One of the famous side-dishes of Myanmar is
la phet thote (လက္ဖက္သုတ္).
La Phet means pickled tea leaves and
thote means salad. So if you translate in English, it'll be "Pickled Tea Leaves Salad".
(Sorry.. took this photo from Google)
Tea leaves are mostly grown in Shan State, and most famous pickled tea
leaves come from Shan State. The making of the pickled tea is abit
complicated. The steamed leaves are heaped together in a pulp mass and
thrown into basket and left until the next day. The baskets are then
put into pits in the ground and covered with heavy weights placed on
top of each. Inspection is often made to see how fermentation is
progressing and sometimes there is re-steaming . There are pickled tea
leaves brands such as
Pin Pyo Ywat Nu,
Yuzana, A Yee Taung, etc.
There are also different sorts of la-phet. There's one type of laphet called "
shuu-shel" which is a descriptive word of the condition of your mouth when you eat that extra-spicy
la-phet. Another type is
chin-set, which means spicy and sour.
The very basic ingredients of
la phet thote are: pickled tea leaves, sesame seed, roasted peanuts, roasted mini-chick peas, roasted broad-beans, chopped cabbage and tomato, some oil, salt, and dried prawns as you see fit. Some people also add peeled garlic, and bite on a small chili as they eat the salad. There are more exotic ingredients such as silk worms and greenish broad-peas also. The ingredients are sometimes served separately, as sesame seeds in one place, pickled tea in one place, etc., and sometimes they are all mixed together.
La Phet Thote Recipe
1. Pickled Tea Leaves
2. Roasted Sesame Seeds
3. Roasted Peanuts (skinned)
4. Roasted Mini Chick Peas
5. Roasted Broad Peas
6. Chopped Tomato (extra ingredient)
7. Chopped Cabbage (extra ingredient)
8. Dried Prawns (extra ingredient)
9. Peeled Garlic (extra ingredient)
10. Green chili (extra ingredient)
Dressing
1. a pinch of salt
2. some soy sauce
3. oil (peanut oil or corn oil)
4. lemon juice
The dressing is added if you're going to mix them all together. If not, they are to be mixed in the pickled tea leaves.
When you go to ah-hlu (where people offer free food for merit?), they treat you with
la-phet thote as an after-meal snack. It's the only thing I look forward to when I go to ah-hlu hehee... I might not eat alot during the main course, but I'll dig in whenever I see
la-phet. Girls are not supposed to eat a lot of la-phet though... it's bad for their menstruation cycle, but I don't care.. I eat la-phet anyway.
If you are away from Myanmar, don't worry. Just check the local Burmese restaurant near you. Or you can order ready-made packages from Myanmar, or from
online.
(Sorry.. took this photo from Google)Tea leaves are mostly grown in Shan State, and most famous pickled tea leaves come from Shan State. The making of the pickled tea is abit complicated. The steamed leaves are heaped together in a pulp mass and thrown into basket and left until the next day. The baskets are then put into pits in the ground and covered with heavy weights placed on top of each. Inspection is often made to see how fermentation is progressing and sometimes there is re-steaming . There are pickled tea leaves brands such as Pin Pyo Ywat Nu, Yuzana, A Yee Taung, etc.
Comments (5)
Oh sure I'll just check the local Burmese restaurant. I mean... there are just way too many of those over the world. Burmese food chains are obviously monopolizing the asian food industry.
We would love to have you post on iFoodTV we have others from Burma/Myanmar and much interest in all SE Asia cuisines, as well as all global cuisines.
The ginger is missing