Khow Suey is a vegetarian Indian subcontinental variation of the original Burmese Ohn No Khao Swè, a warming garnished broth had in every home in Myanmar, as comforting as a dal or a rasam.
Available in India in many restaurants serving far eastern food, and sometimes at buffets at hotels and weddings, Khow Suey is the Indian meatless take on the coconut milk curry soup that uses chicken, sliced hard-boiled eggs and fish sauce.
The best version I recently had at the wedding reception of a friend and former colleague George Iype's daughter Hridya at NESCO, north west Mumbai. Creamy, piping hot, the Khow Suey was served with umpteen toppings/condiments that ensured each spoon delivered an enticing range of flavours (umami, sour, spicy, mildly sweet).
It was a wedding reception to remember, with beautiful singing (by the pretty bride in a rich red Kanjeevaram), dancing, Bollywood numbers and western songs, speeches, a boisterous master of ceremonies, prayers and excellent food.
First was a starter round of three types of chaat, various hot snacks, wine, cake and more.
The buffet tables for dinner groaned under the weight of 5 to 8 types of cuisine, with hot counters too. Japanese food. Lebanese starters. Benne Dosas and regular dosas off the tava. Panyarams stuffed with olives. A soup station. Pastas of your choice. Chinese. Indian. And there must have been 24 types of yummy desserts.
George was once Rediff's New Delhi bureau chief, interviewing national leaders at a time when they were more accessible.
Gung ho, full of energy+drive and extremely hardworking, he broke important news stories, interviewed a whole slew of neta bigwigs during his lengthy stint and was totally on top of his game. He had astute political insights too.
George subsequently left journalism to try his hand at commodity trading and was very good at it. But he always remained in touch, the same lovable, affectionate, super-cheerful George of his Delhi days.
Attending his daughter's wedding reception was the foremost engagement of 2026 by all of us former Rediff colleagues and probably the most important one of the year and so memorable too.
After returning from the shaadi, I decided to try out making the Khow Suey I had there.
The basic broth or soup base is easy to make. The many toppings take a little bit of time to prepare, but are what gives the soup its zing and mazaa. The soup is a meal in itself.
Here's how I went about it:
Iype-Samuel Wedding Khow Suey
Serves: 2-3
Ingredients
For the soup:
- 200 ml coconut milk
- 1 tsp haldi or turmeric powder
- 1-2 cups water
- Salt to taste, about 2 tsp
- 1-2 tsp brown dhania or corainder powder
- 3 tbsp besan or chickpea/gram flour
- 1 tsp hing or asafoetida
- 4 button mushrooms, chopped
- 4 baby corn, chopped into small pieces
- ½ of a medium carrot, grated
- Juice of 1 lime
- 1 stalk lemon grass, flattened/pounded to release juices, optional
For the paste:
- 5-6 kafir leaves, optional
- 1 red chilly
- 10-12 Thai basil leaves, optional
- 3 shallots or white bulbs of spring onions
- Handful fresh green dhania or coriander leaves or cilantro
- 10-12 curry pattas
- 10 pods garlic
- 4 pandanus leaves, optional
- 1-inch piece ginger
- Water
For the toppings/garnish:
- 2-3 stalks spring onion, greens only, finely chopped
- 8-10 pods garlic
- ½ of a medium onion, sliced
- ½ of a red capsicum or bell pepper, chopped
- 4-5 beans, finely chopped, steamed lightly
- Handful fresh green dhania or coriander leaves or cilantro, chopped
- ½ cup broccoli tiny florets, lightly steamed, should retain its colour
- 140 gm hakka noodles
- Oil for deep frying the toppings.
Method
For the garnish:
- Deep fry 8-10 garlic till pink.
Drain and keep aside. - Deep fry the sliced onion till lightly carmelised, like birasta (like it is made for biryanis).
Drain and keep aside. - Deep fry ½ of the packet of hakka noodles or 70 gm, till reddish.
Drain and keep aside. - In a saucepan, over medium heat, bring 2 cups water to a boil and boil the remaining 70 gm noodles for a few minutes, so they are soft but firm.
Drain and keep aside.
For the paste:
- Grind all the ingredients for the paste in as little water as possible.
- Keep aside.
For the soup:
- In a saucepan, whisk the coconut milk with the haldi, besan, hing, salt, brown dhania powder, water, ground paste, till smooth.
Add in the lemon grass and bring the mixture to a boil over medium-low heat.
Lower the heat and add the baby corn, mushrooms.
Before turning off, take out the lemon grass piece and add the lime juice, grated carrots and adjust salt, if required. - Ladle the soup into individual bowls and add the toppings per preference.
Zelda's Note: The Khow Suey at Hridya and Joel's wedding reception had Thai accents making it akin to a Thai curry which tasted very good neveretheless.
To reduce the Thai flavours, opt to not use the Thai basil, pandanus leaves, lemon grass.
Meat lovers can add chopped pieces of boiled chicken and a few tsp fish sauce, along with sliced boiled eggs.
The mixture of vegetables used for the toppings is per preference. Bean sprouts, chopped steamed zucchini, baby pearl onions, tiny Thai eggplant, will do well too. Spice it up further with chilly flakes and roasted roughly pounded peanuts, sliced raw onions (while serving).
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