1. Burmese sweet snacks
Commonly known as “moun”, Burmese sweets are not used as desserts like in the West but rather as snacks, particularly taken with tea in the morning or afternoon.
And, while sweets elsewhere in Southeast Asia are coated with sugar, sweet flavor of “moun” are gotten from the local ingredients such as coconut, jaggery, palm, rice, tapioca, fruit, etc.
Here are some remarkable Burmese sweets:
– Sanwin makin: a semolina cake made of semolina flour, sugar, butter, eggs, grated coconut and coconut milk; walnut and raisins are optionally supplemented.
– Beinmoun: Burmese-style pancakes or poppy seeded pancake; a round, yellow fried cake with its ingredients including rice flour, jaggery, coconut, poppy seed and butter. This is a fragrant and tasty pancake.
– Mote Lone Yay Paw: Burmese floating rice balls stuffed with palm sugar and put grated coconut on top. The dish is served free on the streets during Thingyan New Year Festival.
2. E Kyar Kway (Burmese youtiao)
The cake is made of bloating-fried rice flour, quite famous and having a strange taste. It is a favorite breakfast dish of the locals. It pretty looks like “quay” of Vietnam, Chinese doughnut and “kway” of Malaysia. However, burmese people usually dip it in tea or coffee. This dish is really easy to encounter on Myanmar’s street.
3. Deep-fried stuffs
A wide-spreading, available kind of food on the streets of Yangon is deep-fried stuffs. In Myanmar, it is practically unable to avoid fried foods.
Some main stuffs easily found on the Burmese streets – spring rolls, meat, aquatic food, fruits, vegestables, tofu, sweets, breads – are deep-fried, crispy or crunchy.
One deep-fried dish definitely worth seeking out is “buthi kyaw”, battered and deep-fried chunks of gourd. When served hot, the thin, crisp layer hides a soft, slightly watery interior of tender gourd. The fritters are typically served with a sour, sweet dip made from tamarind, added bean flour, and then the savory is awaken.
Deep-fried shrimps
An Indian seller offers deep-fried banana and potatoes
4. Shan-style rice
Shan-style rice is a great dish of Shan people, one of the main ethnic minorities in Myanmar. It is known in Burmese as “nga htamin” (fish rice). Rice is cooked with turmeric and squashed into a plate; then it flakes of freshwater fish and garlic oil is put on top. Formerly, fish is marinated with garlic and chili peppers.
This dish is pungent and extremely spicy but it brings again an extraordinary feeling. Oily and savory, Shan rice can be served with leek roots, raw garlic, deep-fried pork rinds, roasted peanuts, boiled eggs or seasonal vegetables. Shan rice can be found in almost food-stalls on the streets.
5. Nangyi thoke
A typical dish of noodles that travelers can see on the streets and markets in Myanmar from morning until evening. Noodles are made of rice flour similar to “pho” of Vietnam but “nangyi thoke” fibres are quite thick and round, served with chicken, thin slices of fish, boiled eggs and par-boiled bean sprouts. In processing, the ingredients are seasoned with a mixture of roasted chickpea flour, turmeric and chili then tossed by hand. The dish is served along with a bowl of broth and pickled vegetables.
Nangyi thoke is considered as the Burmese version of spaghetti.
6. Mohinga
A beloved breakfast dish in Myanmar, but “mohinga” is sold by mobile street hawkers and roadside stalls, generally available at any time throughout the day and in most part of the country. As a result, it is unofficially dubbed as the Myanmar’s national dish.
Mohinga is fine, round rice noodles served with fried fish and rich broth, often supplemented with the crunchy stem of the banana tree. Some its noticeable ingredients are chickpea flour, lemongrass, ginger and fish sauce.
Optional toppings comprise a sliced hard-boiled egg, fish cakes, deep-fried crispy veggies (onions, chickpeas), corianders and spring onions. The dish is additionally seasoned with a squeeze of lime and flakes of dried chili depending on every personal palate.
7. Shan-style noodle
Another Shan-style dish can be found on the streets, which is a combination of thin, flat rice noodles in a pure, peppery broth with marinated chicken or pork, garnished with toasted sesame, peanut and a drizzle of garlic oil. It is served with pickled vegetables. The "dry" version, with a bowl of broth served on the side, is also common.
Compared with most Burmese noodle dishes, it’s quite simple, attaining to a mild taste, but is reassuringly pleasant and obviously yummy.
8. Samosa salad
Samosa salad or “samosa thoke” is the main dish in Burmese culinary. Not like other kinds of salad made of vegetables, samosa is made of bloating fried cakes. Every stall will have a differently private flavor but in basically, it still includes sliced samosa (a triangular cake stuffed inside potatoes, turmeric, beans), green peas, cabbages, garlic chives and tomatoes.
When serving, the buyer will add a little coriander and lemon juice to waken up the aroma.
9. Tea leaf salad (lahpet thoke – lahpet: green tea; thoke: salad)
Maybe fermented or pickled tea leaf salad, known as lephet thoke, is the most famous Burmese food. The tart leaves are eaten on an own way – salad.
To make the dish, the sour, slightly bitter and soft leaves are mixed by hand with shredded cabbage, crunchy deep-fried beans, crisp roasted peanuts, toasted sesame seeds, a splash of garlic oil and pungent dried slices of chili and garlic. Chopped tomatoes and dried shrimps are also added optionally. All the ingredients are served separatedly into private piles so that guests can choose ones they like then mix in their own way.
The dish is flexible. It can be a snack, an appetizer or coupled with a plate of rice as a meal. It’s also considered a stimulant: the Burmese says that eating too much “lephet thoke” can prevent sleep.
