Burmese Recipes
BURMA (Myanmar)

Burma is probably one of the least well-known of all Asian countries and many people have no idea what Burmese food is like. Burmese restaurants are few and far between - even, surprisingly, in Burma itself. There is really nothing mysterious or different about Burmese cooking, and the best way to sample the food is to learn to cook it yourself. Burmese food is distinctive, although it incorporates certain elements from the cooking of neighboring India and China, and shares some common features with other South-East Asian cuisines.

The Burmese have taken their food seriously for a long time. In the thirteenth century, a certain King Narathihapate ruled Pagan, a great Buddhist city whose thousand of stone temples can still be seen today. This King's nickname was 'Eater of Three Hundred Curries', because, in the words of the Burmese chronicles: 'Whensoever the King partook of food, there must always be three hundred dishes, salted and spiced, sweet and sharp, bitter and hot, luscious and parching.'

A typical Burmese meal will include a wide range of tastes, each designed to balance, contrast or complement the others. A Burmese menu is quite different from a Western one. a soup is nearly always included; this is not taken separately as a first course, but served at the same time as the main dish and sipped at intervals throughout the meal. Soups are usually light and refreshing to the palate. Sharp or slightly sour tasting soup is particularly popular.

The main dish will usually be a curry of meat, fish or vegetables. In general Burmese curries are not overpoweringly hot; those who crave extra hotness will nonchalantly nibble fiery green chilies dipped in salt! With very few exceptions, a Burmese meal is considered incomplete without a huge bowl of white boiled rice. This is usually cooked without salt or oil as the main dish provides the seasoning. Sometimes coconut rice (check out recipe #17 below) is served instead of plain boiled rice. Vegetables are also served with each meal, cooked or served raw and either dipped in a sharp shrimp or vinegar sauce, or assembled into a salad. Burmese salads are made from a wide range of exotic ingredients, including banana bud flowers, green mangoes and all sorts of strange leaves, but more ordinary ingredients like tomatoes and cucumbers are also used. Various condiments accompany the meal, one of the most popular being Ngapi-gyaw (check out recipe #16 below)

Burmese people rarely eat desserts, but at the end of the meal they might serve a plate of sliced, fresh fruit. The Burmese have many recipes for delicious cake or pudding-type snacks called mon, which they either make at home, or more frequently, buy from a roadside stall. Traditionally, wines and spirits are not served, but nowadays many people enjoy beer or wine with a Burmese meal.
 

Collection of Burmese recipes

1. Soup with Fresh Greens (Hin-nu-nwe Hin-gyo)
2. Clear Soup (Hin-gyo Yo-yo)
3. Radish and Fish Soup (Mon-la-u Hin-gyo)
4. Prawn (Shrimp) Curry with Tomatoes (Pazun Hin)
5. Spiced Fried Fish with Onions (Nga-gyaw)
6. Steamed Fish Parcels (Nga-baung-dok)
7. Burmese Chicken Curry (Chet-tha Hsi-byan)
8. Chicken with Noodles and Coconut (On-no Kauk-swe)
9. Red Pork (Wet-thani)
10. Beef Curry (Ame-tha Hin)
11. Vegetable Curry (Hin-thi Hin ywet Hin-tamyo)
12. Assorted Vegetable Salad (Thanat-son-thok)
13. Fried Aubergine (Eggplant) (Hkayan-thi Gyaw)
14. Cucumber Salad (Thanhat)
15. Burmese Balachaung Shrimp Condiment (Ngapi-gyaw)
16. Coconut Rice (On Htamin)
17. Seaweed Jelly (Kyauk-kyaw)
18. Tapioca Pudding (Tha-gu Mon)
19. Sesame Semolina Pudding (Sanwin-makin)