the chicken and cook, stirring often, until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce looks rich and deeply red (thanks to the paprika), about 7 minutes. Lower the heat if the bottom starts to darken too much. Turn off the heat and stir in the soy sauce. Taste, adding more soy sauce or salt if needed (the sauce should taste assertive because the noodles are unseasoned).
Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add the noodles and cook, stirring often with chopsticks to prevent sticking, 9 to 12 minutes (depending on how thick the noodles are) or until tender but still chewy. If the pot starts to boil over, add a cup of cold water to temper the heat of the water. Drain in a colander and rinse briefly under cool running water. Give the colander a shake to remove excess water.
Transfer the noodles to a warmed serving bowl. Pour the chicken and all of the sauce on top and sprinkle with peanuts and green onions. Serve pickled mustard greens alongside.
GARLIC NOODLES
Some form of this comfort dish is made in nearly every corner of Asia, and it has long been a popular item both in Myanmar and at Burma Superstar. While the noodles, which get their flavor from fried garlic and garlic-infused oil, are respectable on their own, some like to beef up the dish with shredded duck, barbecue pork, sautéed shrimp, or stir-fried mushrooms and broccoli. Anything goes. The trickiest part of making garlic noodles is ensuring the garlic doesn’t burn. In this recipe, the garlic is pulled off the heat and left to cool in the oil. If you want to safeguard the process a bit more, set up a heat-proof bowl with a mesh strainer. When the garlic reaches a deep golden color, pour the garlic through the strainer to stop the cooking.
SERVES 4
¼ cup canola oil
4 tablespoons minced garlic
¾ cup sliced red onion or shallot, soaked in water and drained
2 tablespoons soy sauce
½ cup sriracha
1 tablespoon minced ginger
¼ teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons water
12 ounces fresh wide wonton noodles or dried Chinese wheat noodles
1 (5-inch) cucumber (or half an English cucumber), thinly sliced
3 green onions (white and green parts), thinly sliced
In a small pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add 3 tablespoons of the garlic, set the heat to low, and fry, swirling the pot frequently, until the garlic is nearly golden in color, no more than 3 minutes. (If the garlic starts to darken too quickly, pull the pot off the heat, swirl the oil, and let the garlic continue to fry off the heat for 30 seconds before returning it to the heat.) Because the garlic can burn quickly, watch the pot the whole time while the garlic fries.
Immediately pour the oil into a heatproof bowl and let it cool. The garlic will continue to cook and turn golden as it sits. If the garlic is already golden brown before you take it off the heat and it looks like it might burn if left in the hot oil, all is not lost. Pour the oil through a fine-mesh strainer into a heatproof bowl to remove the garlic from the oil and stop it from cooking further. Once the oil has cooled a bit, return the garlic to the oil.
Add the onions and soy sauce to garlic.
In a small serving bowl, stir together the sriracha, the remaining 1 tablespoon of garlic, the ginger, sugar, salt, and water.
Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add the noodles and cook, stirring often with chopsticks, until nearly soft all the way through, about 4 minutes or until tender but still slightly chewy. Drain in a colander and rinse briefly under cool running water. Give the colander a shake to remove excess water.
Return the noodles to the pot. Pour in the garlic–soy sauce mixture and add the cucumbers. Give the noodles a good stir with a pair of tongs, then divide among bowls. Top with the green onions. Serve with sriracha sauce.
