Shan Noodles (Burmese Tomato Chicken Rice Noodles)

Method

1. Finely chop half the garlic, put it in a small pan with half the oil and cook on medium-low heat, stirring, for 3 min. As soon as it turns pale gold, tip it into a bowl: this is your garlic oil. Browned garlic tastes bitter, so take it off when it just colours.

   Add in this stepGarlic cloves 2½Peanut oil (or neutral oil) 1½ tbsp

   medium-low heat

2. Finely chop the shallots and the rest of the garlic. Heat the remaining oil in a 20 cm pan on medium heat and cook the shallots and garlic for 3 min until soft and translucent, then add the turmeric and paprika and stir for 30 seconds until fragrant.

   Add in this stepPeanut oil (or neutral oil) 1½ tbspShallots (or a small onion) 2Garlic cloves 2½Ground turmeric ½ tspPaprika 1 tsp

   medium heat

3. Cut the chicken into small 1 cm pieces, add them and stir-fry on medium-high heat for 3 min until no longer pink outside. Add the chopped tomatoes, soy sauce, sugar, part of the salt and the water, turn down to medium-low heat and simmer for 12 min, stirring now and then. It is ready when the tomatoes have completely broken down into a thick sauce and a little red oil shows on the surface.

   Add in this stepBoneless chicken thighs 200 gMedium tomatoes 2Light soy sauce 2 tspSugar 1 tspSalt ½ tspWater 100 ml

   medium-high heat→medium-low heat

4. Warm the chicken stock with the remaining salt in a 16 cm pan on medium heat for 5 min to make the side broth.

   Add in this stepChicken stock (for the side broth) 400 mlSalt ¼ tsp

   medium heat

5. Bring 2 L of water to the boil on high heat, add the noodles and cook for 3 min (check the packet time too). When they are soft with no hard core, drain and shake dry.

   Add in this stepDried flat rice noodles 160 g

   high heat

6. Put the warm noodles in bowls and toss with 1 tbsp garlic oil. Spoon over plenty of tomato chicken sauce and scatter with roughly chopped peanuts, sesame, spring onion, coriander and chilli. Serve with the pickle and a cup of broth, and mix everything from the bottom up before eating.

   Add in this stepRoasted peanuts 30 gToasted sesame seeds 1 tspSpring onions 2Coriander (cilantro) 10 gPickled mustard greens (or quick-pickled cucumber) 40 gChilli flakes (to taste) to taste