So Sunday morning started with a walk and an amazing breakfast with my parents. At Moms house, breakfast is always a splurge, never minding the calories and so we ate a variety of fried bhajiyas made of potatoes, onions and green chillies! Well don’t worry I’m not cooking bhajiyas today!

While looking through the kitchen, I realised that we have lots of coconut milk and different types of noodles but no meat at all! So here is a vegetarian version which is a take on a Malaysian Laksa and a Burmese Ohn-No-Khao-swe.

I wanted something that would tingle my tastebuds and also give me feel of different type of textures while I was eating it. I wanted the crunch, the softness, the spice, the comfort. I didn’t want to eat any meats but just wanted the dish to be light. I didn’t want it to be heavy so had to decide between flat noodles, egg noodles or rice noodles.

So my final choices were, rice noodle soup with bean sprouts!

So lets start with the ingredients:

For the Noodle Soup

• 2 cups coconut milk
• 500 grams of rice noodles
• 2.5 tablespoon besan or gram or chick pea flour
• 2 red onions
• 6 pods of garlic
• 1/2 inch of ginger
• 4 bird chillies
• Oil
• 1/3 cup Water / Vegetable broth
• 1/2 tablespoon of turmeric
• Rice Vinegar
• Salt to taste

For the Garnishes:

• 3 spring onions finely chopped
• 2 red onions thinly sliced and fried till brown
• 2 bird chillies de-seeded and finely chopped
• 2 boiled eggs cut into halves
• 1/2 cup of peanuts roasted and crushed
• 1/2 a red capsicum sliced
• 1 cup bean sprouts
• coriander to garnish
• Chilli Oil
• Lemon wedges

To make the coconut noodle soup:

1. Mix the red onions, garlic, ginger and bird chillies into a paste. Add a little water/vegetable broth to make the paste.
2. Take 2.5 tablespoons of besan and mix it in water so there are no lumps.
3. Take oil in a pan and fry the onion, garlic, ginger and bird chillies paste for 7 to 10 minutes. Add salt and turmeric
4. Add the besan mix into the pan and cook for 3 to 5 minutes.
5. Then add the coconut milk. Cook on a slow gas for 5 to 7 minutes or till you think the besan has been cooked.
6. Add a little rice vinegar to the soup mix.
7. In another bowl, boil some water and cook the rice noodles as per the instructions on the packet.
8. Finally just place the noodles in a bowl and pour the coconut soup based on your palate and add the garnishes!
9. Remember to squeeze lemon on the soup, the tanginess changes the way it tastes!
10. Add a drizzle of chilli oil to give you slight heat with every bite!

    Sometimes cooking isn’t that difficult! I’ve just made some  complicated dishes, simple and to match my palate! You can too!

If you don’t like beansprouts, replace them with what you like and have at home! So experiment!