Mohinga

Mohinga မုန္႕ဟင္းခါး @ Feel, Yangon
( with boiled egg and gourd fritters )

The epic Mohinga ( obviously ),  မုန့်ဟင်းခါး. If you haven't heard of mohinga ( which you should have because if you haven't, you haven't lived ! ), it is a Burmese traditional soup-based noodle dish. There are two ingredients which make mohinga special and different to other noodle dishes. One is the banana stem which gives it a unique crispy texture. Second is the fish which is the most vital ingredient because it makes the soup thick and rich and gives it the 'mohinga' taste. Mohinga is served with thin rice noodles/vermicelli and typically with various fries such as chickpea fritters, gourd fritters, onion fritters and so on. Coriander, mint and bean sprouts are commonly used as garnish along with a slice of lime. This delicacy is an ambiguous mix between savoury and . . . .  not-so-savoury so it's always a delight to enjoy this meal anytime of the day ( well, at least to me it is ). The recipe and taste of mohinga varies with different regions. For example, my family is from the Mon state and the mohinga tastes fairly different from the ones in Yangon. So the next time you're in Myanmar, try out the tastes of different mohinga(s)!

One of the things you take for granted living in an asian country is the abundant amount of instant noodle packets you can find everywhere. This ,however, doesn't happen in the UK. It is not rare, but you can only usually find the 'proper' ones like the thai and korean brands in big cities. The photos below are when I was in Yangon. It was 1 am and I was having jet lag so I couldn't sleep and therefore, decided to cook myself up a bowl of noodle. Because my father does seafood export, I am blessed to have these little tiger prawns readily available. Instant noodles are always fun. You can add basically everything you want to ( edible of course ). So I cleaned these prawns but I didn't remove the head as this preserves the freshness or simply because it looks good. I added some chopped asparagus and carrot and ALL you need is to turn on the TV to watch some late night shows and then sleep like a baby after this hearty midnight snack.