Sri Lanka - Idappan, Pol Sambol, and Kiri Hodi

Background
Sri Lanka is located off the southeast coast of India and as a result its food is frequently misclassified as a subset of Indian Cuisine. I found a great resource for the cuisine, recipes, and history of the island in The Food of Sri Lanka. Rice and curries are foundations of the diet, with fish and chicken as the predominant proteins. Sinhalese (low country) and Kandy Sinhalese (upcountry) are the two major categories. Sinhalese uses more seafood and most meals are rice and curry. The regional “black” curry is made by roasting the spices to a brown color before cooking them. Kandian cuisine uses ingredients such as jackfruit, breadfruit, and turmeric flowers. They also tend to eat more deer and wild birds.
The Portuguese came looking for spices in order to bypass the Arab monopoly. They were displaced by the Dutch who eventually gave way to the English. Sri Lankans incorporated and changed many of aspects of those cuisines.
Information on breakfast quickly lead us to two types of hoppers (appa). Appa are three dimensional crepes made with a rice flour batter. The batter is poured into a specialized pan with a rounded bottom and steep sides similar to a very small wok. The result is nest shaped pancake and perfect for fillings. Eggs are frequently cook in the bottom and the end product looks quite cool. Appa pans are very specialized and we could not find a good substitute. We decided to move onto string hoppers (idappan).
Idappan are noodles made from rice flour dough, forced through a vermicelli press. The noodles are steamed on special trays (hopper mats) and served with a variety of toppings. Our first attempt involved a spaghetti pasta cutter. This worked very poorly, and cleaning the rice dough from the machine was annoying. We then tried a cookie press with a Christmas tree attachment that worked pretty well and the effect was probably similar to that of a traditional press. Before you attempt these at home you will need a similar device. We used parchment paper to substitute for the specialized stand. The amount of water to use while making the dough varies greatly from recipe to recipe. The important thing is to get a non-sticky, malleable dough in the end.
Toppings for idappan are pol sambol and kiri hodi. Sambol are fragrant side dishes made of a basic ingredient and then spiced up. Pol sambol is made with coconuts, lime, and dried chili. Kiri hodi is made of chicken stock, coconut milk, and a lot of spices, including “Maldive fish” which is dried, leathery tuna. It is not quite bento flakes and most internet resources say to substitute dried prawns.
This week's novel ingredients are fenugreek and curry leaves. Fenugreek is a legume that grows well in semi-arid environments, it is used as a spice. Curry leaves are a fundamental spices to South Asian cuisine. The plant is in the same family as oranges and lemons. The fresh leaves have a strong peppery smell and are used predominantly for their aromatic qualities.

Kiri Hodi

• 1 tbsp fenugreek seeds
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 2 sprigs of curry leaves
• 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 inch cinnamon stick
• 4 cardamom pods, crushed
• 2 green chile, deseeded and sliced thin
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 2 tsp powdered Maldive fish
• 2 cups coconut milk
• lemon juice and salt to taste

1. Soak fenugreek in chicken stock 30 minutes.
2. Add all the rest of the ingredients except the coconut milk and lemon juice.
3. Bring to a boil and simmer until the onions are soft.
4. Add the coconut milk and simmer for 5 minutes.
5. Add lemon juice and salt to taste.

Pol Sambol

• 1 tsp chopped dried chili
• 1 tbsp finely chopped onion.
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp Maldive fish (optional)
• 2 cups grated coconut
• 3 tbsp lime juice
• Salt to taste

1. Grind together chili, onion, pepper, and Maldive fish.
2. Add coconut, lime juice and mix well.
3. It is recommended that this be made fresh.

Idappan (indi appa)

• 3 cups (500g) rice floor
• 1½ tsp salt
• boiling water

1. Toast the rice flour in a very low oven or sauce pan.
2. Sieve it into a bowl.
3. Add salt and slowly mix in just enough hot water to make a soft dough that is not sticky.
4. Add the dough into your pressing device and press the dough out onto the parchment paper.
5. Steam the noodles for 10 minutes.
6. Serve hot with pol sambol and kiri hodi.

Results and Discussion
This breakfast required the most specialized equipment so far and we did a good job improvising. The cookie press was not ideal for pressing out the dough as the grip was poor. I would not do this again without a more mechanized device. The recipe also makes a lot of dough and I would make less in the future. Since you are making the dough to a consistency, it can be easily reduced.
The pol sambol has simple, classic flavors. The lime and coconut go great together, and the heat from the chilis is a nice addition. The texture of the coconut flakes is an interesting contrast when eaten with the soft noodle.
Kiri hodi smells great as you cook it. The dried prawns do have a slightly fishy smell, but they don't overpower the other ingredients. It is a great blend of spices and gives the noodles lots of flavor. We found ourselves with lots of leftover broth, which we later cooked some rice in and got something almost like biryani-risotto, very tasty.
I do want to find a pan that will let me cook appa; they look really cool and I still want to make them.

Burma - Mohinga

Background
Burma (Myanmar) is a large country, around the size of Texas, with 125 ethnic groups. It lies between China and India in southeast Asia. Given the repressive nature of the current military government, I expected finding information on the country to be difficult. I was disappointed. A quick internet search gave lots of results and Wikipedia page on Burmese cuisine was very complete and detailed. While looking for books I quickly found lots of resources.
The three books that were the most useful for both culture and recipes were The Burmese Kitchen, Best of Burmese Cooking, and Cook and Entertain the Burmese Way. Finding what defines traditional Burmese food is rather difficult given that it lies on trade routes between the major culture of India, China, and Thailand. All of these cultures influence Burmese cuisine in some way. Traditional Burmese cuisine is concisely defined as the food in Burma that has not been influenced by it neighbors.
I found three major breakfast dishes. The first is mohinga, which is a fish and noodle soup served by street vendors. Ohhnokaukswe is a chicken and coconut noodle soup in a curry. Kaungnyin paung is traditional farmers dish made of glutinous rice with black eyed peas. Nanpyar is a commonly eaten flat bread, which while mentioned in all of the books it never appear with a recipe except in one book which has it in correctly listed in its index. I chose the mohinga because I like catfish and because it is considered the national dish, but mostly because I like catfish.

Before starting this recipe please be advised that this makes a lot. The recipe below is supposed to give 6 servings but I would estimate it at least 10 portions.

Soup Concentrate

• 2 lbs of catfish
• 2 stalks of lemongrass
• 1 inch fresh ginger
• ¼ tsp tumeric
• 1 tsp shrimp paste
• 1½ tbsp fish sauce
• 4 dried red chilies
• 5 cups of water

1. Break open the ginger to expose the inside.
2. Cut the lemongrass into smaller pieces to fit in the pot.
3. Cut you your catfish fillets in half.
4. Put all the ingredients into a pot, bring to a boil, and simmer for 30 minutes.
5. Remove the fish from the broth and strain out the solids while retaining the broth.
6. Remove any bones from the fish if necessary.
7. While the broth is simmering, prepare the rest of the ingredients below.

Complete Soup

• ½ cup jasmine rice toasted in a dry skillet, then ground to a powder in a food processor
• 2 tbsp roasted peanuts, ground (use nut grinder if available)
• 1½ tbsp semolina
• 8 oz chickpeas, cooked
• 2 tbsp peanut oil
• ¼ tsp tumeric
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• ¼ inch fresh ginger
• ½ tsp paprika
• ½ tbsp salt
• 1½ tbsp fish sauce
• ½ tbsp sugar
• 6 peeled shallots (these are substitutes for banana stems)
• 8 oz of somen noodles

1. Mix powdered rice, semolina, and peanuts in 1 cup of water. Let it stand for at least 15 minutes.
2. Mix chickpeas and 1 cup of water in a food processor.
3. Heat the oil in a pot large enough to contain the final quantity of soup.
4. Add onions, garlic, ginger, turmeric, and paprika to the oil and cook for two minutes at medium high heat.
5. Add the fish and cook for another 5 minutes. Stir regularly.
6. Stir in salt, sugar, and fish sauce.
7. Add rice/semolina mix and chickpea paste.
8. Bring to a boil, add shallots, and simmer uncovered at low heat for an hour. Stir regularly.
9. Once the soup has thickened, cook the somen noodles and add them to the bottom of a bowl, then cover with soup.
10. Season to taste with lime juice and garnish with scallions.

Results and Discussion
This breakfast look a long time to make. Fortunately we had a dinner of wings and pizza the night before so we were not super hungry. The length of the simmering and the broth making resulted in very deep flavors and this probably better simulated what it would be like to get this from a street vendors who has had their pot going all day. The flavors are very full and as the fish dissolves it gives the soup a porridge-like texture. The lime juice provides a very nice bite. I really gobbled this down. This would be great on cold mornings.
We also used fresh lemongrass in this recipe. When we previously used lemongrass for the Indonesia breakfast we used the dry product and the taste was awful. Using the fresh lemongrass makes a complete difference.
I feel very certain that an equally acceptable version of this could be made in a much shorter time. The initial broth could be made the night before or you could make the paste and thicken it while you are making the broth. Adding less water would also get the job done. Also invite friend over when you make this, because you make a lot!

China - Hunanese Soup Noodles

Background
The rice pasta called fen is a specialty of the Hunan region. Fuschia Dunlop in the Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook describes its importance as " Rice fen is eaten for breakfast all over Hunan. Some people buy the freshly made fen and take it home, where they serve it in a bowl of broth, topped perhaps with a fried egg, some sliced scallions, and a dollop of chopped salted chiles" (p.252).

Ingredients (2 servings)

• 2.5 cups vegetable broth
• 1/2 bunch scallions
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped mushrooms
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tbsp olive or peanut oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 8 oz fresh rice noodles
• 2 eggs
• 2 dried chiles, sliced

Procedure

1. Start water boiling and in a separate pan heat the vegetable broth.
2. Chop the tops off the scallions. Trimming off dead ends. Blanch in boiling water with mushrooms. Drain
3. Thinly slice the bottom part of the scallions.
4. Prepare the serving bowls by placing some soy sauce, oil, sliced scallions, and salt and pepper to the bottom of each serving bowl.
5. Boil rice noodles until they are of the desired softness. This happens very quickly with fresh ones. Drain.
6. Fry 2 eggs sunny side up.
7. Pour vegetable broth into serving bowl. Add noodles to serving bowls. Top with mushrooms, scallions, fried egg, sliced scallions, and chiles. Serve.

Results and Discussion
This is dish was simple and tasty. Preparation time is about 20 minutes. Making the dish look nice is also very easy. It is very spicy for breakfast but it wakes you up and is very warm. The fresh rice noodles have a very nice texture and soak up the broth's flavor. We would make this again for any meal. Dunlop discusses how this recipe has many different variations so you can top it with whatever strikes your fancy.