Mee Shay
“Shan rice-noodle bowl — thick round noodles with slow-cooked pork ragout, garlic oil, fermented soybean sauce, and pickled greens.”
Where it comes from
Shan-Chinese border food from Lashio and Kengtung — the round thick noodle and fermented-soybean sauce are Yunnan-Han signatures that crossed into the Shan diet by the late Qing trade route.
On the plate
Chewy white rice noodles, glossy with garlic oil and a brown pork-and-soybean sauce, finished with cilantro and crisp-fried garlic. Funkier than Shan khao swè — the fermented-bean note carries the dish.
How it works
The pork is simmered for 90 minutes with star anise and fermented soybean (Shan tua nao discs), reducing until the fat coats the meat. Garlic oil — minced garlic fried in lard until pale gold — is whisked in just before serving.
Lashio's mee shay tradition uses round wet noodles called mont di in Shan; Yangon shops often substitute spaghetti, which Shan diaspora cook Hsa Moon Hnyin called 'a tolerable compromise' in a 2018 Frontier Myanmar interview.
Variations
Lashio version uses fresh round noodles and lard. Kengtung version is drier and uses peanut oil. Mandalay Shan-quarter shops add tomato to bridge it toward Bamar palates.
On the Palate
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
4 steps · Show ↓10 min active · 93 min waiting
How it's made
4 steps · Show ↓- 190 min
Slow-cook pork shoulder with garlic, ginger, fermented soybean sauce, soy 1.5 hr until shredding.
- 26 min
Boil round Shan rice noodles 4 min; drain.
- 34 min
Fry 4 garlic cloves in oil until golden; reserve oil.
- 43 min
Top noodles with pork ragout, garlic oil, pickled greens.
