Burmese Laphet Thoht - The Recipe

Burmese Tea Leaves Salad

A very unique salad that Myanmar is famous for, the local population relishes and that visitors to the country must seek out is Laphet Thoht or Pickled Tea Leaves Salad. This is the recipe for that salad for which the sources for some of the ingredients and details (with photographs) of the procedure were described on my blog recently.

Burmese Pickled Tea Leaves Salad - Laphet Thoht

Laphet Thoht - Ready to Hand-Mix 

Today I am in seventh heaven. We just had Burmese pickled tea leaves salad or Laphet Thoht for lunch. Laphet is tea leaves and Thoht is hand-mixed salad. The biggest gratification was watching Hubby enjoy his portion of the salad. After lunch was over he told me he'd just read a medical article that claims green tea boosts memory. The unique flavours of this salad still linger in my mouth and makes me reluctant to eat anything which may destroy that taste.

Get the recipe here or read on for the pictorial view.

Burmese Fish with Drumsticks

Dant-da-lone-thee and Fish

Recipe Source: Doris Thaw on Burmese Food Lovers' Kitchen - Facebook.

Drumsticks or dant-da-lone-thee in Burmese has to be eaten by hand because, like sugar cane in the raw, the fun in eating them lies in sucking and chewing on these fibrous canes.

This fish dish is sour and spicy and totally delicious! I made a couple of changes to the original recipe. Having run out of shrimp sauce (ngapi) I used dried shrimp floss with dried chillies in its place. Since Hubby can't handle food that is too spicy, I substituted Kashmiri mirch in place of chili powder. Kashmiri mirch is akin to paprika, but has a brighter colour and is more flavourful. I also used a small quantity of beef concentrate because I'd run out of chicken concentrate.

Recipe Source: Doris Thaw on Burmese Food Lovers' Kitchen - Facebook.

Prep time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 30-35 mins
Servings: 2

Ingredients:
1 fish fillet (6-8 oz.)
½ pkt. (about 20 pieces of the drumsticks)
1 medium size white onion
4 cloves garlic
2 tablespoon cooking oil (I prefer corn oil)
1 ripe red tomato
A pinch of “ngapi” fish paste or dried shrimp floss with chilli
½ teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon chilli powder or Kashmiri mirch
2 tablespoons of fish sauce
1 chicken bouillon cube (Can use one 14 oz. can of chicken broth)
4 cups of water (2 if using chicken broth)
1 teaspoon fresh seedless tamarind flesh
1 handful of shredded cilantro for garnish

Directions:

1. Cut fish into 2" pieces.
2. Rinse the drumsticks.
3. Mince the garlic and onions coarsely.
4. Chop the tomato into small pieces.
5. On medium, heat oil for a minute and add the onions and garlic and stir for 1-2 minutes.
6. Add tomatoes, chilli, turmeric and fish paste and stir for 2-3 more minutes.
7. Add fish and drumsticks, chicken bouillon and water. Simmer on low for 15-20 minutes.
8. Rinse tamarind and add ¼ cup of hot water. Use a fork to mash the tamarind. Add to pot and simmer for another 5-10 minutes.
9. Add fish sauce and garnish with cilantro.

Serve immediately with hot steamed rice.

Tangy Red Lentils with Dried Mangoes

Tok Dal

Tok or sour masoor dal is generally made with green mango for its tart flavour. I used packaged dried mangoes which made the dal somewhat more sweet than sour. 

Ingredients:

1-½ cups red lentils (masoor dal)

3 cups water

2 Oriental eggplants, cut in bite-size pieces and tossed with salt

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

½ tsp. black mustard seeds

2 dried red chilies

2 tsp. ginger paste

1 (3 oz.) pkg. dried unsweetened mango slices

or 1 green mango, peeled, deseeded and cubed

Salt to taste

1 tsp. ghee or melted butter

cilantro, chopped

2–3 whole green chilies

Directions:

1.    Wash lentils until water runs clear.

2.    Heat oil in a pan over medium-high heat & add mustard & dried chilies.

3.    When mustard seeds start to sizzle, add lentils, salt, mango and water.

4.    Cover and cook on medium heat until lentils are tender.

5.    Adjust salt to taste, add ginger paste and simmer for 2 minutes.

6.    Garnish with ghee, cilantro and whole green chilies.

Transfer to a serving dish and serve with steamed rice or naan.

Mushrooms & Peas Pilaf

Mushrooms & Peas Pulao

Here is a vegetarian pilaf that is as satisfying as its meaty counterparts. Mushrooms are the key ingredient that give flavour to this rice dish. Any kind of mushroom will work, including rehydrated shiitake mushrooms which pack a strong flavour punch. Aged Basmati rice is my long-grain rice of choice for making pilaf, but jasmine rice or other long-grain rice are also viable options. 

Zucchini & Potatoes with Lentil Dumplings

Zucchini Alu Bori

This dish is usually made with bottle gourd (lau/lauki) but since it is only available in the Indian markets, I used zucchini which is similar in texture and taste.

Lentil dumplings, known as 'Bori' in Bengali, are small stupa-shaped mashed and sun-dried lentils flavoured with asafetida and seasoned with salt. They are deep fried until golden brown and soaked in hot water to soften. Since some of the flavour leaches into the water in which they are soaked, I save this soaking liquid and add it back into the dish that is being prepared, to maximize on the taste.

Eggplant & Tomatoes in Mustard Sauce

Begun Tomato Shorshe

Oriental eggplants, onions and tomatoes are cooked in a coarse ground mustard sauce. It generally takes a while to prepare black mustard seeds for this dish. To remove the bitterness from black mustard seeds, they are generally soaked in salt-water for at least 2 hours or preferably overnight. They are then blended to a smooth paste.

Ingredients:

4 Oriental eggplants, cut in half lengthwise & sliced in crescents
1 large onion, peeled and sliced

2 Roma tomatoes, diced
4 oz. frozen peas
4 Tbsp. vegetable oil

½ tsp. nigella seeds (kalo jeera/kalonji)

2 tsp. ginger paste

2 Tbsp. black mustard seeds
1/2 cup water + 1/2 tsp. salt

Salt to taste

2–3 hot green chillies, left whole

Directions:

1. Soak mustard seeds for 1/2 hour or overnight.
2. Drain mustard seeds, add salted water along with 1 green chilli, blend to a smooth paste & set aside.
3. Heat oil in a pan over medium-high heat and fry nigella seeds.

3. When nigella seeds begin to sputter and sizzle, add first three ingredients, ginger paste and salt.

4. Lower heat to medium-low and simmer until vegetables are tender.

5. Adjust salt to taste, peas and mustard paste.

6. Stir-fry for 2 more minutes until vegetables are coated with sauce.

7. Garnish with whole chilies and transfer to a serving dish.

Serve with steamed Basmati rice or chapatis.

Note:

The eggplants can be replaced with several other vegetables, such as green beans, cauliflower, potatoes, zucchini, ridge gourd (jhinge), sweet potatoes, pumpkin, etc.

Green Beans in White Poppy Seed Sauce

Green Beans Posto

Posto or white poppy seeds when ground to a paste with salt and green chillies makes a wonderful sauce for all kinds of vegetables. The vegetables are first cooked with ginger paste until almost done and the poppy seed paste is added at the end and simmered for a very short time. 

This dish is a favourite in the Bengali household. It is generally eaten at lunch, makes one feel really mellow and induces sound sleep. 

Ingredients:
4 Tbsp. white poppy seeds (posto)
1 cup Water

3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
½ tsp. nigella seeds (kalo jeera/kalonji)

1 lb. green beans, sliced width-wise into small circles

1 russet potato, peeled and diced 
2 tsp. ginger paste
Salt to taste

1 tsp. ghee or melted Butter
2 – 3 green chillies, left whole

Directions:
1. Boil a cup of water in the microwave, pour over poppy seeds in a bowl and cover.

2. Set poppy seeds aside for half an hour to cool and soften.
2. Puree poppy seeds and soaking water in a blender until it reaches the consistency of a thick sauce. 
3. Heat oil in a pan over medium-high heat and add nigella seeds.
4. When the seeds begin to sputter and sizzle, add vegetables, ginger paste and salt.
5. Lower heat to medium-low and cook for 10 minutes until vegetables are tender.
6. Adjust salt to taste and cook for 5 minutes.
7. Add pureed poppy seeds and stir until well combined.
8. Cook for 2 minutes until sauce reduces and just coats the beans.
9. Garnish with ghee & whole chillies and transfer to a serving dish.

Serve with steamed Basmati rice or chapatis.

Note:
The green beans can be replaced with several other vegetables, such as eggplant, cauliflower, potatoes, zucchini, ridge gourd (jhinge), sweet potatoes, pumpkin, etc.

Panch Mishali Shukto - 5 Vegetables in Mustard Sauce

Often 3, 5, 7 or 9 vegetables are combined together in a melange of textures and colours in Indian cuisine. Navratan Korma is sometimes found on the menu in Indian restaurants and that translates to a creamy mixture of 9 (navratan) vegetables. In Bengali cuisine, an odd number of vegetables are combined in a stir-fry and is called paanch (5) or shaath (7) mishali (mix).

Shukto is eaten as the first course in a Bengali meal because it is bitter due to the inclusion of bitter melon. The shukto that was served for lunch yesterday comprised bitter melon, sweet potatoes, russet potatoes, eggplant and zucchini, enveloped in a mustard sauce. 

Bitter melon is certainly an acquired taste and the reason they are a favourite is because it's been a staple in our household since my earliest memories. I once asked Mum why everyone in our family likes bitter melon so much and she said she used to steam them and hand one to each of us 8 siblings and we would walk around eating it like candy.

Panch Phoron or Bengali 5 Spice Mixture

Panch Phoron or Bengali 5 Spice

Bengali is the language spoken by the people of Bangladesh and in the state of Bengal in India. 

Known in Bengali as panch phoron (panch=5 & phoron=tempering), this mixture of spices comprises equal quantities of black mustard (shorshe/sarson/rai) seeds, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, fenugreek seeds and nigella (kalo jeera/kalonji) seeds. Panch phoron is used for tempering Bengali vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes.  

Randhuni or Wild Celery Seeds

In the more traditional panch phoron, randhuni (wild celery seeds) is used in place of black mustard seeds.The latter are more readily available than randhuni which is difficult to procure outside the state of Bengal in India. 

Roasted panch phoron powder is used to flavor vegetarian dishes and as a garnish in those same dishes as well as in chutneys, such as Tomato Date Chutney and raitas, such as Fuji Apple Raita. Take a tablespoon of each of the 5 spices and toast them in a dry skillet until fennel seeds turn brown and mustard seeds turn white. Grind to a coarse powder in a coffee grinder. This lovely, fragrant spice must be cooled and stored in an airtight bottle. It will remain fragrant anywhere from 6 months to a year.

Empty McCormick's spice bottles make great storage containers for my whole and powdered Indian spices. The bottles and lids are washed in the dishwasher, allowed to air-dry overnight and saved for this purpose. A label-maker comes in handy to help identify the contents of these recycled bottles.

It's a good idea to keep a coffee grinder specifically for grinding spices, but if you have to use it for grinding coffee as well, here's an effective way of cleaning the grinder and removing the aroma of spices. Empty the coffee grinder and clean both chamber and lid thoroughly with a paper towel. Add a teaspoon of Arm & Hammer baking soda to the grinder and pulse several times. Empty the baking soda into the sink and clean the chamber of the grinder and the lid thoroughly with a paper towel. Keep the lid off overnight to air the chamber of the grinder and it should be ready to grind coffee beans.

Channa Dal with Hard Boiled Eggs

Chana Dal e Dim Sheddho

This is a quick and easy recipe for channa dal. The addition of hard boiled eggs takes it from a side to a main dish, if need be. 

Channa Dal

Channa Dal

Hulled and split chickpeas or garbanzo beans, chana dal is used extensively in Asia as a source of protein for vegetarians and vegans since it has one of the highest protein levels of all plants. 

Although it is not necessary to do so, these beans soften and cook faster if soaked in warm water for half an hour before cooking.

When cooked in the pressure cooker, add 2-3 times of water and a pinch of turmeric to the beans, cover and bring to a full boil and once the pressure builds up in the cooker, lower the heat to medium and allow to simmer for 15 minutes. Leave in pressure cooker until pressure dissipates naturally and completely before opening lid. 

It takes about half an hour for these beans to cook on the stove top. Do not cover while cooking on the stove top or the contents will overflow and cause a big mess.

Avoid adding salt and/or acid such as tomatoes or tomato paste until chana dal is completely cooked.

Channa Dal Preparations:

Channa Dal in Coconut Milk

Channa Dal with Sweet Potatoes & Toasted Coconut

Channa Dal with Hard Boiled Eggs

Chana Masala with Loads of Rainbow Peppers

Chickpeas, Potatoes & Rainbow Peppers

Chana Masala is a popular item on an Indian menu. I've given it a twist by adding sweet rainbow peppers which pumped up the flavor.

Ingredients:

1 lb. sweet rainbow peppers (small red, yellow & orange peppers)

2 (14 oz.) can garbanzo beans, washed & drained

2 (14 oz.) cans diced potatoes, washed and drained
4 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 cinnamon stick
1 star anise
1/2 tsp. shah jeera or cumin seeds
1 tsp. coriander-cumin powder

2 large onions, peeled & diced
2 medium (Roma) tomatoes, diced
1 Tbsp. ginger paste

1/2 Tbsp. garlic paste2 tsp. tomato paste
1 jalapeno pepper, diced

Directions:

1. Heat oil over medium-high heat and sputter cumin seeds, cinnamon & star anise.
2. Fry coriander-cumin powder, onions & tomatoes until tomatoes break down.
3. Add tomato paste, ginger and garlic pastes & stir-fry until oil resurfaces.
4. Add sweet peppers and stir-fry for 3 minutes.
5. Stir in garbanzo beans & potatoes.
6. Season with salt & pepper to taste.
7. Lower heat, cover and simmer until dry.
8. Garnish with diced jalapeno peppers and remove from heat

Serve hot over steamed Basmati or Jasmine rice or with chapatis.

Ranchero Enchilada Casserole

Campbell's Kitchen sent me an eMail with the intriguing caption of 'Chicken Dinners in 3 Steps or Less!' Their recipe of the same name caught my eye. It was a cinch to make and delicious to eat! However, I had to adapt Campbell's recipe to the ingredients that were on hand. These ingredients have been provided below in the order in which they will be layered into the casserole dish.

Fresh Fenugreek Greens with Eggplant & Lentil Dumplings

Methi Shaak Begun Bori Diye

Fenugreek greens are frequently available at their peak of freshness in Indian grocery stores in my neck of the woods. I picked up two bunches that had roots in tact which had to be rinsed thoroughly in water to get rid of the grit that were clinging to the roots. The roots were removed, the greens chopped and the whole lot dumped into a sink half-filled with cold water. Once the sediment settled at the bottom of the sink, the greens were collected from the surface and stir-fried immediately. 

Lentil dumplings, known as 'Bori' in Bengali, are small stupa-shaped mashed and sun-dried lentils flavoured with asafetida and seasoned with salt. They are deep fried until golden brown and soaked in hot water to soften. Since some of the flavour leaches into the water in which they are soaked, I save this soaking liquid and add it back into the dish that is being prepared, to maximize on the taste.

Mung Dal with Cauliflower Garnished with Dried Fenugreek Leaves

I took one of Mum's recipes that was served when we had guests for dinner and took it up a notch with the addition of dried fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi). This gives a depth of flavour to the lentils that is hard to resist!