That's Shan, not Sham

The Shan province of Myanmar lies in the east of the country and borders Laos and China. I’ve only just crossed the western border of Shan province to visit Pyin U Lwin but have been getting very, very excited about Shan noodles. Their local name is hkauq sweh - I have no idea how this is pronounced. Shan cuisine is closer to Chinese food than the meals I have been eating from other parts of Myanmar which could be roughly approximated as stodgy underspiced Indian. That’s a tough and not particularly precise generalisation but I’ll let it stand in order to gild the hkauq sweh lily.
Each bowl of Shan noodles I’ve eaten has been a happy variation on a theme. A cold few dollops of chicken or pork in an intense thick garlic, tomato and chilli sauce are plonked on top of a bowl of hot fresh rice noodles. Next up, spoonfuls of coriander, roasted peanuts, sesame seeds, spices (szechuan pepper and five spice…maybe), little bit of sugar, little bit of salt. On the side, loads of Chinese tea, lime, a little bowl of sour pickles – cabbage or some random greenery in vinegar – and a bowl of soup to slurp or to drizzle over the noodles. The soup is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. The first time I ate this dish, I thought the crockery was dirty due to the swirl of black gritty stuff at the bottom of the bowl. Not so. What I thought was just a plain ol’ onion and chicken stock with a bit of floating shallot and coriander is that, but it is ladled over a big spoonful of ground pepper (white and szechuan, I think…) which turns it into something worthy of rhapsody. The soup stretches out the sauce, lubricates the noodles, turns the spices and nuts into a paste. It is not out of the question that one of the white powders sprinkled on top is MSG. That, or cocaine because this is a pretty delectable and moreish dish. I’ve resolved to keep eating Shan noodles, to keep asking questions about ingredients, and to discover the secret. Oh yeah, RRP $0.50AU.