Pickled Mustard Greens

Pickled Mustard Greens are commonly served with noodle dishes in some regions of Burma. Last time when I made Shan Noodles, a thought of having some mustard greens on the side seemed like a good option but I didn’t have them on hand.  Since then, I’ve been thinking of making some but never really got to it.

I remember that some time ago, my dear friend Lely made these pickled mustard greens and I got to taste some. It was very crunchy and tasty with a good sour punch. I really liked it so I asked her for the recipe. It is very simple and easy to prepare.

There are different methods of preparing this from wilting the greens in sun to adding additional ingredients in the pickle. Since this is my first time preparing it, I just want to keep it simple so I followed her exact instructions. Pickling can take anywhere from 3 days to a week depending on the weather. Mine took a week as it was a pretty cold week.

Pickled Mustard Greens
Preparation Time: 15 Minutes
Pickling Time: 3 to 7 days

Ingredients:
2 pounds Chinese Mustard Greens – ends trimmed, washed well and cut into 2 inch pieces
1/4 cup Sea Salt (adjust to taste)
2 cups Rice for making Rice Water as stated below

Directions:

1. Place the greens in a large bowl, sprinkle salt and toss well.
2. To make rice water, place rice in a pot or bowl and add about 2 to 3 cups of water or as needed. Scrub and rub the rice well with hands to get the water as cloudy as you can.
3. Pour rice water over the greens and mix well.
4. Place the greens in an airtight glass jar pressing down as much as you can to avoid gaps and air pockets.
5. Fill the jar all the way up with rice water. Close it tight and leave it in warm place for 3 days to one week.
6. It is ready when all of the vegetables are no longer bright green. You can taste to see if it has reached your desired sourness. The longer you keep it out the more sour it will get.
7. Once ready, store it in refrigerator.

Note: I used 1 quart Canning Jar and had some leftover so used one smaller jar for the leftovers greens.

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Shan Khauk Swe (Shan Noodles)

Shan is one of the states in Burma bordering China, Thai and Laos. Their regional food has different types of noodles that are well known throughout the country. This dish is originally from there but I got to taste it when my sister was visiting us and she cooked for us. We loved it so much that I have been making this few times after her visit.

There are different versions of this dish and is usually served with some chicken broth soup and sour mustard greens. This is a dry version and I usually eat it by itself as it does taste pretty good on its own. During her time living in Loikaw (capital of Kayah State, neighboring state of Shan), my sister got this recipe from a lady that sells these noodles.

Recipe updated: Apr 10, 2012
Amount of Red Chili Powder used has been updated.

Shan Khauk Swè (Shan Noodles)

Serves: 4
Preparation Time: 40 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
For Gravy
2 pounds Tomatoes – slit a cross-shape just through the skin with a sharp knife, at the bottom of each tomato
1 teaspoon Salt
1 pound Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast
3 tablespoon Soy Sauce (adjust to taste)
3 tablespoon Oil
8 cloves of Garlic – crushed or finely chopped (about 2 tablespoons)
1/8 teaspoon Turmeric Powder
4 teaspoons Red Chili Powder (adjust to taste)
2 tablespoons Tomato Paste
2 teaspoon Fish Sauce (adjust to taste)

Other Ingredients:
1 pound fresh Vietnamese Flat Rice Stick Noodle (Banh Pho)
1/2 pound Chinese Greens (Yu Choy) – discard few inches off the bottom; cut into 2 inch pieces and wash well
1/2 cup Roasted Peanuts – coarsely grounded
4 teaspoons Soy Sauce (adjust to taste)

Directions:

1. In a pot big enough to fit all the tomatoes; fill it with 1 cup of water and add salt. Stir and add the tomatoes, cover the pot and bring it to a boil. Once water comes to a boil, cook for about a minute or two, just to loosen up the skin but not to cook the tomatoes.  Remove from heat, pour out the water and leave the tomatoes to cool uncovered.
2. Meanwhile, chop the chicken into as small as you can or about less than 1/4 inch pieces. It will look almost like minced chicken. Add 2 tbsp of soy sauce mix well and keep aside. (I find that partially frozen chicken is easier to work with when chopping it.)
3. When the tomatoes are cool, remove the skin and discard. Cut the tomatoes in half and remove as much seeds as possible without removing any pulp. Discard the seeds, chop the tomatoes finely and keep aside.
4. Heat a pot with oil over medium heat. Once hot, add garlic, turmeric powder, chili powder and cook for few seconds till fragrant. Be careful not to burn the garlic.
5. Add chicken, increase heat to high and cook stirring frequently until all chicken pieces turns opaque and it starts to release water. Stir for few more seconds and add chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, fish sauce and the remaining 1 tbsp of soy sauce.
6. Stirring occasionally, cover and cook over medium heat for about 10 to 15 minutes until all tomatoes are crushed and the oil starts to separate from gravy. You should not need any water but if it is too dry, add some water. Turn off the heat and is ready to be served.

How to serve:
Have all ingredients ready before serving. You will have to work with one serving batch at a time.

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil. The pot should be big or deep enough with enough water for noodles to be dipped in with a noodle-strainer or any strainer that you will be using.
2. Once water comes to a boil, place a handful of Chinese greens into the strainer and dip the strainer in the boiling water for about 10 to 20 seconds for the greens to wilt.
3. Remove strainer from water, place a big handful of noodles into the strainer. Dip the strainer in boiling water for 3 to 5 seconds. Noodles will cook right away and you don’t want to overcook them, so work quickly.
4. Place the cooked noodles along with the greens to a serving bowl. Ladle couple scoops of chicken gravy on top. Top it up with peanuts, crushed chili and 1 tsp of soy sauce (adjust to taste) and serve immediately.
5. Mix everything before eating.

Note:

• If you cannot find the fresh noodles, dry noodles will work as well. Soak them in cold water for couple hours and cook as mentioned above.
• Since vegetables take little longer than noodles, start with vegetables and add noodles. However, they both can be cooked separately but having vegetables at the base while cooking noodles will help with not overcooking the noodles. 
• If noodles are all over the place and not able to fit neatly into the strainer while cooking, remove from boiling water and make sure that they are not dipped into water while gathering them.  
• Make gravy spicy enough so that you don’t need to add more chili at the time of serving. If not, serve with toasted crushed red pepper.

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