Burmese Chickpea Soup – Tofu Nway (Warm Shan Tofu)

Tofu Nway (warm shan tofu) is a spoonable, creamy dish made from chickpea flour. This comforting recipe is naturally plant based, super easy to make, and comes together in under 5 minutes.

You’ve heard of Burmese chickpea tofu, but have you heard of its cousin tofu nway?

This is another soup you want to make again and again. This Burmese chickpea soup – or warm Shan-style tofu nway – is so comforting and comes together in under 5 minutes.

Tofu nway is a Burmese tofu variant. Like other Burmese tofu, tofu nway is made from chickpea flour. Unlike other tofu, tofu nway has a creamy consistency similar to polenta.

Tofu nway is really simple to make. All you need to do is whisk together chickpea flour, turmeric and salt with water, then add that to a pot of water and cook until thickened. I’m topping with cilantro and homemade fried shallots here in the photos and video, but you can also add other stuff like crushed peanuts, chilli oil, vermicelli, baby greens and extra protein. Tofu nway is comforting, filling, versatile, and more importantly, super fast and low effort to make.

Tofu nway is like Burmese tofu, but the consistency is soft like pudding, blended porridge, or a thick soup.  It’s like a spoonable Burmese tofu. You can top it with all sorts of goodies and make it into a full meal that way.

I first encountered tofu nway from Naomi Duguid’s book: Burma, Rivers of Flavor. (In the book, they called it “Silky Shan Soup”.) Here is another Burmese inspired recipe: Turmeric Yaki Udon – Burmese Inspired.

I’ve since made tofu nway many times for a quick lunch, or to supplement a light meal. Tofu nway is really handy to make since it is so fast to prepare! The other nice thing about tofu nway is that it’s made from staple pantry ingredients. Basically, if you have chickpea flour, you can make tofu nway.

What kind of toppings can you put on tofu nway

There are so many toppings and flavorings you can add to tofu nway. To make it a full meal, you can add extra protein and greens.

Flavourings to add to tofu nway

• Crunchy stuff: roasted crushed peanuts, fried shallots, fried garlic
• Herbs: cilantro, spring onion
• Oils: chilli oil, garlic oil, shallot oil
• Spicy stuff: chilli sauce, chilli flakes/powder

Fried shallots are truly delicious on tofu nway. To make your own shallot or garlic oil, simply fry thinly sliced shallots/garlic in neutral oil over medium/low heat until crispy.

For an easy shortcut, you can use storebought pre-fried garlic or pre-fried shallots (sometimes labeled as “fried red onion” in Asian grocery stores. Fried shallots are a common ingredient in East and South Asian cuisine. You can usually find fried shallots and fried garlic in Asian grocery stores in aisles close to where the chili oils/sauces are located.

Greens to add to tofu nway

• Baby spinach
• Baby arugula
• Microgreens – broccoli microgreens, arugula microgreens, mustard microgreens

The published recipe from Burma: Rivers of Flavor called for chopped blanched pea tendrils, but I like to do things fast so I tend to use pre-washed salad greens instead.

You don’t need to go through the extra blanching step when using microgreens or pre-washed salad greens like baby spinach or arugula. Simply portion some greens in each bowl, then pour the hot tofu nway on top of the greens. The heat from the tofu nway is enough to cook the greens.

Protein to add to tofu nway

Since chickpea flour already has some carbs and protein, you do not necessarily need to add extra protein. But if you do want to up the protein content for a bowl tofu nway, it is really easy to do so. Here are some ideas for extra protein to add to tofu nway:

• Boiled chicken or rotisserie chicken
• Boiled egg
• Tofu (soybean)
• Burmese chickpea tofu (fried)
• Boiled shrimp

Tips for making tofu nway

The current ratio of chickpea flour to water makes for a thick tofu nway similar to the texture of polenta. You may prefer a thinner or thicker consistency. The consistency of tofu nway is easy to adjust by tweaking the chickpea to water ratio.

When cooking the tofu nway, it is important to whisk constantly in order to prevent the mixture from sticking to the bottom of the pot.

I have found it most efficient to add the chickpea mixture to warm/heating water instead of cold or boiling water. If the water is boiling and your chickpea mixture is too thick, you may find the batter liable to clumping.

Feel free to whisk in more water to the chickpea mixture if it looks too thick. The texture of the chickpea mixture should be pourable like pancake batter for it to be most easily incorporated into the heating water.

Recipe Card

Print Recipe

Tofu Nway – Burmese Shan Chickpea Tofu Soup

Tofu Nway (warm Shan tofu) is a spoonable, creamy dish made from chickpea flour. This comforting recipe is naturally plant based, super easy to make, and comes together in under 5 minutes.

Prep Time2 minutes mins

Cook Time5 minutes mins

Servings: 2

Ingredients

• ¾ cup chickpea flour besan flour
• ¼ tsp salt or to taste
• 1/8 tsp turmeric
• 4 cups water

For the shallot oil (optional)

• 1-2 shallots small
• 3 tablespoon neutral oil canola, avocado etc

To top and garnish (optional)

• Cilantro chopped
• Spring onion chopped
• Chilli oil/ chilli sauce
• Chopped roasted peanuts
• Extra protein boiled chicken, boiled shrimp, tofu, boiled egg
• Noodles rice noodles, vermicelli noodles, bean thread noodles
• Microgreens

Instructions

To make the shallot oil (see note 1)

• Slice the shallots thinly. Heat neutral oil over medium heat until hot, then add shallots. Fry until golden and crispy, stirring often. Lower heat to low if it looks like the shallots are burning. Once the shallots are crispy, set the shallots and oil aside.

To make the tofu nway

• In a pot, heat 3 cups of water.
• In a mixing bowl, whisk together the remaining 1 cup of water, chickpea flour, turmeric, and salt.
• Add the chickpea mixture to the pot of heating water. (The water should be warm but not completely boiled at this point). If there is a good amount of chickpea batter left in the bowl, add some more (not more than 1/4 cup) water and whisk/rinse to pour the remainder into the pot with the rest.
• Now cook the chickpea water on medium/high heat, whisking constantly, until thickened. It will only take 1-3 minutes to cook through. When it is ready, the tofu nway will be simmering/boiling around the edges. The texture should be thick enough to coat a spoon.
• Serve hot with optional toppings.

Video

@hellenshouse

TOFU NWAY (warm Burmese Shan tofu) is maybe the easiest, most comforting spoon-food to make 😮. It’s september which means its kind of fall and who else is ready for soups all day every day?? Tofu nway is really simple to make and often I don’t even measure anything. That being said if you are not one to measure with the heart I wrote out an easy-to-follow recipe and you can find it plus lots more information on tofu nway on my site. Here is the link -📍 https://hellenshouse.com/burmese-tofu-nway/ #soupseason #tofunway #burmesetofu #chickpeaflour #chickpea #healthyrecipes #plantbasedrecipes #dinnerideas #fastrecipe #hellenshouse #souprecipes

♬ original sound – Hellen Chan – Hellen Chan

Notes

1. Note that if you make the shallot oil, the entire recipe will take more than 5 minutes

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