Cherry & Dennis Helper Habitat
Burmese Ohn No Khao Swe Chicken Noodles
緬甸椰汁雞麵
Recipe overview
Ohn No Khao Swe is a Burmese coconut chicken noodle soup, combining turmeric chicken, coconut milk and stock thickened with chickpea flour, then served over egg noodles with lime, coriander and fried shallots.
01
Ingredients
Main ingredients
- 500 g Skinless boneless chicken thighs
- 500 g Fresh egg noodles
- 400 ml Coconut milk
- 600 ml Unsalted clear chicken stock
- 40 g Chickpea flour or toasted yellow-pea flour
- 180 g Onion
- 4 cloves Garlic
- 20 g Ginger
- 1 Lime
- 20 g each Coriander and fried shallots
Chicken marinade
- 2 tsp Fish sauce
- 1 tsp Ground turmeric
- 1/8 tsp White pepper
Chickpea-flour slurry
- 120 ml Water
Soup seasoning
- 1 tsp Paprika
- 1 tbsp Fish sauce
- 1 tsp Sugar
- as needed, up to 1/4 tsp Salt
Aromatic cooking oil
- 1 tbsp Cooking oil
02
Tools
- Two chopping boards and chef’s knife
- Large and small mixing bowls
- Lidded heavy soup pot
- Noodle pot and fine sieve
- Whisk and ladle
- Probe thermometer
03
Steps
Step 1
Separate raw chicken preparation
Wash your hands and set out separate raw-meat and vegetable boards; knives, plates and gloves used for raw chicken must not touch cooked noodles or garnishes.
Step 2
Cut and marinate the chicken
Cut chicken thighs into even 2.5 cm pieces, pat dry, mix with all chicken marinade ingredients, cover and refrigerate for 10 minutes.
Step 3
Cut aromatics and garnishes
Finely chop the onion and grate garlic and ginger; cut lime into wedges and chop coriander, keeping both with the fried shallots for serving.
Step 4
Mix the chickpea slurry
Add chickpea flour gradually to 120 ml water and whisk until completely smooth with no dry lumps, then whisk it again immediately before use.
Step 5
Cook the onion base
Heat oil in the heavy soup pot, cook onion over medium heat for 5 minutes until soft, then add garlic, ginger and paprika for 1 minute without burning.
Step 6
Brown the marinated chicken
Add the marinated chicken and stir over medium heat for about 4 minutes until every side changes colour and picks up the aromatics, then clean raw-chicken items.
Step 7
Add stock and coconut milk
Pour in chicken stock and scrape up the flavour from the pot base, then stir in coconut milk and heat only until small bubbles appear without a rolling boil.
Step 8
Gently simmer the chicken soup
Reduce to medium-low, cover with a small gap and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring twice so the coconut milk neither catches nor separates.
Step 9
Verify the chicken temperature
Insert a probe into the centre of the thickest chicken piece; it must reach 75°C, or simmer for 2 minutes at a time and recheck before continuing.
Step 10
Thicken with the slurry
Keep the soup at a gentle simmer and slowly pour in the slurry while whisking, then cook for 3 to 4 minutes until it lightly coats the back of a ladle.
Step 11
Cook noodles and season
Cook egg noodles separately for the package time until just tender, drain into four bowls, then season the chicken soup with fish sauce, sugar and only enough salt.
Step 12
Assemble the coconut noodles
Ladle chicken and hot coconut broth over the noodles, scatter coriander and fried shallots, and serve with lime wedges; offer chilli oil separately if wanted.
Common mistakes
- Adding chickpea flour straight to hot soup creates dry lumps that are difficult to remove.
- Letting coconut soup boil hard makes it split and lose its smooth texture.
- Cooking egg noodles in the soup for too long makes them swollen and leaves too little broth.
- Judging chicken only by its surface colour instead of checking 75°C does not prove safe doneness.
Tips
Mix chickpea flour or toasted yellow-pea flour with cold water until smooth before it reaches the soup. Flour brands absorb differently, so loosen an overly thick broth with hot stock a little at a time. Serving garnishes separately keeps fried shallots crisp and lets everyone adjust sourness and heat.
