Moringa Mohinga

First let me say, this is not 100% true Mohinga because it doesn’t contain fish. In this recipe there is Moringa instead of fish. Moringa would not ordinarily be included but hear me out:

I had beautiful fresh Moringa leaves on hand.

Annnnd I couldn’t pass on the opportunity for a cheesy rhyming name… I mean MORINGA MOHINGA? Come on.

Though I was raised on plenty of Burmese staples this was surprisingly not one in regular rotation. So I don’t have strong feelings about keeping it completely traditional. Now if you mess with my Khao Swè (not the same thing as Khao Soi, by the way) we will have a problem…

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup jasmine rice

1/2 yellow onion, diced

4 cloves of garlic, minced

3 stalks of fresh lemongrass, minced

1 tablespoon paprika*

1 teaspoon curry powder*

3 tablespoons fish sauce*

5 bay leaves

roughly 1 cup fresh Moringa leaves

3 quarts of vegetable broth

rice noodles

Toppings:

red onion, thinly sliced

fresh cilantro

lime wedges

hard boiled egg

chili garlic sauce

*you may need to adjust these according to taste. I often end up adding a little more of each.

Note: this is vegetarian and could easily be made vegan by skipping the egg and substituting soy sauce for the fish sauce.

Instructions:

Heat oven to 350. Spread the rice on a parchment lined baking sheet and toast until just golden. Allow to cool.

Add onion (and a bit of oil or ghee) to a large pot. As soon as it is translucent, add garlic, lemongrass, paprika and curry. Stir to thoroughly coat with spices and then add fish sauce. Cook for a few minutes. Add broth and bay leaves; bring to a low boil.

Take the toasted rice and grind to a powder (I use a coffee grinder that I use only for grinding spices). Put the rice powder into a small bowl, add a cup of your soup broth and stir until there are no lumps and it begins to thicken. Then pour it into the pot of broth.

Boil your noodles in separate pot. Hard boil your eggs separately as well. Prep toppings. Add moringa leaves to the broth at this time.

To assemble, simply ladle broth over a serving of noodles. Add toppings according to preference and enjoy!