Mandalay nangyi (rice noodle salad with curri

4 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1½ pounds Cornish game hen, cut into 4 pieces, include giblets
1 teaspoon Fish sauce
¼ teaspoon Salt
2 tablespoons Corn or peanut oil
½ teaspoon Fine-chopped fresh ginger
½ teaspoon Fine-chopped garlic
⅛ teaspoon Ground turmeric
¼ teaspoon Paprika
1 small Onion, chopped
¼ cup Chopped fresh or canned
Tomato
1 cup Water
½ pounds Thick rice noodles (rice sticks)
2 tablespoons Toasted chick-pea flour (besan) (recipe separately)
1 small Onion, sliced thin
1 Scallion, cut into 1/4-inch-wide slices
¼ cup Coarse-chopped fresh coriander
Fish sauce (nam pya ye)
1 tablespoon Lightly-toasted dried hot red chili flakes
Wedges of fresh lime

Directions

GARNISHES

1. Marinate hen with fish sauce and salt for 15 minutes.

2. Heat the oil in a pan and brown the ginger, garlic, turmeric, and paprika over moderate heat for 2 minutes.

3. Add the onion and game hen and brown well for about 10 minutes.

Add the tomato and stir fry for 2 minutes more. Lastly add the water, cover the pan, and cook for 30 minutes, or until the hen is tender.

4. Cool the curry. Remove all the meat from the bones, cut into cubes, and mix with the remaining curry sauce. Slice the giblets.

5. In a large dish, cover the noodles with boiling water and let stand for 15 minutes. Drain well and set aside.

6. Each person helps himself, putting the food on his plate in the following order: first a generous helping of rice noodles and a heaping tablespoon of the hen and sauce. Then sprinkle over that 1 or 2 teaspoons of 'besan', several slices of onion, scallion, coriander, 2 or 3 teaspoons fish sauce, and a pinch of the hot chili flakes.

Each diner mixes his own salad on his plate and squeezes lime juice over all.

Eat at room temperature and help yourself to seconds, mixed to taste.

Variation:

The curried hen can also be served on its own with plain rice.

From: THE BURMESE KITCHEN by Copeland Marks and Aung Thein, Evans and Company, Inc., New York. 1987. ISBN 0-87131-524-6 Posted by: Karin Brewer, Cooking Echo, 9/92

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