Recipe
🍳 BREAKFAST
Mohinga
Myanmar’s national breakfast: rice noodles in a lemongrass-catfish broth thickened with toasted chickpea flour.
Burmese · medium · serves 4
prep 25 min · cook 40 min
~470 cal · 33g protein · 49g carbs · 16g fat · 5g fiber · 11g sugars · 3g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Mohinga is the national dish of Myanmar and its quintessential breakfast, thin rice noodles in a deep, -scented catfish broth thickened with toasted chickpea flour and crushed banana stem. Rich, savory, and slurpable, it is eaten by Burmese of every background from dawn onward.
The broth is the soul: fish simmered with , ginger, garlic, and turmeric into something deep and aromatic, then thickened to a silky body. Street vendors carry it through the lanes of Yangon, ladling bowls to order and offering a table of crunchy fritters, boiled egg, lime, and chili to customize.
Though a breakfast staple, mohinga is eaten at any hour of the day, and is a genuine source of national pride.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
1 lb catfish or other white fish fillets
12 oz thin rice noodles
3 stalks , bruised
1/4 cup chickpea flour (besan), toasted
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp each ground black and white pepper
4 shallots, sliced
4 cloves garlic
2 tbsp ginger
1 tsp turmeric
2 tbsp
1 cup banana stem (or canned ), sliced
2 hard-boiled eggs, halved
plenty lime, to serve
plenty cilantro, to serve
plenty chili flakes, to serve
3 tbsp
Instructions
1
Poach the fish (or mushrooms and tofu) with one lemongrass stalk in 6 cups water for 10 minutes.
2
Lift out the fish and flake it, keeping the poaching broth.
3
Fry the shallots, garlic, ginger, turmeric, and paprika in oil until soft and fragrant.
✎ Chef’s note
The paprika is what gives mohinga its warm russet colour; without it the broth stays pale and washed out.
4
Return the flaked fish to the pan and toss 2 minutes.
5
Whisk the toasted chickpea flour into the reserved broth, add the remaining lemongrass and the banana stem, and simmer 20 minutes until silky.
✎ Chef’s note
The toasted chickpea flour is what thickens mohinga to its signature silky body. Whisk it in off the boil so it does not clump.
6
Add the fish mixture, the fish sauce, and the ground black and white pepper, and simmer 5 minutes more.
7
Serve over rice noodles, topped with egg halves, cilantro, lime, and chili, at breakfast or any hour.
Yangon dawn-stall tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Yangon. Burmese seasoning runs on things that are neither raw nor freshly cooked. Laphet is tea leaf fermented and eaten as a salad with fried beans and garlic, ngapi is fish or shrimp paste behind nearly everything savoury, and oil is used deliberately, left floating clear on top of a curry as the sign it is finished.
🗺️
Myanmar. Lahpet is one of very few things in the world where tea is eaten rather than drunk. The leaves are steamed and packed to ferment, then tossed with fried garlic, split peas, peanuts, sesame, dried shrimp, tomato and green chilli into a salad that is simultaneously bitter, sour, salty and crunchy, and it is offered to guests and at ceremonies.
🌍
Asia. A grain line runs across the continent. Rice dominates the wet south and east, wheat the drier north and west, and the tools follow it: the wok and the steamer where rice is milled, the tandoor and the griddle where wheat is ground. Tea travels the other way, drunk green, black, salted, buttered or with milk depending how far it got from China.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Myanmar
Burmese Chicken CurryChicken slow-cooked in an oil-rich onion, garlic, ginger, and turmeric masala until deeply savory.
Lahpet ThokeA tea-leaf salad of fermented tea, crunchy fried beans, nuts, and seeds tossed with cabbage and lime, Myanmar's national treasure.
Sanwin MakinA dense semolina and coconut cake topped with poppy seeds, a much-loved Burmese teatime sweet.
Browse all Myanmar recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Whisk.
Storing it: Soup keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and freezes well. Reheat gently and loosen with a little water or stock if needed.
Make it a Myanmar meal
Burmese Milk Tea (Lahpet Yay No Hsat)Drink
Sanwin MakinDessert
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Mohinga?
Myanmar’s national breakfast: rice noodles in a lemongrass-catfish broth thickened with toasted chickpea flour.
Where does Mohinga come from?
Mohinga is a Burmese dish from Yangon, Myanmar.
Can Mohinga be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Mohinga recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Mohinga safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Mohinga take to make?
About 65 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 40 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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