EATING IN MYANMAR (BURMA)A BURMESE MEAL329tea leaves mixed with a combination of sesame seeds, fried peas, dried
shrimp, fried garlic, peanuts and other crunchy ingredients. The slimy-
looking mass of leaves puts some foreigners off , but it’s actually quite
tasty once you get beyond the dish’s exotic appearance. A more user-
friendly version of the dish isleq-p’eq thouq, where the fermented tea and
nuts are combined in the form of a salad with slices of tomato and cab-
bage and a squeeze of lime. The dish is a popular snack in Myanmar, and
the caff eine boost supplied by the tea leaves makes the dish a favourite
of students who need to stay up late studying.
Noodle dishes are prized by the Burmese and are most often eaten
for breakfast or as light meals between the main meals of the day. The
general word for noodles ishkuauq-swèh. The most popular noodle and
unoffi cial national dish ismoún-hìn-gàà (often spelled mohinga), thin rice
noodles served in a thick fi sh and shallot broth and topped with crispy
deep-fried vegies or lentils. Mohingaa is available just about everywhere,
but our favourite bowl is at Myaung Mya Daw Cho (p 61 ) in Yangon.
Móun-dii(also known asmondhi) are spaghetti-like noodles served with
chunks of chicken or fi sh. Another popular noodle dish, especially at fes-
tivals, is oùn-nó hkauq-swèh, Chinese-style rice noodles with pieces of
chicken in a broth made with coconut milk.
Most, if not all, of these noodle dishes can be sampled at the Yangon
teahouses Lucky Seven (p 63 ) and Thone Pan Hla (p 63 ).
Regional & Ethnic Variations
Local cuisine can be broadly broken down into dishes found in ‘lower
Myanmar’ (roughly Yangon and the delta), with more fi sh pastes and
sour foods; and ‘upper Myanmar’ (centred at Mandalay), with more ses-
ame, nuts and beans used in dishes.
In Mandalay and around Inle Lake, it is also fairly easy to fi nd Shan
cuisine, which is somewhat similar to northern Thai cuisine. Popular
dishes are k’auq senn(Shan-style rice noodles with curry) and various fi sh
and meat salads. Largemaung jeutt (rice crackers) are common through-
out Shan State.
OIL SPILLBurmese food has a reputation for being oily. We won’t deny this, but in its defence will
posit that much of this is the fault of the curries.
The centrepiece of any Burmese meal, hi‘n (Burmese-style curries) are generally
cooked until the oil separates from all other ingredients and rises to the top. The Bur-
mese term for this cooking method is s’i pyan, ‘oil returns’, and the process ensures that
the rather harsh curry paste ingredients – typically turmeric, tomatoes, ginger, garlic,
onions and shrimp paste – have properly amalgamated and have become milder. Some
restaurants also add extra oil to maintain the correct top layer, as the fat also preserves
the underlying food from contamination by insects and airborne bacteria while the cur-
ries sit in open, unheated pots for hours at a time.
The good news is that all this oil isn’t necessarily meant to be eaten, and it’s usu-
ally easy enough to work around it. Those who’ve been burned by the spiciness of Thai
food will be pleased to learn that Burmese curries are the mildest in Asia – in fact, most
cooks don’t use chillies in their recipes. It’s also worth mentioning that the most com-
mon curry proteins you’ll encounter are fi sh, chicken, prawns or mutton. Relatively little
beef or pork is eaten by people in Myanmar – beef because it’s considered off ensive to
most Hindus and Burmese Buddhists, and pork because the nat (spirits) disapprove.
Most importantly, it’s crucial to keep in mind that a curry only constitutes a single
element of a Burmese meal. The side dishes, which include various soups, salads, dips
and fresh herbs, often have little or no oil.One of the
seminal works
on Myanmar
cuisine is Cook
and Entertain the
Burmese Way,
by Mi Mi Khaing,
available in Yan-
gon bookshops.RECIPES