Coconut-chicken noodle soup — chickpea-flour-thickened coconut broth over yellow egg noodles. Yangon café staple, milder than Thai khao soi.
Bamar urban café dish, developed in early-20th-century Yangon where Chinese egg noodles met Bamar coconut-and-chickpea cooking. The Indian-origin chickpea-flour thickening is what separates it from any other Southeast Asian coconut noodle.
Yangon's Feel Myanmar Food has served its version since 1996 with a 24-shallot base per pot. The dish is rare outside Yangon and Mandalay café circuits — it is not a village dish.
Pale yellow coconut broth, lightly thickened, mildly sweet from coconut milk and savory from fish sauce. Soft yellow egg noodles. Topped with sliced shallot, cilantro, hard-boiled egg, crushed chili, and a wedge of lime.
Chickpea-flour slurry whisked into the broth at the simmer prevents the coconut milk from splitting — without it, the fat breaks and the soup turns greasy on top. Chicken thigh, never breast, because the long simmer needs the connective tissue.
Variations
Yangon café-style is creamier and finishes with fried-noodle crunch on top. Mandalay version is thinner, more savory. Mawlamyine Mon-style adds banana-stem cubes to the broth and dials the coconut back.
On the Palate
Where Ohn No Khao Swè sits in the Burmese flavor cloud
Whisk the chickpea-flour slurry into the broth as it simmers — it stabilizes the coconut milk so the fat can't split; without it the soup breaks and turns greasy on top.
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
5 steps · 22 min active + 15 min waiting
- 110 min
Sauté chopped chicken + 4 sliced onions + garlic-ginger paste 10 min.
- 215 min
Add 1 L coconut milk + 80 g chickpea flour slurry; simmer 15 min thickened.
Watch outWhisk constantly as the slurry goes in and let it simmer until the broth thickens to coat a spoon.
- 32 min
Season with fish sauce, paprika, turmeric.
- 46 min
Cook 500 g yellow egg noodles separately; drain.
Watch outCook the noodles just short of soft and drain well so they don't bloat in the hot broth.
- 54 min
Ladle broth over noodles; top with crispy noodles, boiled egg, fried onion, chili oil, lime.
Watch outLadle the broth over the noodles just before eating and pile the crisp toppings on last so they stay crunchy.
