Where does Ohn No Khao Swè Come From
This delicious chicken coconut soup recipe comes from Myanmar (formerly Burma), a country bordered by India, Bangladesh, China, Laos and Thailand. However, many of these other Southeastern Asian countries have their own similar takes on this recipe. I got the idea for this recipe from one of my attending (supervising) physicians who happens to be an expert in this type of cuisine.
What is Ohn No Khao Swè
The name roughly translates to “Coconut Milk Noodles.” This Burmese recipe is in between a curry and a soup, depending on how thick you make the broth. Among several variations, it tends to include wheat noodles, a coconut milk broth, a sliced hard boiled egg, sprinkled with lime, and topped with fried onions and sliced fresh onions.
What flavors are in this Recipe
It has many bold flavors but much comes from the paste, made with fresh ginger, garlic, and onion. It also uses chili powder and turmeric which imparts its rich yellow color to the dish. Some spiciness comes from chili powder and fresh chilis and this spiciness is cut through with a drizzle of lime.
Variations on Ohn No Khao Swè
This recipe provides the basic framework for making Ohn No Khao Swè. However, feel free to mix and match ingredients depending on your preference. If vegetarian, simply add more vegetables (broccoli, green beans, etc.) and skip the chicken. Or if you wanted to use lamb, beef, or other types of meat, that works too! Also take liberty to adjust the spiciness to your desire by adding cayenne pepper, more chili powder, or fresh chilis themselves. And if you find yourself pinched for time or forgot to buy fresh garlic/ginger, you can substitute pre-grated ginger and garlic paste rather than fresh.
How to Hard Boil Eggs
This is pretty easy to do. Just place the eggs in a pot, add water so it covers the eggs with an inch to spare, bring to a boil on high heat on the stove, and when it gets to a boil, cover and remove from heat. We let ours sit for 5 minutes in the hot water but you can adjust by a minute more or less depending on how runny/firm you prefer your yolks. Then, place them in a bowl with ice water to stop the cooking and let sit for at least 10 minutes. Peel, half, and serve with this Ohn No Khao Swè.
Other Coconut Soup Recipes
If you enjoyed this recipe, check out our other similar recipes, Thai Green Chicken Coconut Curry and Coconut Curry Chicken with Spiced Potatoes and Roti. Bon Appetit!
Ohn No Khao Swè
Ingredients
Khao Swè
- 2 chicken breasts cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 box wheat noodles cooked according to package
- 2 large carrots diced
- 1 large red onion
- 2 bell pepper cut into small slices
- ½ cup snap peas
- 8 oz sliced water chestnuts
- 1 Fresno pepper finely diced
- 6 garlic cloves peeled
- 1-2 inches ginger root peeled
- 1 can coconut milk regular, not light
- 1 tbsp turmeric
- 2 tsp chili powder
- ¼ cup chickpea flour
Toppings
- 1 bunch cilantro diced
- 1 bunch green onions diced
- Fried onions
- Peanuts crushed and lightly toasted
- 4 hard boiled eggs
- 1 lime
Instructions
- First, make the curry. In a food processor, add garlic, ginger, turmeric, chili powder, Fresno chili, and 90% of the red onion (reserve the remaining onion for garnish). Pulse the food processor processor, slowly adding 1-2 tbsp olive oil, until it becomes a homogenous paste. Set aside.
- In a large pan on medium heat with olive oil, sauté the chicken breasts until golden (doesn’t need to be completely cooked since they will finish cooking later) and set aside. Sauté the bell peppers in the same pan, then lightly sauté the carrots and set both aside.
- In the same large pan, add all of the curry paste you made earlier and cook for 2 minutes before adding the chicken, bell peppers, and carrots. Coat evenly with the paste, cook for another 2 minutes, then pour in the coconut milk.
- In a separate bowl, mix together chickpea flour with 1.5 cups water and add to the pan. Let simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add snap peas and water chestnuts and simmer for another 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, you can cook the noodles, toast the peanuts, and hard boil the eggs.
- Assemble by adding noodles to a bowl, then ladling over the soup. Finally, top with cilantro, green onions, fried onions, remaining thinly sliced red onions, hard boiled eggs, and peanuts. Serve warm.
Recommended Amazon Products for this Recipe:
This page may contain Amazon Affiliate links that earn us a small commission, at no additional cost to you. We only show products we personally use in our kitchen. See our disclaimer for more information.
