Khow Suey

After cooking up a storm 6 nights a week, my kitchen closes down for an evening and we like to go out to eat as a family and have a good time. But more often than not, we end up going to Indian restaurants in spite of loving so many different cuisines. The reason being that most cuisines focus largely on non vegetarian food and there are 1 or 2 bland dishes on the menu in the name of vegetarian food (mostly raw or steamed vegetables ).

I’ve had numerous instances where a vegetarian meal served to us, upon close inspection, turned out to be non vegetarian. If you add chicken stock to a vegetable soup, is it still vegetarian? The answer is ‘NO’. If you add gelatin to a dessert, is that dessert vegetarian friendly? “NO” again. And if you are making me a vegetarian sandwich using a knife that you used seconds ago to cut meat…..I don’t know about you but it’s not vegetarian in my humble opinion. So finally, after a lot of mishaps followed by apologies (on their side) and guilt and disappointment (on my side), we decided to eat out at only select few places. It makes us look finicky and fussy to others  but it’s a lot better than harassing the poor server (about options that don’t exist) or our friends (by taking forever to place a simple sandwich order).   When my friend ‘D’ (Thank you ‘D’) told me about “Khow Suey” a Burmese dish, I knew I will have to recreate it at home only because a vegetarian option in a restaurant might be next to impossible. Little did I know that I was getting a recipe that will hold a permanent place in my repertoire. It’s a perfect dish to make for a large gathering where people can make their own bowl of goodness from the ingredients laid out in front of them. The smooth and silky coconut gravy full  of nutrient-rich vegetables is served with noodles and topped with various toppings of your choice. Here are my toppings:

Browned onions and garlic and Spring onions Roasted peanuts and chopped cilantro Roasted panko bread crumbs Lemon wedges and chili oil You can go all out on the number and kinds of toppings you want. You have my permission. So put on your aprons and let’s go..

Yum

Khow Suey

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Yield: 3-4 people

Ingredients

For the gravy
• 400 gms. finely cubed parboiled vegetables ( I used carrot, zucchini, broccoli, baby corn, cauliflower, French beans and capsicum)
• 8 oz. extra firm Tofu
• 1/2 cup onion
• 3 big cloves of garlic
• 1.5 inch ginger
• 4 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 can (13.66 fl. oz.) or 400 ml coconut milk
• 2 tbsp. gram flour
• 3/4 tsp. turmeric
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 2 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3 cups of water
• black pepper powder
• zest of 1 lemon or 2 inch chopped lemon grass
For noodles
• 2 cups boiled Hakka or egg noodles
• 100 gms. rice noodles
• 1 tsp. oil
For the toppings
• 3 spring onions
• 5 big cloves of sliced garlic
• 1 big onion sliced
• 3-4 wedges of lemon
• 1/2 cup crushed roasted peanuts
• 3-4 tbsp. chili oil
• 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
• chili flakes
• freshly chopped cilantro

Instructions

1. Grind together onion, garlic and ginger into a fine paste.
2. Take oil in wok and add the sliced onions to it. Let it brown. Keep aside.
3. In the remaining oil, add sliced garlic. Let it brown. Keep aside.
4. To the remaining oil, add panko bread crumbs and sauté till brown.
5. To the remaining oil (about 2 tbsp.)add the paste and cook till it oozes out oil.
6. Add salt, turmeric powder, sugar, chili flakes and black pepper.
7. Add gram flour and mix well.
8. Add 1 cup of water, few tablespoons at a time and whisk it well so that no lumps are formed.
9. Add coconut milk and let it boil.
10. Add the remaining water and all the vegetables and cook well until soft.
11. Add tofu 5-7 minutes before switching off the stove.

12. Bring water filled saucepan to a boil. Add Hakka noodles to it and cook it as per the instructions or until soft but not mushy. Strain the noodles (save the hot water), add 1/2 tsp. oil and mix well. Keep aside.

13. To the hot water, add the rice noodles and let them stand 10-15 minutes or until soft. Drain them. Add remaining 1/2 tsp. oil to the noodles, coat well and keep aside.

14. To Assemble: Either keep all the elements on a table and let people serve themselves or place the boiled noodles in a bowl. Pour the gravy over. Top it with toppings of your choice.

15. Don't forget to drizzle that chili oil.

Notes

1. You can use rice along with the noodles as an added option. 2. All tsp. and tbsp. are measuring spoons. 3 If lumps form after adding water to your gram flour paste, sieve the mixture. 4. If you don't have chili oil, take few tsps. oil and add whole red chilies to it. 5. You can reduce the quantity of coconut milk as per your liking.

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