OHNO kaukswe was once a gastronomic centrepiece at Calcutta’s chi chi parties—hostesses who dished out the meat and noodle soup flaunted the exotic recipe picked up from their Burmese nannies. Today, more than half a century after its arrival, kaukswe is one of the most popular dishes on southeast Asian restaurant menus across the country. In 1942, when Burmese families fleeing the Japanese invasion landed in Calcutta, one of the few things they brought with them from their homes along the Irrawaddy river were culinary keepsakes—like their national dish kaukswe. OHNO KAUKSWE INGREDIENTS Boneless chicken breast, 400 gm Egg noodles, 500 gm Chopped garlic, 30 gm Chopped ginger, 30 gm Chopped onions, 30 gm Shrimp paste (optional), 15 gm Refined oil, 60 ml Turmeric powder, 10 gm Red chilli powder, 20 gm Thin coconut milk, 200 ml Thick coconut milk, 500 ml Chickpea flour, 30 gm Salt to taste Method Cut chicken into small pieces. Heat oil in a pan. Saute garlic, ginger and shrimp paste (if using). Add chicken pieces and saute until they’re no longer pink. Add turmeric, chilli powder, salt (or fish sauce) and thin coconut milk. Let the soup simmer until the chicken is cooked. Add thick coconut milk and stir constantly until the soup boils. Mix chickpea flour with a little cold water; add mixture to the gravy and stir until it thickens. Boil the noodles and serve in individual bowls topped with soup. Garnish with choice of accompaniments. Accompaniments Fried garlic flakes, fried onions, crushed peanuts, chilli powder, lemon wedges, chopped spring onions, chopped green coriander, sliced hard-boiled eggs Country fare, it is a simple spiced soup made with chicken and coconut milk and served with egg noodles. What makes it stunning is the array of garnishes that go along: From fried slivers of garlic and crisp fried onions to lemons and chillies, it can take upto 15 accompaniments. Admittedly, the recipe that became popular in Calcutta isn’t the same as a bowl in Yangon. In fact, the Bengali version is panthe kaukswe, a spicy variant of the original. Other Indian variants use typical spices like turmeric and chilli powder, giving it the familiarity of a bowl of ghati fish curry. And since everyone at the table bungs in their own garnish concoction, every portion is unique. In Mumbai’s Busaba, the city’s most authentic kaukswe offering even comes with an option of papads for their Gujarati patrons.At the Oriental Octopus in the capital’s India Habitat Centre, Chef Manish adds a Thai tweak to the Burmese dish, with red curry paste. Many cooks thicken their broth with chana dal instead of chickpea flour (besan), others sprinkle aloo salli instead of crispy noodles. In fact, Starters and More in Mumbai replaces the crispies with various kinds of sev. That’s the rule of thumb for this dish—get your basic stock in place, and leave the rest up to their imagination.
