I am a big fan of Asian food in general and will use this inspiration to come up with many recipes I have tried over time. The Kaukswe (pronounced cow sway) is one of the most famous dishes to come out of Burma, its a shame, they have many fantastic dishes to offer, but I guess the names are a bit difficult to pronounce and remember. Nevertheless, this dish is very similar to the Singapore Laksa and the Khao Soi from Chiang Mai and Laos. I will be featuring these dishes too, I hope you like this one. Enjoy



INGREDIENTS
1-kg Chicken, thighs, deboned, cut in cubes
250-g Wheat egg noodles*
400-ml Coconut milk
2-tbsp. Peanut oil*
1-ltr. Chicken stock
2-tbsp. Fish sauce
1/2-cup Chickpea flour
1-cup Cold water
1-tbsp. Shrimp paste (balachan)*
Salt to taste
Paste:
2-nos. Onions, medium size
2-tbsp. Ginger garlic paste
1-tbsp. Garlic paste
2-nos. Red chillies (as spicy as you like)
1/4-tsp. Turmeric powder, or fresh
Garnish: (As much as you’d like, at least one cup worth each)
Fried onions (birista)
Boiled eggs, sliced or chopped
Peanuts, lightly crushed
Red onions, sliced
Sprouts, Mung bean*
Green chillies, chopped
Chinese Chilli oil, (hung yoa)
Tamarind paste
Fresh coriander, chopped
Green mango, thinly sliced*
Spring onions, chopped
Garlic cloves, fried*
Dried shrimp, toasted*
Lime, wedges

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PROCEDURE
Step 1 – Prep
1. Cut, wash and drain the chicken. I prefer using the thigh over the breast because its the most flavourful part of meat in the chicken. Cut the cubes to a bite size, discard the skin. Marinate the chicken with the fish sauce and keep aside.
2. Blend all the ingredients for the paste in a blender, pour some coconut milk to get the consistency to a smooth paste, keep aside. Mix the chickpea flour in cold water and keep aside.
3. Keep all your other ingredients ready to use. Now lets prep the garnishes.
4. Fry red onions in hot oil until brown or simply buy from a store, its easier. It will take about 20-mins to make birista at home. But always try (1-kg red onions, sliced + 1-ltr oil) fry on a high flame.
5. Boil the eggs for 6-mins, cool down, peel and slice or chop if you prefer. 2 persons per egg should be enough.
6. Crush salted peanuts in a zip log bag, cover with a clean dish rag, use a mallet and lightly crush the peanuts, you don’t want a powder.
7. Slice the red onions, keep in iced water if you want to take away the pungent-ness and aroma. Never keep onions too long, the absorb all the smells and bacteria in the air.
8. Make your own Mung bean sprouts or buy from the local market place. You can use any other type of sprout, to me this tastes the best.
9. Chop the green chillies, or finely mince them if you don’t like large pieces. You can deseed them before to cut down the spice or blanche them in hot water to further cut down the spice.
10. Make the chilli oil, its simple, 12 dried red chillies, grind to make flakes, keep in a bowl. Heat 1 cup of oil till it smokes, for about 2-mins, let it rest for 3-mins, pour over the flakes, cool down.
11. Liquefy the tamarind paste by adding water to it to get syrup pouring consistency.
12. Chop the coriander, slice the green mango, chop the spring onions and lime wedges.
13. Slice garlic cloves, add oil to a pan, fry until golden brown on a low heat, keep the flavoured oil for cooking another day.
14. Light toast dried shrimp in a pan until aromatic, dark brown and crisp, sprinkle a little salt to bring out the flavour.
Whew, that’s just the prep we haven’t started cooking yet. You should ideally prep all the garnishes except the fresh ones, a day before.
Step 2 – Cook
1. Add the peanut oil to a deep vessel and heat, now add the paste to the oil and fry for a few minutes. Add the shrimp paste and continue frying.
2. Add the chicken pieces and stir fry on a high heat for about 3-mins.
3. Pour in half of the stock and bring to a rolling boil, you want to thicken the sauce while the chicken cooks for about 15-mins.
4. Boil the remaining stock in another saucepan and add the chickpea flour water, stir with a wire whip to dissolve the flour and minimize lumps, cook for about 5-mins.
5.  Pour this stock into the chicken soup through a sieve to remove any remaining lumps, its a must do, there will always be a few lumps remaining.
6. Once the soup starts to boil add the remaining coconut milk and bring to a boil again. Reduce the liquid to a thick soup consistency, check for seasoning, adjust with salt, taste again.
7. Cook the noodles in boiling water until well done but not over done. About 10-mins for whole wheat noodles.
8. Serve the soup, noodles and garnishes in separate bowls, let the diners serve themselves.
Options *
1. Use rice noodles instead, or Chinese egg noodle will do too. Preferably make fresh fettuccini or spaghetti if possible, cook this for 1.5-mins, do not over cook.
2. Use regular cooking oil if you don’t have peanut oil.
3. If you don’t have shrimp paste it can be omitted but it will alter the taste.
4. Mung bean sprouts, raw mango slices, fried garlic slices and toasted dried shrimp can be omitted, but it tastes yummy.

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