Burmese Khow Suey

Khow Suey, though originally from Burma, has become very Indian-ised over the years. As with so many other dishes (cauliflower manchurian, american chop suey etc!), Indians have a habit of taking over a cuisine and adapting it to Indian tastes. This one has become a fast favorite at home, especially when you want a one-dish wonder!
Tarla Dalal has her version too - mine is just a little easier for me.

1. Cook about 2 cups toor dal (whole yellow lentils) with a pinch of salt and turmeric. Add a seasoning of asafetida, cumin and a couple of red chillies. Seasoning is to be done in a separate pan - first heat some oil, add the cumin, when it starts to brown, add the asafetida and red chillies and brown for a half minute. Add to the cooked dal.
2. In a pan, saute a onion and a couple of curry leaves.
3. Make a paste of a teaspoon of garam masala, ginger, garlic and add to the onions in the pan.
4. Add veggies (nice ones are carrot, potato, babycorn, mushrooms, string beans...) and/or shredded chicken.
5. Add tomato - just one - for flavor.
6. Add turmeric, chilli powder, fenugreek seeds and salt.
7. Bring to a boil and let it simmer for a while.
8. Add coconut milk - we added one can for 10 people - so just eyeball it.
9. Heat it through. Add cilantro leaves for garnish.
10. Add the cooked toor dal.


The above is the basic curry. This dish is served in several bowls. One bowl holds the curry. Another one holds plain noodles (haven't used egg noodles, but they may work too). The other bowls can be any or all of the following depending on your tastes. Keep them all in separate bowls, so people can just add what they like. Once you make it, everyone is gonna be asking for the recipe!! The optional dishes are:

1. Spring onions - chopped up - hopefully greens and whites separate
2. Chopped green bell pepper
3. Chopped onion
4. Chopped cilantro leaves
5. Lemon juice
6. Chilli powder
7. Fried sev
8. Eggs - hard-boiled and chopped into pieces
9. Chopped green chillies