Gnapee/Ngapi (1800); Mohinga (1963)

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

   This shows just how foreign food spellings can vary.  I never would have looked for "gnapee" for "ngapi" on a computer database.
   OED certainly should have added "Mohinga."  This is a national dish of Burma, but I didn't see it in the 19th century.  "Mohinga" has an entry in THE OXFORD COMPANION TO FOOD.

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AN ACCOUNT OF AN EMBASSY TO THE KINGDOM OF AVA
IN THE YEAR 1795
by Michael Symes
London: W. Bulmer and Co.
1800
New Delhi: Asian Education Services
1995

Pg. 501 (GLOSSARY):
_Gnapee_, a species of Sprat which the Birmans pickle.

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MICHAEL SYMES:
JOURNEY OF HIS SECOND EMBASSY TO THE COURT OF AVA IN 1802
edited with introduction and notes by D. G. E. Hall
London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd.
1955

Pg. 171:  ...ghee*...
*Hindi word for boiled butter in universal use in Indian cookery.

Pg. 241:  ...gnapee*...
*Pickled prawns, the most popular condiment eaten with curry in Burma.

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JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY FROM THE GOVERNOR GENERAL OF INDIA TO THE COURT OF AVA
by John Crawfurd
Second edition
London: Henry Colburn
1834

VOLUME ONE
Pg. 172:  He gets besides _ngapi_, vegetables, and spiceries, being always fed with his employer and family.

VOLUME TWO
Pg. 176:  Sea-fish was commonly cured in the form of Ngapi, or "bruised fish," the offensive condiment which I have already mentioned, and which is an article of universal use throughout the kingdowm.

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A PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF TWO YEARS' IMPRISONMENT IN BURMAH
by Henry Gouger
Second edition
London: John Murray
1862

Pg. 55:  ...a daily mess of boiled rice, with _ngapwee_ and wild vegetables, formed a meagre fare to one who had been long used to a generous one.

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THROUGH BURMAH TO WESTERN CHINE:
BEING NOTES OF A JOURNEY IN 1863
by Clement Williams
Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons
1868

Pg. 61:  Large quantities are dried and made into "Ngapee,"*...
*_Ngapee_--a kind of fish-paste greatly relished by the Burmese.

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BURMA, PAST AND PRESENT
by Lieut.-Gen. Albert Fytche
London: C. Kegan Paul and Co.
1878

VOLUME TWO
Pg. 77:   ...amongst the latter, and without which no Burmese considers he has made a good dinner is _nga-pee_, a potent preparation, somewhat resembling anchovy paste, composed of prawns and fish fry, pounded with chillies, garlic, and other condiments.

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BRITISH BURMA AND ITS PEOPLE:
BEING SKETCHES OF NATIVE MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND RELIGION
by Capt. C. J. E. S. Forbes
London: John Murray
1878

Pg. 83:  "Nga-pee" means simply pounded fish, and differs in quality, from the best, made of shrimps, being the same as the "balachong" of the Malay Straits (a kind of shrimp paste) to the rankest filth used by the mass of the population.

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THE BURMAN: HIS LIFE AND NOTIONS
by Shway Yoe (pseud. of Sir James George Scott--ed.)
London: Macmillan and Co., Limited
First edition 1882
Second edition 1896
Third edition 1910

Pg. 280:
CHAPTER XXVII
NGAPI
THERE are few articles of food which meet with more energetic denunciation than the favourite Burman condiment, ngapi, which means literally pressed fish.

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WE THE BURMESE:
VOICES FROM BURMA
edited by Helen G. Trager
New York: Frederick A. Praeger
1969

Pg. 288 (GLOSSARY):
   _Monhinga_ (mo hing'ah) a fish soup; sold by street peddlers ar roadside stalls or charcoal-fire pots.
(...)
   _Ngapi_ (nap pee') a paste of dried salted fish, which adds flavor to many dishes.

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YMCA BANGKOK, THAILAND
COOK BOOK
1963

Pg. 89:
   _Mohinga--Burmese National Dish_
   Serves 20
Ingredients
   9 lbs. rice noodles (Khanom Kyin)
   2 1/2 lbs. Pla Doke
   1 coconut
   1 1/2 oz. salted fish (Pla la)
   14 oz. fish sauce (Nam pla)
   3 blades lemon grass
   3 1/2 oz. chillies
   1 tsp. turmeric powder
   fresh ginger
   2 oz. garlic
   1 1/2 lb. onions, 1/2 finely sliced
   3 1/2 oz. Baysun
   4 oz. rice flour
   14 oz. oil
   6 duck eggs (hard boiled)
   9 inches Banana trunk (if unprocurable, increase amount of onion)
Directions
   Boil fish with 2 blades lemon grass, fish sauce, 3 chillies, salted fish, turmeric powder with water just to cover the fish.  When done, take the fish out and remove the bones.  Pound the garlic, the ginger, 1 blade lemon grass, and 1/2 of remaining chillies (other half to be powdered and served in dish at table).  Fry to golden brown 1/2 onions, sliced.  Boil up the oil, add the pounded ingredients.  When they give forth an aroma, add the fish.  Remove and set aside as accompaniment.  Boil together coconut milk, fish broth, and 1 gallon water.  Mix the rice flour and the Baysun each with a little water, and add to the liquid ingredients.  Boil about 1/2 hour.  Clean, peel and slice the tender inner layers of the banana trunk.  Add this and 1/2 of onions cut in quarters.  When tender, add fish and the (Pg. 90--ed.) hard-boiled eggs cut in quarters.  The hinga, the above gravy, is served hot with rice noodles, at table, in separate serving dishes, only combined in the individual servings.
   Powdered chillies and fried onion slivers or rings, lime wedges served as accompaniments at table.
   (Baysun may be purchased at Indian spice shops).

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YMCA BANGKOK, THAILAND
COOK BOOK
1965

Pg. 28:  We must not end this chapter without mentioning nam pla which is an extract of fermented fish.  This sauce, which is more tasty than it sounds, is used in many Thai dishes.