Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Noodles
A typical local breakfast is
noodle soup
, such as the national dish
mohinga
(catfish soup
with rice vermicelli, onions, lemongrass, garlic, chilli and lime, with some cooks adding
things like boiled egg, courgette fritters and fried bean crackers). Alternatives include
oùn-
nó k'auq-s'wèh
(coconut chicken soup with noodles, raw onions, coriander and chilli) and
Shan noodles or
Shan k'auq-s'wèh
(rice noodles in a thin savoury broth, topped with minced
chicken or pork, spring onions and ground peanuts, served with pickled vegetables). Anoth-
er tasty Shan noodle dish is
mi-shay
, thin rice noodles topped with minced chicken or pork,
coriander, deep-fried shallots and soy sauce, which is served with clear soup and pickles.
Salads and snacks
Salads
are a common snack, although they may not resemble salad as you know it - the
Burmeseterm,
ăthouq
,simplymeans“mixed”-andtheyareusuallycolddishesbuiltaround
a single central ingredient mixed with raw onions, gram flour, chilli and coriander in a
savoury dressing. Common
ăthouq
are
nàn-gyì thouq
(thick rice noodle salad),
kayan-jin-
dhi thouq
(tomato salad) and
myin-kwa-yuet thouq
(pennywort salad). It's also worth trying
samusa thouq
(samosa salad), a delicious dish of chopped-up samosas served with the same
toppings.
Burmese
tea-leaf salad
(
lahpet thouq
) and ginger salad (
jin thouq
) are also worth trying,
particularly the former, which is something of a national favourite. Fermented
tea
leaves are
topped with vegetable oil, fried garlic and crisp broad beans, crushed dried shrimp and oc-
casionally chopped tomato and whole green chilli. The end result is not unlike Italian pesto
with a kick of caffeine, which makes it a popular afternoon pick-me-up with Myanmar's stu-
dents.
Many other common Burmese
snacks
are deep-fried, ranging from familiar things like
home-madepotatocrispsflavouredwithdriedchilli,todeep-friedinsectssoldinpapercones.
In teahouses across the land you will have the chance to breakfast on greasy-but-delicious
cha kway
(Chinese-style doughnuts), best dipped in tea or coffee; French toast (
chit-u bamoq
gyaw
), served with sugar; as well as
samosa
and various Indian-influenced breads (most
commonly paratha -called
palata
inMyanmar -naan andpuri),served with mild vegetable-
based curries.
Curries
Curryandrice
,or
t'ămìn hin
,isthequintessentialBurmesemeal,bestsampledatlunchtime
whenthefoodisfresh-thecurries areusually cookedinthemorningandleftinpotsallday.
(Althoughmanygoodrestaurantsstillattractcrowdsofeveningdiners,youmayprefertoeat
dinner in Chinese restaurants or teahouses where the food is cooked to order.) A meat, fish
or prawn curry (
hìn
) in a thin gravy will be accompanied by a hearty bowl of rice (
t'ămìn
),
a clear
soup
(usually peppery
hin gyo
or sour
chinyay hin
) and dishes of fried vegetables. A
