Mohinga

by Hla Min

Updated : Dec 2025

Staple Food

Rice is the staple food of Burma. What about Mohinga မုန့်ဟင်းခါး ?

Most people eat Mohinga for breakfast. A few can eat Mohinga any time of the day — breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Breakfast in Windsor

In 2015, Ivan Lee (M69, New Jersey), Fred Thetgyi (M69, Philadelphia), my spouse and I (from California) visited Windsor, Canada to pay respect to Sayagyi U Aung Khin (Former Professor and Head of Mechanical Engineering at the Rangoon Institute of Technology.

Sayagyi allowed my spouse and I to sleep at his guest room. He got up early to prepare Mohinga and Ah Kyaw အကျော် (Fries) for breakfast for the four of us. He also gave us mementos from Windsor.

Cost of Mohinga

During our younger days, plain Mohinga used to cost 15 pyas. With Ah Kyaw, we would pay 25 pyas.

Special recipe

Most vendors cannot match the taste of the Buthee Kyaw ဗူးသီးကျော် using a formula by a cousin aunt to accompany the Mohinga cooked by my beloved father and his assistants.

The best part is that we do not have to pay for the sumptuous “all you can eat” meal.

Variety

There are a variety of ways to prepare and cook Mohinga.

Some variables are

• choice of fish ငါး အမျိုးအစား : Hinthada ဟင်္သာတ uses up to three kinds of fish. Some places use minimal fish. A few — notably Dr. Htay Lwin Nyo (EP74, GBNF) — tried to have a layman’s Mohinga using canned fish.

• choice of “San Hmont” ဆန်မှုန့် or “Pei Hmont” ပဲမှုန့်
• use of “Ngan Pya Yay” ငံပြာရည် and condiments
• some add ကြက်သွန်ဥ & ငှက်ပျောဖတ်နုနု
• mode of cooking for a small group or a large group of people
• how to keep it fresh (without getting spoiled due to inclement weather).

Mohinga Story

There’s a story that is near and dear to me.

My spouse’s maternal grandma အဖွား was oblivious to the political, social & economic changes. Every morning, she would call a grand child. She would open her little purse inside a big purse, and then unwrap two or three layers of paper to get her money. She would dole out ten pyas ဆယ်ပြား to buy Mohinga for her.

One day she could not finish a spoonful of Mohinga. Her breath slowly faded with her head resting on my lap. There was no sigh. She passed away gently.

My spouse belongs to the elite company of Mohinga lovers. She enjoys Mohinga for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I have a fear စိုးရိမ်ပူပန်စိတ် for the day when she might refuse to have Mohinga & follow her grandma.