Title: Moh Hin Gha,rice Vermicelli With Fish Soup
Categories: Burma Kosher Fish Pasta Soup
Yield: 4 Servings

500	g	Fillets of strong flavoured
		Fish
4	md	Onions, roughly chopped
6		Cloves garlic, peeled
2	ts	Finely chopped fresh ginger
1	ts	Ground turmeric
1/2	ts	Chilli powder
2	tb	Sesame oil
4	tb	Peanut oil
2		Fresh chillies, seeded and
		Chopped
4	c	Thin coconut milk
1		Banana heart or
255	g	Can bamboo shoots
1	tb	Fish sauce
3	tb	Chick pea flour
2	c	Thick coconut milk
2	tb	Lemon juice salt to taste
500	g	Fine egg noodles or rice
		Vermicelli

The national dish of Burmna mob bin gha is to the Burmese what onion soup is to the French. Bowls of mob bin gha are a popular snack sold at roadside stalls or by vendors who carry their cooking apparatus from house to house on a bamboo pole slung over one shoulder. At one end is the portable fireplace while on the otherare all the makings. This one course meal is often used when entertaining large numbers of people. No outdoor market fair or festival is complete without the mob bin gha sellers. The rice vermicelli used is made fresh every day with slightly fermented rice /four. Few housewives make it themselves but it is bought fresh from mob sellers ( mob is the word used for flour and everything made with wheat or rice flour). Chinese rice vermicelli or Italian fine vermicelli can be used instead While the base of the dish is a curried fish soup, a vital ingredient is the tender heart of a banana tree- common as grass in Burma but rather hard to come by in Australia. Use about 30 cm (12 inches) of the tender heart of the tree. Peel off the outer layers and discard. Cut the inner portion in thin crossways slices. Soak in a large basin of salted water for several hours. The sticky juice forms strong hair like strands. Pull these away and discard. Realising that for most Western readers the idea of getting a banana tree to use in this dish makes the whole thing rather remote I have suggested using finely slice canned bamboo shoot instead. This brought the wrath many Burmese people down on my head but honestly it is such a fine flavoured dish that Ifeel it is better to try it with the readily obtainable ingredient than not at all. As you sit around your bowls of steaming fish soup and noodles adding different flavours and textures from the array of accompaniments that are so much a part of mob bin gha. If eel store your enjoyment will in no way be diminished.

If using fresh fish wash and scale the fillets and simmer for minutes in just enough water to cover. Reserve the stock. Put onions, garlic, ginger, turmeric and chili powder in container of electric blender and blend to a puree. Heat both oils in a large saucepan and fry the blended ingredients and chilies, a explained in basic curries. When it is golden brown and beginning to stick to the pan add fish stock, thin coconut milk and prepared banana heart. Bring to the boil, turn heat lot and simmer until banana heart slices are tender. Add fish sauce to mixture. Mix the chick pea flour smoothly with a little cold water or some of the thick coconut milk and add to pan. Keep stirring as it comes to the boil. Simmer 5 minutes, add fish and, if using canned fish, the liquid from the can as well. Add thick coconut milk and lemon juice stir as it comes to simmering point. Season to taste with salt if necessary. Cook noodles in boiling salted water until just tender. Drain well and serve in a large bowl alongside the soup. Have small bowls with accompaniments ready on the table. Serve moh hin gha in a tureen or other large receptacle an( provide deep bowls or old fashioned soup plates. Noodles are served first and soup ladled over the top. Moh hin gha must be served piping hot. Guests make their own choice o accompaniments .

Copyright 1995 by Raphael Meyer, American Asian Kashrus Services

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