Mixed noodle and vegetable Salad

Mixed noodle and vegetable Salad 

This salad is a tasty treat for all Burmese Families since we grew up with this one of a kind treat food. Thirty five years ago in our girls' school, Daw Kay is the shop owner of our school lunch service. She has already passed away by now. But her salad shop was the most popular and girls need to wait in long line for their lunch.

The trick to this food is the fresh, scratch made onion flavored oil consisting of shallots and garlic.  This is a crucial ingredient which is important to make the salad more appetizing and taste delicious.

As European salad use vinegar as dressing, in Burma, we use the fresh tamarind fruit juice for sourness.
Whereas olive oil is used in the dressing of European salads, shallots and garlic oil take its place in this noodle salad.
The culinary world is amazing in the sense that there are endless possibilities to combine flavors across different cuisines.

This typical mixed salad is an authentic Burmese lunch that we enjoyed as an evening snack after school. Most of the ingredient are balanced with carbohydrate and vegetables.

 The Scott Market (Boggyoke Market, prestage shopping mall of Rangoon  since long time ago) is famous for the Myanmar handicraft shopping Mall with colonial style. Most tourists always go shopping for Burmese handicrafts, souvenirs, and jewelry made with Burmese ruby and jade. In that market, there are at least two to three salad shops available in which you can enjoy their meals. The shops there tend to have a higher variety of ingredients as compared to my meal, however, the recipe listed here will utilize all the basic ingredients to give the same taste.

Today, this kind of food might be available in some higher end Burmese style coffee shops (Tea Shop). It is also the luxury weekend treat for the families who stay out of our country. When we made this food, it was always in bulk in which we invited two to three families to enjoy together. We were always thankful to have this great food together.

Mixed Noodle Salad ( 5 Serving)

1 lb.     Egg Noodle (Boiled)
1 lb.     Glass Noodle (Bean Thread Noodle ) boiled
1/2 lb.  Cooked white rice
1 cup   Cucumber (Julienne matchstick style)
1 cup   Green cabbage (thinly shredded)
1 cup   Boiled potato (sliced)
1 cup   Firm Tofu (fried)
1 cup   Green papaya (shredded)
1 cup   Bean Sprout (Blanched with hot water)
1/2 cup Red onion
1/2 cup Cilantro
1/4 cup Lemon leaves (thinly sliced)

Dressing for salad

1 cup   Ground dried shrimp (finely ground)
1 cup   Fish sauce
1 cup  Fried shallot and garlic oil (Prep :1)
1 cup  Fresh Tamarind juice (Prep :2)
4 tbsp. Sriracha chili sauce (optional)
1/2 cup Fried Chili Oil (Prep :3)
1 cup  Toasted Besan Powder, Roasted Gram flour (or roasted yellow split pea powder)

Step by Step Instructions

Prep :1

1.  Prepare 1/2 cup thinly sliced shallot and 3 tbsp sliced garlic.
2.  Heat the skillet or fry pan with medium high heat.
3.  Pour 1.5 cups of oil in the pan to heated through for 3-4 minutes. (may test with one      piece of shallot whether it start frying out or not)
4. Add all the sliced shallot and garlic into pan together with 1 tsp. full of turmeric powder.
5. Stirring the shallot and garlic is most important and critical not to get burnt.
6. If needed, turn down the heat to medium form medium high.
7.When the shallot and garlic looks golden brown color, turn off the heat and strain up all oil  and shallot , garlic mix . Put it in separate bowl and let it cool down. Then mix it back all together when the oil is cooled down completely. That way shallot and garlic will be crispy.

Prep :2

1. Take 2-3 tbsp of tamarind paste from the packet rinse with cold water a little bit.
2. Put it in the bowl and fill that bowl with 1.25 cups of hot water to get thick tamarind juice.
3. May use either fork or hand to get thick tamarind juice and set it aside.

Prep :3

1. In the skillet with medium high heat in the stove top, add one cup of oil in the pan.
2. Mix  3 tbsp fine chili powder with a 1.5 tbsp of water in separate bowl to get paste.
3. Fry the chili paste in the heated oil and stir continuously. Turn down the heat to low and when the chili paste is cooked for 3 minutes it will be ready.

Prep :4

1. Cook one cup of rice in the rice cooker.
2. When the rice is cooked, let it cool down in a bowl and add 3 Tbsp of Sriracha chilly sauce and mix it together thoroughly. Set it aside .
3. We may use fried chilly oil instead of using the Sriracha chilly sauce.

Dressing Mix for one serving

1 tbsp. Dried shrimp powder
2 tsp    Toasted Beasan Powder
1 tbsp.  Tamarind juice
1 tbsp   Fish sauce
1 tbsp   Fried Shallot and garlic oil
1 tsp     Fried chili oil
Add salt to your own taste

Portions for the one serving salad.

In the serving plate

2 tbsp  shredded papaya
2 tbsp  shredded cabbage
1 tbsp  Blanched beansprout
1 tbsp  Fried Tofu
1 tbsp  thinly slice onion
1 tbsp  sliced potato
1 tbsp  julienned cucumber
1 tsp    cilantro
0.5 tsp  thinly sliced lemon leaves
0.35 cup chili seasoned cooked rice ( prep: 4)
0.35 cup cooked bean thread noodle
0.35 cup cooked egg noodle

( Note : It will be plenty when we put all the noodle ingredients and vegetables but no limit. You may add more ingredient that you like or you may skip the ingredient that you do not like.)

Mixing the Salad ( or ) Tossing the salad

In European style : We may mix all the one serving dressing ingredient in a bowl together then add all the one serving noodle ingredients into the bowl and toss with chopstick or spoon and fork.

In Burmese Way : We put all the dressing ingredient onto the noodle ingredients in one mixing bowl and mix with hand to make sure all the sauces are blended into the noodle.
Then transfer this mixed salad into the clean serving plate. ( We always call this mixed salad as hand tossed mixed noodle salad . )

SPICY OPTION : If we want very very spicy salad, we may add more roasted chili powder or crushed chili pepper for our own spicy taste.

NOTE : Those ingredients could be stored in the fridge for 3 to 4 days as we can enjoy this healthy meal frequently because it is hard to prepared and takes time for all the preparation. But it is really worth to try making this meal for every food lovers.