Kyasan chet, vermicelli cook
Posted by: Fats in: Takaw at Sursur!
Yangon, like Manila, is a city that serves food in every nook out in the streets. But what really amazed me were those little tables and chairs that make up the Burmese tea shops. The fancy restaurants are definitely no match in terms of price or taste to street food in Yangon.
I’ll never for get lunch, kyasan chet or “vermicelli cook”, which was served with akyaw son (vegetables fried in batter). The vermicelli came with a spoonful of chilli powder and it was up to the customer whether or not to dump it all into the soup. Below is the recipe for kyasan chet, from the book by Mi Mi Khaing. Enjoy!
(Top photo: lunch with friends in Yangon, 2004)
Kyasan chet
Ingredients, main dish:
- 2 1/2 lbs dry transparent vermicelli
- 1/3 cup dried mushrooms
- 1/4 cup dried flowers (buds of dry day lily)
- 3 lbs chicken
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 8 pints water
- 1 large grated coconut
- 3 tsp garlic chips
- 1 1/2 tsp ginger powder
- Large pinch turmeric
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1/3 cup oil
- 2 cups minced onion
- 1 tsp chilli powder
- 3 eggs
- 1 to 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 1/2 cup chopped spring onion greens
Small accompaniments:
- 6 eggs
- 1/2 cup chopped garlic
- 1/2 cup oil
- 1/2 cup chilli powder
- 6 limes
- Tongchai (pickled chinese radish)
Soak vermicelli in water. Soak mushrooms and dried flowers separately.
Clean chicken and disjoint it. Set aside giblets. Rub the rest with half the pepper and boil in 6 pints water for 15 minutes.
Extract coconut milk. Use about 4 cups hot water altogether.
Moisten garlic chips. Remove chicken from pan, take off meat and cut it small. Cut giblets small. Rub all with ginger, turmeric, and salt, and set aside. Return bones to pot and reboil.
Heat oil. Put in onion, garlic, and chilli, and fry until fragrant. Put in chicken, stir, and cook til oil begins to look clear.
Strain stock into pot and let simmer. Clean vermicelli and cut into short lengths. Clean mushrooms and flowers of debris. Shred mushrooms slightly smaller, and know flower stems after removing hard knob at base of each stem. Put vermicelli into pot. When it swells, put in flowers and mushrooms. When it boils again beat in 3 eggs, stir briskly so the eggs cook in fine shreds. Add coconut extract, then add fish sauce until saltiness is correct. Add remaining pepper and finely chopped spring onion greens. Keep hot.
To prepare accompaniments: Beat up 6 eggs, add a pinch of salt, heat 1 tbsp oil, and fry as an omelette. When cool, cut in strips. Peel garlic and chop finely. Heat rest of oil till cooked ; fry garlic golden. When oil is cooked pour over garlic. Roast chilli pepper. Cut limes into wedges.
Serve main dish in a big tureen. Supply soup bowls for eating and put the egg strips, fried garlic, chilli powder, lime wedges, and Chinese radish on the table in small dishes.
