Mohingar-meaning "bitter gravy dish" is a misnomer since it contains nothing bitter, but is sweetness or delicious taste itself. It is a favorite snack of the whole country of Myanmar and is served at most social or religious gatherings. It is so popular that it is available  practically every where at all times of the day and reasonably far into the night. In fact, urban centres like Yangon simply abound in mohingar sellers.

 What is mohingar? It is an intriguing concoction of several ingredients which harmoniously contribute towards the making of a delicious dish that can be eaten as well as drunk as it  contains both solids and gravy. It is a mixture of rice noodles--either small or me- dium-sized-- and gravy. The noodles by themselves have no taste whatsoever: it is the gravy that makes mohingar distinctly palatable.

The most important ingredient of mohingar-gravy is fish. In upper Myanmar where fish is not easily available, chicken or beef is used. Some smart house-wives or mohingar sellers put in more than one kind of fish on the simple theory that two or three kinds of fish are better than one! Shrimp sauce and seasoning powder also add to the appetizing flavour.

One unusual ingredient is the soft core of the banana plant cut up into thin slices. Fibrous food is widely believed to play an important role in the prevention of certain types of cancer, and banana-plant core is cent percent fibre. Most mohingar easters appreciate it if their bowl of mohingar contains a bit of banana-plant core. Pea-powder is added to the gravy to thicken it to the right measure. Some imaginative mohingar cooks also add shrimp-paste and/or fish-paste to the gravy to make its flavour stronger. A few adventurous souls even add the cream of coconut to enrich the gravy. Fish, fish- paste, shrimp-paste, pea -powder, banana - plant . .core--no wonder mohingar is such a nutritious dish rich in protein and fibre.

But the allure of mohingar does not end here as it also contains several spices namely garlic, onion, ginger, chilli, pepper, tumeric powder and lemon grass all of  which are said to be very efficacious in reducing the level of cholesterol -- the culprit in several types of heart disease -- in the blood, according to the latest discoveries or studies in medical science. They also give a pungent and  pleasing flavour to the dish.

What more can you ask of  mohingar? But there's still more to come! As a rule, mohingar is not taken by itself; it is usually taken with several  accessories which add to its flavour and nutritious value. Among them are boiled egg, fried hilsa roe, fried pounded feather back, gourd-fritters, fried slabs of chick pea, boiled or raw shredded string bean, fried shredded onion, fried shredded garlic, roasted chilli powder, shredded leeks and coriander leaves. One can easily imagine what a happy and imaginative - nothing to say of delicious and nutritious -- coming - together of so many disparate ingredients a bowl of mohingar is? Of course not all the  accessories are taken together with every bowl of mohingar -- only the most epicurean mohingar - lover will demand that all be included in his bowl! Most mohingar eaters are happy if they can  take three or four of them especially boiled egg and gourd-fritters with their Mohingar. Even with  a few of the accessories, a bowl of mohingar is highly nutritious, fairly filling and very delicious. Little wonder it is the favourite snack of most Myanmars. 

There's only one thing to bear in mind while eating mohingar: most mohingars gain extra flavour with the addition of a little shrimp sauce. So one should not hesitate to add a dash or two of shrimp sauce to one's mohingar if one finds it lacking in salt.