Burmese Chickpea Tofu, Part 1 of 2 – Vegan To Hpu Nway (Warm Tofu Noodle Soup)

The street foods of Myanmar are a wonderful mixture of culinary tastes from many ethnic cultures, influenced by flavors, ingredients, and cooking techniques of its neighboring countries such as India, China, and Thailand. Today we will use dried chickpeas to make a popular morning meal in the Shan State, To Hpu Nway, also called Warm Burmese Tofu Noodle Soup.

As this is an allium-free recipe, we replace onions with shredded cabbage. The fragrant sweet smell from the fried cabbage shreds has also been released into the oil. We will use this hot cabbage flavored oil to make Chili Oil. Here we have one teaspoon of chili powder and one teaspoon of chili flakes; now add some of the hot cabbage flavored oil to it.

We will now cook the Spicy Vegan Chicken Pieces. We put some of the cabbage flavored oil in a frying pan and turned on the stove. Sauté 15 grams of minced ginger on medium heat until fragrant. Next, we add 120 grams of vegan chicken pieces. Continue to stir fry and when the vegan chicken pieces have turned brown, stir in one diced medium size tomato. Add two sliced green chili peppers. Stir-fry till all the ingredients are cooked through. Then add two tablespoons of white vinegar and stir till well mixed.

Now we will start to make the Warm Burmese Tofu by preparing the chickpea batter in a blender. This is one cup of dried chickpeas that have been soaked overnight, add them into the blending cup. We also add one teaspoon of turmeric, one teaspoon of salt, and 500 milliliters of water. Then pour the chickpea batter into a pot. Cook the batter over medium-low heat, stirring continuously for three to four minutes, to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Once it reaches a custard-like consistency and a little sticky, just like a thick soup, turn off the stove.

Next, we will cook the dried flat rice noodles. Once the water begins to boil, add in 50 grams of dried flat rice noodles and cook for about one to two minutes. First, we spoon a generous amount of the cooked Warm Burmese Tofu to cover the freshly cooked flat rice noodles in our bowl. Then top the tofu with some of the Spicy Vegan Chicken Pieces, which we stir-fried earlier, and drizzle some palm sugar syrup to add some sweetness. Finally, sprinkle some crushed roasted peanuts, and garnish with some fresh coriander. It is best eaten freshly cooked while it is still warm before the soft and creamy tofu sets.