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Burmese salads

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Burmese salads (Burmese: ?????; transliterated athoke or athouk) are a diverse category of indigenous salads in Burmese cuisine. Burmese salads are made of cooked and raw ingredients that are mixed by hand to combine and balance a wide-ranging array of flavors and textures. Burmese salads are eaten as standalone snacks, as side dishes paired with Burmese curries, and as entrees. The iconic laphet thoke (fermented tea leaf salad) is traditionally eaten as a palate cleanser at the end of a meal.


Table of contents

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1. Ingredients
2. List of Burmese salads
• Fermented products
• Vegetables and herbs
• Fruits
• Seafood and meat
• Rice and noodles
• Other
3. Regional adaptations
• Cambodia
• India
4. See also

Ingredients

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Burmese salads are typically centered on one major ingredient, ranging from starches (e.g., rice and noodles) and cooked ingredients (e.g., Burmese fritters and proteins) to raw fruits and vegetables. Common starches used in Burmese salads include rice, egg noodles, rice vermicelli, rice noodles, and potatoes. Burmese salads may also feature raw vegetables and fruits, such as tomatoes, cabbage, onions, kaffir lime, long beans, and mangoes. Fermented ingredients, including lahpet (pickled tea leaves), ngapi (fish paste), pon ye gyi (fermented bean paste), and pickled ginger, also feature prominently in several classic Burmese salads.

The salad ingredients are dressed with various seasonings, including chili oil, garlic oil, and sesame oil, toasted chickpea flour, lime juice, fish sauce, tamarind paste, peanuts, and fried garlic, and then thoroughly mixed by hand. Aromatic fresh herbs like coriander, mint, lime leaves, and green onions are also used to garnish Burmese salads.


List of Burmese salads

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While the repertoire of Burmese salads has not been codified, Burmese salads are invariably suffixed with the word "-thoke" (????; lit. 'to mix by hand') in the Burmese language. Burmese salads are typically named after the salad's central ingredient (e.g., pomelo, ginger, etc.). Common Burmese salads are listed below.

Fermented products

• Gyin thoke (?????????; lit. 'ginger salad') - salad of shredded pickled ginger, with sesame seeds and assorted fried beans
• Laphet thoke (??????????; lit. 'tea leaf salad') - a salad of pickled tea leaves with fried chickpeas, peanuts and garlic, toasted sesame, fresh garlic, tomato, green chili, crushed dried shrimps, dressed with peanut oil, fish sauce and lime
• Ngachin thoke (???????????) - a salad of ngachin (pressed sour fish), garlic, shallots, fresh chillies, and coriander
• Ngapi thoke (?????????) - salad of ngapi (fermented fish paste)
• Pon ye gyi thoke (????????????????) - a salad from Upper Myanmar, featuring pon ye gyi (fermented bean paste), raw diced onions and shallots, and dried shrimp
• Hsei be u thoke (??????????; lit. 'century egg salad') - a salad made with century eggs, raw shallots, and julienned cabbage and carrots

Vegetables and herbs

• Gazun ywet thoke (????????????????) - a salad made with blanched water spinach, lime juice, fried garlic and garlic oil, roasted rice powder and dried shrimp
• Khayanchin thi thoke (????????????????; lit. 'tomato salad') - a salad made with raw tomatoes, raw shallots, and dried shrimp powder
• Khayan thi miphok thoke (???????????????????; lit. 'grilled aubergine salad') - a salad made with fire-roasted eggplant, shallots, and ngapi
• Kyaukpwint thoke (???????????????) - a sour Rakhine salad made with kyaukpwint, an edible seaweed
• Magyi ywet thoke (????????????????; lit. 'tamarind leaf salad') - an Upper Myanmar salad featuring tender blanched tamarind leaves, garlic, onions, roasted peanuts, and pounded dried shrimp
• Mezali phu thoke (?????????????; lit. 'cassia flower bud salad') - a salad of freshly picked Siamese cassia flower buds, boiled potatoes, sliced onions, peanuts, and sesame seeds, traditionally eaten during the full moon day of Tazaungmon
• Mon-la-u thoke (???????????; lit. 'radish salad') - a salad made with sliced radish, vinegar, and chilis
• Myinkhwa ywet thoke (????????????????; lit. 'pennywort leaf salad') - an herbal salad featuring pennywort leaves dressed with lime juice and fish sauce
• Pethi thoke (?????????; lit. 'green bean salad') - a salad of blanched and chopped green beans, and fried onions
• Tama ywet thoke (???????????) - a salad made with bitter neem leaves

Fruits

• Shauk thi thoke (?????????????; lit. 'lemon salad') - a salad of sliced lemon or kaffir lime (no pith or rind), toasted chickpea flour, crushed roasted peanut, crushed dried shrimp, crushed dried chili, baked fish paste, cooked oil with onions (often served with kya zan hinga)
• Kywegaw thi thoke (??????????????; lit. 'pomelo salad') - a salad of pomelo and shallots dressed in dried shrimp powder, chickpea flour, and fish sauce
• Mayan thi thoke (????????????????; lit. 'marian plum salad') - a salad made with sour marian plums and dried shrimp
• Ngapyawbu thoke (???????????????; lit. 'banana flower salad') - a salad of cooked banana flowers, peanuts, and sesame seeds
• Thayet thi thoke (???????????; lit. 'mango salad') - a salad of julienned green mangoes, mixed with dried shrimp, onions, garlic, and chilis
• Thayet chin thoke (????????????; lit. 'sour mango salad') - Fermented green mango salad with onions, green chilli, roasted peanuts, sesame and peanut oil
• Thinbaw thi thoke (??????????????; lit. 'papaya salad') - a salad of shredded green papaya, mixed with ground dried shrimp, onions, and fried garlic; tossed in garlic oil, lemon juice, and a little hot chili pepper

Seafood and meat

• Bazun thoke (??????????; lit. 'prawn salad') - pickled prawn salad
• Kinmun thoke (????????????; lit. 'cuttlefish salad') - a sour and spicy salad made with cooked cuttlefish
• Kyettha thoke (???????????; lit. 'chicken salad') - a salad of shredded chicken, tomatoes, and shallots dressed in chickpea flour, fish sauce, turmeric, and lime
• Kyetchidauk thoke (????????????????; lit. 'chicken feet salad') - a sour and spicy salad made with chicken feet
• Ngaphe thoke (??????????; lit. 'fishcake salad') - a salad of bronze featherback fishcakes, diced raw shallots, and raw tomatoes
• Nga baung thoke (?????????????; lit. 'steamed fish salad') - mixed vegetables and prawn, wrapped in morinda leaves and banana leaves outside
• Pyigyi nga thoke (???????????????; lit. 'squid salad') - a salad made with cooked squid

Rice and noodles

• Htamin thoke (?????????; lit. 'rice salad'?) - Rice salad with tomato puree, potato, glass noodle, toasted chickpea flour, crushed toasted dried fermented beancake, crushed dried shrimp, crushed dried chilli, garlic and dressed with cooked peanut oil, fish sauce, lime or tamarind and coriander
• Khauk swè thoke (????????????; lit. 'noodle salad'?) - Wheat noodle salad with dried shrimps, shredded cabbage and carrots, dressed with fried peanut oil, fish sauce and lime
• Kya zan thoke (?????????; lit. 'glass noodle salad') - Glass vermicelli salad with boiled prawn julienne and mashed curried duck eggs and potatoes
• Let thoke sone (??????????; lit. 'assorted hand-mixed salad') - similar to htamin thoke with shredded green papaya, shredded carrot, ogonori sea moss, wheat noodles, and glass noodles
• Mont di thoke (???????????) - a variety of regional salads featuring rice vermicelli called mont di
• Nan gyi thoke (?????????????; lit. 'thick rice noodle salad') - Thick rice noodle salad with chickpea flour, chicken, fish cake (nga hpe), onions, coriander, spring onions, crushed dried chilli, dressed with fried crispy onion oil, fish sauce and lime
• Nanbyagyi thoke (?????????????????; lit. 'flat rice noodle salad') - As above with tagliatelle.

Other

• Samuza thoke (??????????; lit. 'samosa salad') - a salad of cut samosa pieces with onions, cabbage, fresh mint, light potato curry broth, masala, chili powder, salt and lime
• Tophu thoke (???????????; lit. 'tofu salad') - a salad of Fresh Burmese tofu slices, dressed and garnished with peanut oil, dark soy sauce, garlic, and lime leaves

Regional adaptations

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Cambodia

Mee kola (Khmer: ?????? or ??????), commonly called Burmese-style noodles, is a Cambodian noodle dish that originated among the Kola people, who originally descended from Burmese migrants to Cambodia's northwest. The noodle salad consists of steamed rice vermicelli, cooked with soy sauce and garlic chives, and served with pickled vegetables (e.g., papaya, carrot, and cucumber), hardboiled eggs, sweet garlic fish sauce, dried shrimp, and crushed peanuts, and garnished with lime and chili flakes. The dish has become a popular street food in Cambodia.

India

Following the 1962 Burmese coup d'état, over 300,000 Burmese Indians returned to their ancestral homes in India. Many refugees settled in the port city of Madras (now Chennai), where a community around Burma Bazaar in George Town formed. Burmese Indian refugees there became street hawkers, selling a dish locally called atho (????), which is an adaptation of khauk swe thoke, the Burmese noodle salad. Atho is a mixture of noodles, shredded cabbage and onions garnished with tamarind, salt, fried onions, chili flakes, garlic and ajinomoto seasoning.


See also

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• Burmese cuisine

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