Recipe: Mohinga – Vegetarian version with banana stem

Mohinga is a traditional Burmese noodle soup, and it is considered the national dish of Myanmar. The soup is usually made with fish and fish sauce, but this recipe is vegetarian and does not contain fish.

Mohinga is sometimes served for breakfast, but it can be enjoyed at any time of the day. The dish is often sold by street vendors, but it is also a popular dish to order at restaurants or to cook at home.

One of the key ingredients is the rice noodles, which is made from rice flour and water. The noodles used for mohinga are thin and round, and have a slightly chewy texture, that goes well with the soup.

Recipe & Notes from Chef Nge Nge, Borderline Tea Garden Restaurant & Cafe in Mae Sot

Banana stem: Some Asian grocery stores will have banana stem in stock, but if you cannot find banana stem, you might have more luck finding banana flower, which can also be used. Other alternatives with slightly similar texture are palm hearts and zucchini.

Mushroom vegetarian sauce: We are using vegetarian mushroom sauce (Healthy Boy Mushroom Vegetarian Sauce, a brand from Thailand) but if you don’t have mushroom sauce, you can use soy sauce or oyster sauce (not vegetarian).

Rice flour: We are using rice flour to thicken the soup, but you can use any kind of thickener you like. If you don’t have rice flour in your pantry, you can use corn starch or regular wheat flour instead.

Pe Kyaw: In Myanmar, mohinga is often garnished with long beans, boiled egg, cilantro and Pe Kyaw, which is a thin cracker made with yellow split peas. I will try to get the recipe next time I am visiting Borderline Collective. If you don’t have pe kyaw, you can serve the soup with pita bread or naan bread.

If you are following the recipe in Mo Mo & Bo Bo’s Kitchen (the cookbook from Tea Garden at Borderline Collective), please be aware that it is slightly different from the recipe featured here (both instructions and ingredients. This is chef Nge Nge’s modified version.

Buy Mo Mo & Bo Bo’s Kitchen – A Burmese cookbook with notes on culture and kitchen >>

Recipe: Mohinga – Vegetarian version

Recipe by Chef Nge Nge – Tea Garden in Mae Sot

Course: Dinner, Lunch, Recipes, SoupsCuisine: Myanmar

Servings

4

servings

Mohinga is sometimes served for breakfast, but it can be enjoyed at any time of the day. The dish is often sold by street vendors, but it is also a popular dish to order at restaurants or to cook at home.

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Ingredients

• 1 cup 1 yellow split peas, dried

• 8 oz 8 dried rice noodles (rice vermicelli, thin round noodles). Approximately 4 cups cooked noodles.

• 7 cups 7 water

• 3½ oz 3½ banana stem

• 2 stalks 2 lemongrass

• A small piece of ginger (~1 inch)

• 3 cloves 3 garlic

• 2 2 small shallots (for the paste)

• 2 teaspoon 2 paprika

• ¼ teaspoon ¼ turmeric

• 1 teaspoon 1 salt

• 1 teaspoon 1 sugar

• ½ cup ½ vegetable oil

• 1 tablespoon 1 mushroom vegetarian sauce

• 4 tablespoons 4 rice flour + a little water to mix

• 5 5 small shallots (for the soup)

• For garnish

• 4-6 4-6 long beans

• ½ cup ½ fresh cilantro

• 2 2 hardboiled eggs

• Pe Kyaw (Burmese yellow split pea crackers)

• 1 1 lime

Directions

• Soak the yellow split peas in plenty of water overnight.
• Drain the peas. Add 7 cups of water to a large pot and boil the split peas until soft (~ 30 minutes, depending on what kind of split peas you are using).
• While the split peas are cooking, boil the rice noodles according to the instructions on the package.
• Prepare a bowl with water and a pinch of salt. Peel the outer, tough layer of the banana stem and cut the stem into thin slices. Keep the sliced banana stem under water, so it does not turn dark. Do not use the innermost part, as it tastes very bitter.
• Soup Base
• Slice the lemongrass. We only use the lower, light green, part of the stalk.
• Cut the ginger into small pieces.
• Crush the garlic cloves (you can use the blade of a chef’s knife).
• Cut the 2 shallots to be used for the soup paste
• Grind the garlic, lemongrass, ginger and shallots into a coarse paste using a mortar and a pestle.
• Add paprika, turmeric, salt, sugar and vegetable oil to the paste.
• Transfer to a skillet and fry for a couple of minutes. Then add the mushroom sauce.
• Soup
• When the split peas are soft, add banana stem and the paste to the pot with split peas and water. Bring to a boil and let simmer for a while.
• In a small bowl, mix rice flour with a little water (4-8 tablespoons) to make a mixture to be used to thicken the soup.
• Add the rice flour thickener to the soup.
• Cut the shallots into halves or quarters and add them to the soup.
• Chop the long beans into small pieces.
• Cut the eggs into smaller pieces.
• When the soup is ready (nice thickness, split peas soft), add most of the boiled egg (but save a little for decoration). Place the noodles in portion-sized bowls and pour the soup over the noodles.
• Garnish with the rest of the egg, chopped long beans, lime slices, cilantro and pe kyaw.

Recipe Video