Burmese food Which you should eat in Myanmar (Burma)
Burmese
food suffers from a bad rap – a rather unjustified bad rap in our
opinion. While Burmese food can be somewhat oily, and lacks the
diversity and firy spicing of cuisine in neighbouring Thailand, with a
bit of advice and background knowledge we’re confident you’ll return
from Myanmar having savoured some truly tasty and memorable meals.
A Burmese meal
T’ămìn (rice), also written as htamin,
is the core of any Burmese meal. Rice is served with a variety of
dishes that characterise Burmese cuisine, a unique blend of Burmese,
Mon, Indian and Chinese influences. These dishes use a variety of local,
largely plant- and seafood-based ingredients, and as with other
Southeast Asian cuisines, an effort is made to balance the four primary
flavours: sour, salty, spicy and bitter.
Although these foundations are
relatively simple, one of the pleasures of eating an authentic Burmese
meal is the sheer variety of dishes at a single setting, something that
rivals even Thai food. Upon arriving at any Myanma saa thauk sain
(Burmese restaurant), and having chosen a curry, fried dish or salad, a
succession of side dishes will follow. One of these side dishes is
invariably soup, either an Indian-influenced peh-hìn-ye (lentil soup, or dhal), studded with chunks of vegetables, or a tart leaf-based hìn-jo
(sour soup). A tray of fresh and par-boiled vegetables and herbs is
another common side dish; they’re eaten with various dips, ranging from ngăpí ye (a watery, fishy dip) to balachaung
(a dry, pungent combination of chillies, garlic and dried shrimp fried
in oil). Additional vegetable-based side dishes, unlimited green tea and
a dessert of pickled tea leaves and chunks of jaggery (palm sugar) are
also usually included.
Rice, curry and sides
Burmese specialities
One of the culinary highlights of Burmese food is undoubtedly ăthouq
– light, tart and spicy salads made with raw vegetables or fruit tossed
with lime juice, onions, peanuts, roasted chickpea powder and chillies.
Among the most exquisite are maji-yweq thouq, made with tender young tamarind leaves, and shauq-thi dhouq, made with a type of indigenous lemon. In fact, the Burmese will make just about anything into a salad, as t’ămìn dhouq a savoury salad made with rice, and nangyi dhouq, a salad made with thick rice noodles, prove.
A popular finish to Burmese meals and possibly the most infamous Burmese dish of all is leq-p’eq
(often spelled laphet), fermented green tea 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 is leq-p’eq thouq, where the fermented tea and nuts are
combined in the form of a salad with slices of tomato and cabbage and a
squeeze of lime. The dish is a popular snack in Myanmar, and the
caffeine boost supplied by the tea leaves makes the dish a favourite of
students who need to stay up late studying.
Leq-p’eq (tea leaf salad), Bagan
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 is hkuauq-swèh. The most popular noodle and unofficial national dish is moún-hìn-gà
(often spelled mohinga), thin rice noodles served in a thick fish and
shallot broth and topped with crispy deep-fried veggies or lentils. Móun-di
(also known as mondhi) are spaghetti-like noodles served with chunks of
chicken or fish. Another popular noodle dish, especially at festivals,
is oùn-nó hkauq-swèh, Chinese-style rice noodles with pieces of chicken in a broth made with coconut milk.
Regional & Ethnic Variations
Local cuisine can be broadly broken down
into dishes found in ‘lower Myanmar’ (roughly Yangon and the delta),
with more fish pastes and sour foods; and ‘upper Myanmar’ (centred at
Mandalay), with more sesame, nuts and beans used in dishes.
In Mandalay and around Inle Lake, it is
also fairly easy to find Shan cuisine, which is somewhat similar to
northern Thai cuisine. Popular dishes are k’auq sen (Shan-style rice noodles with curry) and various fish and meat salads. Large maung jeut (rice crackers) are common throughout Shan State.
Shan noodles
Shàn k’auq-swèh (Shan-style
noodle soup), thin rice noodles in a light broth with chunks of
chilli-marinated chicken or pork, is a favourite all over Myanmar, but
is most common in Mandalay and Shan State. A variation popular in
Mandalay, called myi shay, is made with rice noodles and is often served with pork. Another Shan dish worth seeking out is ngà t’ămìn jin, ‘kneaded fish rice’, a turmeric-tinged rice dish.
Mon cuisine, most readily available in
towns stretching from Bago to Mawlamyine, is very similar to Burmese
food, with a greater emphasis on curry selections. While a Burmese
restaurant might offer a choice of four or five curries, a Mon
restaurant will have as many as a dozen, all lined up in curry pots to
be examined. Mon curries are also more likely to contain chillies than
those of other cuisines.
Rakhaing (Arakan) food most resembles
dishes found in Bangladesh and India’s Bengal state, featuring lots of
bean and pulse dishes, very spicy curries and flatbreads.
In towns large and small throughout
Myanmar you’ll find plenty of Chinese restaurants, many of which do a
distinctly Burmese take on Chinese standards. Despite being the most
ubiquitous type of dining in Myanmar (upcountry this is often the only
kind of restaurant you’ll find), it’s probably the least interesting.
Indian restaurants are also common, although much more so in Yangon than elsewhere. Most are run by Muslim Indians, a few by Hindus. Excellent chicken dan-bauq
(biryani), as well as all-you-can-eat vegetarian thali served on a
banana leaf, is easy to find in the capital. The Myanmar people call
Indian restaurants that serve all-you-can-eat thali ‘Chitty’ or ‘Chetty’
restaurants.
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Add: 20 Nguyen Truong To Str, Hanoi, Vietnam
Tel : (84-4) 37162149 Fax: (84-4) 37161738
E–mail address: sales@huongviettravel.com
Website: www.huongviettravel.com | http://www.aseantravelandtours.com | http://www.visavietnamonline.com | http://www.huongvietjsc.com
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