Different garnishing for Oil rice(Si-htamin)

Please refer to the following link for making of oil rice (si-htamin) recipe.

oil rice (si-htamin) recipe

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Burmese classic breakfast - Moh hin gha

Burmese classic breakfast - Moh hin gha is the popular breakfast frequently served up by at the road side stalls or by mobile street hawkers from house to house on a bamboo pole balanced across his/her shoulders. This rice noodle with fish broth is one versatile light meal which we can have it at any time of the day. The ideal fish for moh hin gha would be cat-fish! As for me, i would rather make full use of ready-made fish powder for convenience of cooking moh hin gha . I'm quite sure, you too can try this recipe at home. Try it and let me know how it goes....OK? :)

Cooking Time : 60-70 mins

Serves: 6-8

Main Ingredients

1. 75 g toasted chick-peas powder, dissolves in water
2. 200 ml coconut cream
3. mixtures of garlic, red onions and lemon grass, pounded
4. sections of fresh banana heart(banana stem), sliced and soaked in turmeric dissolves water
5. fish powder (ready-made)
6. 15-20 small red onions or shallots, peeled

Quick notes:

• Add 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder into a large bowl of water.
• Remove the fibre (thread like portion ) from the banana stem and chop it finely.

Soak the chopped pieces in turmeric dissolves water for about 10 minutes.

Ready-made fish powder

I use the ready-made fish powder from the brand name Myaung Mya Daw Cho. They also produce ready-made dried rice noodles to go with fish broth. All you need to do is to simmer the dried noodles in a pot of boiling water until it turns into soft texture. Then drain off the excess water before serving the noodles in a bowl with the fish broth. This brand is easily available in Burmese shops at Peninsula Plaza in Singapore. If you are not residing in Singapore, you might want to order from Burmese on-line stores. There are a few of them from UK, US and Australia.




Quick and Easy fish broth recipe

1. Simmer the sliced banana stem in a pot of boiling water for about 7-10 minutes. Then remove the sliced banana stem from the pot to drain off the excess water.  

  
   2.   Add 4 medium-sized bowls of water into a cooking pot to boil.

   3.   Pour in the chick-peas liquid and give it a quick stir. Uncovered and let it  
         boil for about 5 minutes.

chick-peas powder, dissolves in water

  
  4.   Add coconut cream to the mixture and stir well.

Keep stirring until the liquid thickens.

  
  5.   Add mixtures of red onions, garlic and lemon grass, and stir well.

  
  6.   Add the fish powder to the mixture and give it a continuous stir for 4-6 minutes.

Simmer for another 10-15 minutes

    7.  Add seasonings to taste (salt and Ajinomoto).   
   
    8.  Add small onions and let it simmer for a further 5 minutes before adding in the  
         boiled  banana stem. 

Stir in the onions and banana stem

  

Uncovered and leave the fish broth to simmer until the the onions and banana stem are tender.

 
Garnishing and toppings

1. chopped coriander leaves or parsley
2. lemon or lime
3. chilli flakes
4. boiled eggs, quartered
5. fried gourd or fried chick-peas

To serve:

First, fill the soup bowls with noodles, then pour the fish broth and add whatever garnishes and toppings you wish to add before tucking in.

In this recipe, i would not be using all of the toppings but only some.

Usually when we cook moh hin gha at home for our family members or for our guests, these garnishes and toppings are placed in small bowls and plates for people to choose from.

I prefer to serve moh hin gha  in a bowl as it would bring out the best taste because the noodles are soaking in the fish broth and absorbing the flavour. And  these slices of tender banana stem give an interesting texture and exotic flavour to our Burmese classic breakfast - Moh hin gha !!!!!!!  :):)))

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Pe Pyote from a cheerful street vendor

Yesterday, i went to one of the Burmese shops to buy 1 packet of boiled yellow beans (pe pyote) as i was yearning for the Burmese breakfast which is rice with pe pyote . Pe pyote is one versatile ingredient that can make many types of dishes, such as fried rice and salad. You also can have pe pyote with paratha or with Nan. These are popular breakfast items in Myanmar and people usually have these with sweet milky tea or coffee. I do not like milky tea or coffee. I usually would have these with hot burmese tea (chinese green-tea).

Ok with that aside, i recalled one of my fond memories, pleasant and sing-song voices of pe pyote vendors calling out " Pe......Pyote " in the early morning in Yangon. So this is how i came to an idea of writing up my today blog post with the illustration of a cheerful pe pyote vendor :):)

Please excuse me for my lousy drawing :)
I can't draw but i also can't stop myself from wanting to illustrate these cheerful, resilient and generous Burmese street vendors. So here is my drawing as you can witness my very much limited talent :D

They are the wake-up call vendors with heavy basket or tray balanced on their head as they walk many miles to sell off their stuff early in the morning. With such a heavy load on their head, sweat streaming down from their forehead, most of them never fail to put on a genuine smile even when customers tried to bargain or asked for extra portions. Usually, you would see two large strips over the cheeks of women vendors. That is Burmese make-up which is also known as ta-na-ka. It acts as a sun-block. Well, maybe next time i will blog about ta-na-ka so do remember to visit my blog again, ok :) Thanks!

Rice with pe pyote in crispy garlic and oil

Step 1: Sprinkle salt, add 1 tablespoon of crispy garlic and oil to the rice.

Step 2: Add 2 tablespoons of pe pyote.

Step 3: Mix well!

Enjoy!

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Oil Rice (si-htamin)

For people in Myanmar, popular local breakfast items include coconut noodle, fish soup noodle, steamed sticky rice and fried rice with peas. Of course there is a wide variety of other local breakfast delicacies. Oil rice (si-htamin) is one of the popular Myanmar breakfast items. I am sharing this recipe with you on my blog as i believe anyone can follow this simple recipe of si-htamin. Hopefully, you will try making this in your own kitchen :)

Serves : 3-4
Preparation Time : 20-25 minutes

Ingredients
150g glutinous rice
1 large red onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons pounded dried shrimps
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
3 tablespoons oil
1 cup warm water
a pinch of salt to season

Method

1. Wash the glutinous rice and then leave to drain the glutinous rice.
2. Heat oil in the saucepan.
3. Add the onions to the hot oil and stir until they are soften.
4. Add the pounded prawns to the mixture and sprinkle turmeric powder. Give it a stir until they are lightly golden brown.
5. Remove the mixture from the saucepan.
6. Add the glutinous rice to the remaining oil and sprinkle salt. Give this a quick stir.
7. Add water just enough to cover the glutinous rice. Cover and let it cook for about 15-20 minutes on low heat. Once the rice is cooked and totally absorbed the water, then it is ready to serve.
8. Garnish the si-htamin with the mixture of fried onions and dried shrimps before serving them.

In fact, you can also use freshly grated coconut for garnishing. Either way, this is one yummy, quick and simple breakfast to go with a cup of hot burmese tea.

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Stir-fried noodles with pork

Serves : 3-4

Cooking Time : 10-15 minutes

Ingredients

2 pieces of beancurd, diced

1 average sized carrot, cut into long vertical slices

a handful of shredded cabbage

a handul of chopped spring onion

1 packet baby corn, cut into smaller pieces

3 eggs, beaten

2 small garlics, finely chopped

300g Hokkien mee

240g minced pork, marinated with turmeric powder (1/4 tablespoon), a pinch of salt and light soya sauce ( 1/2 tablespoon)

1/2 tablespoon sesame oil

2 tablespoons oil

seasons to taste

Minced Pork ( sorry, forgot to take picture:D)

Method

1. To soften up the noodles, soak them in the lukewarm water for a few minutes. Then drain thoroughly.

2. Heat oil in the wok over moderately high heat before adding in garlic and stir till it turns lightly golden. Remove the garlic from the wok and set aside.
3. Add all the vegetables and stir-fry untill they are softened before removing them from the wok.

4. Add marinated minced pork to the remaining oil and give it a stir till it turns white.

5. Add noodles and quickly spread them out to the edges of the wok, and then pour in the beaten eggs and mix thoroughly. Cook it for about 2-3 minutes.

6. Add all the ingredients back to the wok and stir thoroughly.

7. Add seasonings to taste and serve it hot :)

Stir-fried noodles can be a quick and easy weekend breakfast or lunch since most of the preparation done in advance and it takes a few minutes to stir-fry.

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