This summer I was lucky enough to spend a month teaching English in the beautiful country of Myanmar ( A.K.A Burma). While there, I was introduced to the often overlooked world of Burmese cuisine. Now, Burmese food often gets a bad rap for being a bit underwhelming and oily, but to their credit it's hard to make your food stand out when you've got food hubs like India and Bangladesh to the west, and Thailand to your east.
I found Burmese food and food culture to be fun, yummy and nice, if not as spicy or renowned as their neighbors. Here are some treats I think deserve a lot more recognition abroad,
1. LahPet Thoke
(photo from goslowelyeatwell.com)
Lahpet thoke is an iconic Burmese dish. It's a salad, thoke, made of laphet which is fermented green tea leaf. The spicy and squishy laphet is mixed with crunchy bits like oiled peanuts, fried little fish, crispy onions, and other morsels.
Laphet thoke makes a great appetizer, or light meal and paris excellently with Myanmar's local brew, Myanmar Beer.
2. Ponygyi
Ponygyi is a weird little black powder native to Burma's northeastern desert region. It's made of fermented soybeans and is sold in little plastic packets or as a paste. Ponygyi is eaten by mixing the powder in to a cooked meat, curry, or salad like a coating. Ponygyi is slightly bitter and starchy. It is popular as a regional food.
3. Mohinga
Ubiquitous to burmese cuisine, mohinga is often called the national dish of Myanmar. Mohinga is a spicy fish soup often eaten for breakfast featuring a strong ginger and fish broth, rice noodles, fish cake or fresh fish, and various crispy elements. The crispy elements can be anything from split chickpeas, to fried veggie, to goat tempura.
Mohinga vendors can be seen setting up shop on sidewalks and road sides across the country each morning to feed hungry folks on their way to work or school.
4. Nan Gyi Thoke
Nan gyi thoke, often called the spaghetti of Burma is another wholesome breakfast food. This time thick rice noodles and a starchy chicken curry are the stars of the dish . The rice noodles, nan gyi, are mixed with a curry and veggies like cabbage, scallions, and bean sprouts to make a thoke. Nan gyi thoke is warming and filling.
5. Shan Khao Swe
Shan kao swe is a popular option for meals all day. The dish, which traces its roots back to the Shan ethnic group of North Eastern Myanmar, is sold in almost every shop and is quite cheap usually costing between 600 and 1200 Myanmar Kyats, which is about 50 cents to a dollar U.S. Shan kao swe literally means Shan Noodle.
Shan kao swe makes an excellent savory breakfast, a great quick lunch, and can make satisfying dinner as well. The dish has many renditions but the classic version is a bed of thin rice vermicelli noodles topped with a dollop of a meat (usually chicken) and chili combination, garnished with coriander, shallots and peanuts.
6. Shwe Yin Aye
Shwe yin aye: cool down Myanmar style! Shwe yin aye is definitely acquired taste, soggy bread, and sweet noodles are not common in Western cuisine, and especially not successful Western cuisine. Miraculously this dish makes soggy cold bread tasty. Shwe yin aye is a cold soup, the 'broth' is a mixture of either sweetened condensed milk or coconut milk, sugar, and water. Then thick rice noodles, various jellies, ice cubes and bread crusts are added.
This dish is popular in the sweltering summers as a traditional way to cool off. Shwe yin ate is most popularly sold in markets. Enjoying a cold bowl is a great way to rest recharge in order to return to your shopping in prime bargain hunting form.
7. Lapae Yea
Lapae Yea is literally milk tea. While Burma grows some of the highest quality black tea in the world a good deal of the tea you'll get in Myanmar tea shops (lapse yea zein) will usually be Indian black tea. Indian black tea is distinct from Chinese black tea - which is quite floral, and English Breakfast tea - which is rather rich. Indian black tea is uniquely grassy in flavor. This grassy tea is mixed with sugar and sweetened condensed milk and arrives to your table steaming and slightly more viscous than is usual for a milk tea. Everyone has their own preferred style of lapae yea, my favorite is 'baw hseent' which is a little stronger than usual. You can also get your tea 'sheh la' special, which uses liquid sweetened condensed milk and has a nice little spoon.
Most tea shops will have plates of snacks covered in plastic already on the tables. You eat what you want, and the waiter will tally up what's missing at the end of your stay. Tea shops are an excellent place to take a quick snack, to chat with friends, or to have hours of conversation. For this reason tea shops in modern Myanmar take the character of coffee shops during the enlightenment. They are an essential part of Myanmar's culinary culture and spaces where ideas and relationships grow.
Bonus: Lapae Ye Jan
Lapae ye jan can be translate to basically mean plain water, but really it is a light floral green tea. This tea is a part of almost every meal in Myanmar. Any restaurant worth its salt has a thermos (or if it's a really fancy place a teapot) of the stuff ready at each table. Most restaurants will have small basin next to the thermos containing an inch or so of water and a few small ceramic cups upside-down in the water. This is meant to keep them clean between visitors, but it is always better to be safe and either ask for new cups, or swish your first poured cup of steaming tea around to clean the cup and then dump it out, and drink the second cup. Lapae ye jan comes free with your meal and is always unlimited, similar to ice water in the States, so drink your fill! The tea is usually very floral and surprisingly refreshing for being a hot drink. It's great to sit down and enjoy a cup with your dining guests while waiting for your food, and having another cup after your meal is a great excuse to linger together a little longer.
While Burmese food may not have the international renown or flash of some of its neighbors spending some time munching my way through the golden land proved to me that the country has a lot to share. Along with the strong street food culture typical of Southeast Asia, Myanmar also has a rock solid local restaurant scene. If one can manage to look past the numerous (and admittedly also delicious) Chinese, Indian, Thai, Western, and Japanese restaurants in Myanmar they will find a native food scene bursting with tasty edibles and new culinary experiences. One thing can be said for certain - nobody does tea like Myanmar.
It's pretty hard to find good Burmese food outside of the country itself if you don't have any friends or family from the country, but if these dishes got you curious here are some recipes so you can try them out at home. Some of the ingredients may be difficult to find in the U.S. but Amazon, and many specialty grocery stores will stock them. Who knows, maybe one of these will be a new favorite!
Recipes:
Nan Gyi Thoke
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