Coconut Milk Noodles

Coconut Milk Noodles

(Ohng No Khao Swe)

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“Coconut milk noodles” – that is the direct translation from the Myanmar name for this dish. A lot of dishes here have simple and sometimes vague names—“Chinese Muslim fried rice”, “wide fried noodles”, “soaked, long and fried”—names which do not always explain the flavor, contents, or texture of the dish. I struggled to give this recipe a proper title in English, afraid that a direct translation of the name would leads you to believe that the noodles themselves are made from coconut milk (which does sound pretty great, actually).…

Mundi in the Morning

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About one half of a mile from our gate, there is a little shop we like to frequent. It runs out of a tiny street side home with thin metal walls and a corrugated metal roof. The patrons eat outside of this edifice under brightly colored umbrellas. We can tell whether or not it is open as soon as we turn off our street, as the child-sized tables and chairs will be out on the edge of the street, waiting for occupants.…

Raisin Bread with Orange Honey Butter

IMG_2996 I’m not always a fan of dried fruit in my bread and pastries, but with a good raisin bread recipe, I take exception. I credit my Dutch heritage for my partiality to raisin bread. The Dutch may not be renowned for culinary finesse, but they do know a good bread and cheese; a particular favorite being a slice of raisin bread (or a raisin bun), generously buttered and then topped with a nice piece of gouda cheese (and perhaps some ham as well).…

No Electricity Homemade Yogurt


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Before moving to Myanmar, I was under the impression that making homemade yogurt required an oven. After settling into our new home my husband and I starting making fruit smoothies religiously. (Think papaya, bananas, watermelons, none of which needed to travel far to get to our kitchen.) There was always something missing though, something creamy to stabilize the whole mixture and enhance all the flavors of the fruit.

Thanks to this post from Attainable Sustainable coupled with the wisdom of a veteran Yangon resident, I learned that the only thing standing between me and some yogurt was a little bit of effort and a few hours of waiting.…