Burmese cuisine

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Burmese cuisine" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Part of a series on the
Culture of Myanmar
History History of Myanmar
People
Languages Burmese language Mon language
Traditions Anade Clothing Kinship Names Tattooing Weddings Zodiac
Mythology and folklore Folklore
Cuisine Cuisine
Festivals Burmese calendar Public holidays Traditional festivals Pagoda festival
Religion Burmese folk religion Buddhism Burmese pagoda Kyaung Christianity Hinduism
Art Architecture Ceramics Contemporary art Kalaga Glass mosaic
Literature Literature
Music and performing arts Music Mahāgīta Dance Yein Anyeint Yoke thé
Media Television Cinema
Sport Naban Thaing Chinlone Lethwei Banshay Bando
Monuments World Heritage Sites
Symbols Flag Coat of arms
Organisations National Museum (Naypyidaw) National Museum (Yangon) National Library of Myanmar National Theatre of Yangon
v t e

This article contains Burmese script. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Burmese script.

Burmese cuisine^[1] is mainly an amalgam of cuisines from various regions of Myanmar. It has also been influenced by various cuisines of neighbouring countries, in particular, China, India and Thailand.

Modern Burmese cuisine comes in two general varieties: coastal and inland; the cuisine in the coastal areas, such as that in the main city Yangon, makes extensive use of fish and seafood-based products like fish sauce and ngapi (fermented seafood). The cuisine in inland regions, such as Upper Myanmar and hill regions, tends to use more meat and poultry although modern inland cooking too has incorporated freshwater fish and shrimp as a source of protein in several ways: fresh, salted whole or filleted, salted and dried, made into a salty paste, or fermented sour and pressed.

Burmese cuisine also includes a variety of salads (a thoke), centred on one major ingredient, ranging from starches like rice, wheat and rice noodles, glass noodles and vermicelli, to potato, ginger, tomato, kaffir lime, long bean, lahpet (pickled tea leaves), and ngapi (fish paste); these salads have always been popular as fast foods in Burmese cities. Mohinga is the traditional breakfast dish and is Burma's national dish.

A popular Burmese rhyme sums up the traditional favourites: "A thee ma, thayet; a thar ma, wet; a ywet ma, lahpet" (အသီးမှာသရက်၊ အသားမှာဝက်၊ အရွက်မှာလက်ဖက်။), meaning: "Of all the fruit, the mango's the best; of all the meat, the pork's the best; and of all the leaves, lahpet's the best".

Eating customs[edit]

Traditionally, Burmese eat their meals from dishes on a low table, while sitting on a bamboo mat.^[2] Dishes are served simultaneously.^[2] A typical meal includes steamed rice as the main dish and accompanying dishes called hin, including a curried freshwater fish or dried/salted fish dish, a curried meat or poultry dish instead, a light soup called hin gyo (ဟင်းချို), called chinyay hin (ချဉ်ရည်ဟင်း) if sour, and fresh or boiled vegetables to go with a salty dish, almost invariably a curried sauce of pickled fish (ngapi yayjo) in Lower Burma. Fritters such as gourd or onions in batter as well as fish or dried tofu crackers are extra.

Out of respect, the eldest diners are always served first before the rest join in; even when the elders are absent, the first morsel of rice from the pot is scooped and put aside as an act of respect to one's parents, a custom known as u cha (ဦးချ, lit. first serve).^[3]

The Burmese eat with their right hand, forming the rice into a small ball with only the fingertips and mixing this with various morsels before popping it into their mouths.^[3] Chopsticks and Chinese-style spoons are used for noodle dishes, although noodle salads are more likely to be eaten with just a spoon. Knives and forks are used rarely in homes but will always be provided for guests and are available in restaurants and hotels. Drinks are not often served with the meal and, instead, the usual liquid accompaniment is in the form of a light broth or consomme served from a communal bowl. Outside of the meal, the Burmese beverage of choice is light green tea, yay nway gyan (ရေနွေးကြမ်း).

Food theories[edit]

In traditional Burmese medicine, foods are divided into two classes: heating (အပူစာ, apu za) or cooling (အအေးစာ, a-aye za), based on their effects on one's body system, similar to the Chinese classification of food.^[3]

Examples of heating and cooling foods include:

• Heating foods:
  • chicken
  • bitter melon
  • durian
  • mango
  • chocolate
  • ice cream
• Cooling foods:
  • pork
  • eggplant
  • dairy products
  • cucumbers
  • radish

The Burmese also hold several taboos and superstitions regarding consumption during various occasions in one's life, especially pregnancy. For instance, pregnant women are not supposed to eat chili (for the belief that it causes children to have sparse scalp hairs).^[3]

Influences[edit]

The country's diverse religious makeup influences its cuisine, as Buddhists avoid beef and Muslims pork. Beef is considered taboo by devout Buddhists because the cow is highly regarded as a beast of burden.^[4] Vegetarian dishes are only common during the Buddhist Lent (ဝါတွင်း), a three-month Rains Retreat, as well as Uposatha sabbath days. During this time, only two meals (i.e. breakfast and lunch) are consumed before midday to observe the fasting rules (Uposatha) and abstinence from meat (သက်သတ်လွတ်, lit. 'free of killing') is observed by devout Buddhists. Throughout the rest of the year, many foods can be prepared vegetarian on request, but the bulk of Burmese food is prepared with fish or meat broth bases. Also, many of the several ethnic groups prepare at least one inherently vegetarian dish (notably cuisine from the Shan people).

The countries that border Myanmar, especially India, China and Thailand, have influenced Burmese cuisine.^[5] Indian influences are found in Burmese versions of dishes such as samosas and biryani, and Indian curries, spices and breads such as naan and paratha. Southern Indian, especially Chettiar (ချစ်တီးကုလား) cuisine is also popular in cities. Chinese influences in Burmese cuisine are shown in the use of ingredients like bean curd and soya sauce, various noodles as well as in stir frying techniques; as in neighbouring Thailand and Laos, fried insects are eaten as snacks.

Southern Myanmar, particularly the area around Mawlamyine is known for its cuisine, as the Burmese proverb goes: "Mandalay for eloquence, Mawlamyine for food, Yangon for boasting" (မန္တလေးစကား ရန်ကုန်အကြွား မော်လမြိုင်အစား).^[6]

Preparation[edit]

Burmese dishes are not cooked with precise recipes; the use and portion of ingredients used may vary, but the precision of timing is of utmost importance.^[3][7] One of the few remaining pre-colonial cookbooks is the Sadawset Kyan (စားတော်ဆက်ကျမ်း, lit. Treatise on Royal Foods), written on palm leaves in 1866 during the Konbaung dynasty.^[7]

Depending on the dish at hand, it may be roasted, stewed, boiled, fried, steamed, baked or grilled, or any combination of the said techniques.^[7] Burmese curries use only a handful of spices (in comparison to Indian ones) and use more garlic and ginger.^[7] Dishes are prepared with plenty of oil in the case of curries and soups, and the level of spices and herbs varies depending on the region; Kachin and Shan curries will often use more fresh herbs.^[8]

Ingredients[edit]

Ingredients used in Burmese dishes are often fresh. Many fruits are used in conjunction with vegetables in many dishes; the Burmese eat a great variety of vegetables and fruits, and all kinds of meat. A very popular vegetable is jengkol (ဒညင်းသီး), which is usually boiled or roasted and dipped in salt, oil and sometimes, cooked coconut fat.

Starches[edit]

The most common starch (staple food) in Myanmar is white rice or htamin (ထမင်း), which is served with accompanying meat dishes called hin (ဟင်း). Paw hsan hmwe (ပေါ်ဆန်းမွှေး), fragrant aroma rice is the most popular rice used in Burma and is rated as high as Thai jasmine rice or basmati rice. Today, Myanmar is the world's sixth largest producer of rice, though in recent times less is exported and even domestic supplies cannot be guaranteed.^[9] Glutinous rice, called kauk hnyin (ကောက်ညှင်း, from Shan kao niew ၶဝ်ႈၼဵဝ်) is also very popular. A purple variety known as nga cheik (ငချိတ်), is commonly a breakfast dish. Various noodle types are also used in salads and soups. Typically, vermicelli noodles and rice noodles are often used in soups, while thick rice and wheat noodles are used in salads. Palata (ပလာတာ), a flaky fried flatbread related to Indian paratha, is often eaten with curried meats while nan bya (နံပြား), a baked flatbread is eaten with any Indian dishes. Another favourite is aloo poori (အာလူးပူရီ), puffed-up fried breads eaten with potato curry.

Ngapi[edit]

Ngapi (ငပိ), a paste made from salted, fermented fish or shrimp, is considered the cornerstone of any Burmese traditional meal. It is used as a main ingredient in soup base, salads, main dishes, condiments, and plainly with cooked rice as well. Different usage for various dish depends on the region.

The ngapi of Rakhine State contains no or little salt, and uses marine fish, it is used as a soup base for the Rakhine regional cuisine, mont di (မုန့်တီ). It is also used widely in cooking vegetables, fish and meat.

In the coastal Ayeyarwady and Tanintharyi divisions, the majority of ngapi is based on fresh and salty fish. Ngapi is also used as a condiment such as ngapi yay (ငပိရည်), an essential part of Karen cuisine, which includes runny ngapi, spices and boiled fresh vegetables. The upper part of Myanmar which is the Shan State does not eat ngapi at all, instead they use fermented beans or fermented bean curd for their dishes and cuisines. Although some natives families from the lower part of Myanmar who settled in the upper parts still eat ngapi as their tradition.

Condiments[edit]

Burmese cuisine is full of condiments, from sweet, sour to savoury; the most popular are pickled mango, balachaung (shrimp and ngapi floss) and ngapi gyaw (fried ngapi) and preserved vegetables in rice wine (from Shan State). Ngapi plays a major part in condiments, as a dip for fresh vegetables.

Fermented beans, called pè ngapi, from the Shan State plays a major role in Shan cuisine. Dried bean ngapi chips are used as condiments for various Shan dishes.

Another bean-based condiment popular amongst the Bamar and the central dry region is pon ye gyi (ပုန်းရည်ကြီး) - a thick salty black paste made from fermented soy beans. It is used in cooking, especially pork, and as a salad, with ground nut oil, chopped onions and red chili. Bagan is an important producer of pon ye gyi.

Fruits[edit]

Myanmar has a wide range of fruits, and most are of tropical origin. However, some notable Western fruits such as strawberries are also popular. Durian, guava, and other fruits are commonly served as desserts. Other fruits include mango, banana, jackfruit, plum, lychee, papaya, pomelo, water melon, pomegranate, mangosteen, sugar-apple and rambutan.

History[edit]

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (April 2019)

Notable dishes[edit]

Because a standardised system of romanisation for spoken Burmese does not exist, pronunciations of the following dishes in modern standard Burmese approximated using IPA are provided (see IPA/Burmese for details).

• Gyin thohk (ချင်းသုပ်‌ [dʒɪ́ɴ θoʊʔ]), ginger salad with sesame seeds
• Khauk swè thoke (ခေါက်ဆွဲသုပ် [kʰaʊʔsʰwɛ́ θoʊʔ]), wheat noodle salad with dried shrimps, shredded cabbage and carrots, dressed with fried peanut oil, fish sauce and lime
• Kat kyi kaik (ကပ်ကြေးကိုက် [kaʔdʒíɲ̥aʔ], lit. 'cut with scissors'), a southern coastal dish (from the Dawei area) of rice noodles with a variety of seafood, land meats, raw bean sprouts, beans and fried eggs, comparable to pad thai
• Let thohk sohn (လက်သုပ်စုံ [lɛʔ θoʊʔsòʊɴ]), similar to htamin thohk with shredded green papaya, shredded carrot, ogonori sea moss and often wheat noodles
• Mohinga (မုန့်ဟင်းခါး [mo̰ʊɴhíŋɡá]), the unofficial national dish of rice vermicelli in fish broth with onions, garlic, ginger, lemon grass and sliced tender core of banana-stem, served with boiled eggs, fried fish cake (nga hpe) and fritters (akyaw).
• Mont let saung (Burmese: မုန့်လက်ဆောင်း [mo̰unleʔsʰáʊɴ]), tapioca balls, glutinous rice, grated coconut and toasted sesame with jaggery syrup in coconut milk
• Nan gyi thohk (Burmese: နန်းကြီးသုပ် [náɲdʒí θoʊʔ]) or Mont di, 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
• Ohn-no khao swè (အုန်းနို့ခေါက်ဆွဲ [ʔóunno̰ kʰaʊʔsʰwɛ́]), curried chicken and wheat noodles in a coconut milk broth similar to Malaysian laksa and Chiang Mai's khao soi
• Sanwin makin (ဆနွင်းမကင်း [sʰàɴwɪ́ɴ məkɪ́ɴ]), semolina cake with raisins, walnuts and poppy seeds
• Shwe gyi mohnt (ရွှေကြည်မုန့် [ʃwè dʒì mo̰ʊɴ]), hardened semolina (wheat) porridge with poppy seeds
• Shwe yin aye (ရွှေရင်အေး [ʃwè jɪ̀ɴ ʔé]), agar jelly, tapioca and sago in coconut milk
• Nga thalaut paung, a freshwater fish stewed in vinegar, soy sauce, tomatoes, and lemongrass
• Pon ye gyi (ပုန်းရည်ကြီး [póʊɴjèd͡ʑí]), a fermented bean condiment commonly cooked with pork or chicken

Chinese-inspired[edit]

• A sein kyaw, cabbage, cauliflower, carrot, green beans, baby corn, cornflour or tapioca starch, tomatoes, squid sauce
• Hpet htohk (lit. leaf wrap), meat, pastry paper, ginger, garlic, pepper powder, and salt. Usually served with soup or noodles.
• Kyay oh (ကြေးအိုး [tʃé ʔó]), vermicelli noodles in soup with pork offal and greens
• Htamin jaw (ထမင်းကြော် [tʰəmɪ́ɴ tʃɔ̀]), fried rice with boiled peas (pè byouk), the poor man's favourite breakfast, sometimes with meat, sausage, and eggs.
• Kawyei khao swè (ကော်ရည်ခေါက်ဆွဲ [kɔ̀ jè kʰaʊʔ sʰwɛ́]), noodles and curried duck (or pork) in broth with eggs.
• Mi swan (မီဆွမ် [mì sʰwàɴ]), very soft rice noodles, known as Mee suah in Singapore and Malaysia. It is a popular option for invalids, usually with chicken broth.
• Panthay khao swè (ပန်းသေးခေါက်ဆွဲ [pánθé kʰaʊʔ sʰwɛ́]), halal noodles with chicken and spices, often served by the Muslim Panthay Chinese.
• San byohk (ဆန်ပြုတ် [sʰàmbjoʊʔ]), rice congee with fish, chicken or duck often fed to invalids.
• Sigyet khao swè (ဆီချက်ခေါက်ဆွဲ [sʰìdʒɛʔ kʰaʊʔ sʰwɛ́]), wheat noodles with duck or pork, fried garlic oil, soy sauce and chopped spring onions. It is considered an 'identity dish' of Myanmar and Burmese Chinese.
• Wet tha dote htoe, pork offal cooked in light soy sauce. Eaten with raw ginger and chili sauce.

Indian-inspired[edit]

• Danbauk (ဒံပေါက် [dàmbaʊʔ], from Persian dum pukht), Burmese-style biryani with either chicken or mutton served with mango pickle, fresh mint and green chili
• Fried chapati, crispy and blistered, with boiled peas (pé-byohk), a popular breakfast next to nan bya
• Halawa, a snack made of sticky rice, butter, coconut milk, from Indian dessert halwa. In Burma halwa is referred to a loose form, something like smashed potato, without baking into a hard or firmer cake in contrast to Sa-Nwin-Ma-Kin.
• Hpaluda (ဖာလူဒါ pʰàlùdà), similar to the Indian dessert falooda, rose water, milk, jello, coconut jelly, coconut shavings, sometimes served with custard and ice cream
• Htat taya ([tʰaʔ təjà]), lit. "a hundred layers", fried flaky multi-layered paratha with either a sprinkle of sugar or pè byouk
• Htawbat htamin, rice made with butter and mostly eaten with chicken curry
• Malaing lohn (မလိုင်လုံး [məlàɪɴ lóʊɴ]), Burmese-style gulab jamun
• Nan bya (နံပြား [nàmbjá]), Burmese-style naan buttered or with pè byouk, also with mutton soup
• Palata (ပလာတာ [pəlàtà]), Burmese-style paratha with egg or mutton
• Samusa (စမူဆာ [sʰəmùsʰà]), Burmese-style samosa with mutton and onions served with fresh mint, green chilli, onions and lime
• Samusa thohk (စမူဆာသုပ် [sʰəmùsʰà θoʊʔ]), samosa salad with onions, cabbage, fresh mint, potato curry, masala, chili powder, salt and lime
• Theezohn chinyay, lit. vegetable all-sorts sour broth, with drumstick, lady's finger, eggplant, green beans, potato, onions, ginger, dried chilli, boiled egg, dried salted fish, fish paste and tamarind

Shan-inspired[edit]

• Htamin jin (ထမင်းချဉ်‌ [tʰəmíɲdʒɪ̀ɴ]), a rice, tomato and potato or fish salad kneaded into round balls dressed and garnished with crisp fried onion in oil, tamarind sauce, coriander and spring onions often with garlic, Chinese chives or roots (ju myit), fried whole dried chili, grilled dried fermented bean cakes (pé bouk) and fried dried tofu (topu jauk kyaw) on the side
• Khow suey (ခေါက်ဆွဲ), a one-dish soup meal made of egg noodles and curried beef or chicken with coconut milk, served with a variety of contrasting condiments
• Lahpet thohk (လက်ဖက်သုပ် [ləpeʔ θoʊʔ]), a salad of pickled tea leaves with fried peas, peanuts and garlic, toasted sesame, fresh garlic, tomato, green chili, crushed dried shrimps, preserved ginger and dressed with peanut oil, fish sauce and lime
• Meeshay (မီးရှည် [míʃè]), rice noodles with pork or chicken, bean sprouts, rice flour gel, rice flour fritters, dressed with soy sauce, salted soybean, rice vinegar, fried peanut oil, chilli oil, and garnished with crisp fried onions, crushed garlic, coriander, and pickled white radish/mustard greens
• Papaya salad (သင်္ဘောသီးသုပ် [θin bau θi θoʊʔ])
• Shan tohu (ရှမ်းတိုဟူး [ʃáɴ tòhú]), a type of tofu made from chickpea flour or yellow split pea eaten as fritters (tohpu jaw) or in a salad (tohpu thohk), also eaten hot before it sets as tohu byawk aka tohu nway and as fried dried tohpu (tohu jauk kyaw)
• Shan khao swé (ရှမ်းခေါက်ဆွဲ [ʃáɴ kʰaʊʔswɛ́]), rice noodles with chicken or minced pork, onions, garlic, tomatoes, chili, crushed roasted peanuts, young vine of mangetout, served with tohu jaw or tohu nway and pickled mustard greens (monnyinjin)
• Wet tha chin (ဝက်သားချဉ် [wɛʔ θátʃʰɪ̀ɴ]), preserved minced pork in rice
• Wet tha hmyit chin (ဝက်သားမျှစ်ချဉ် [wɛʔ θá m̥jɪʔ tʃʰɪ̀ɴ]), pork with pickled bamboo shoots

– Source:^[10]

Mon-inspired[edit]

• Thingyan rice (သင်္ကြန်ထမင်း) - fully boiled rice in candle-smelt water served with mango salad
• Htamane (ထမနဲ) – dessert made from glutinous rice, shredded coconuts and peanuts
• Banana pudding – dessert made from banana boiled in coconut milk and sugar
• Wet mohinga – like mohinga but vermicelli is served while wet
• Durian jam – ဒူးရင်းယို
• Fig - ကတွတ်ယို
• Nga baung thohk (ငါးပေါင်းထုပ်) - Mixed vegetables and prawn, wrapped in morinda leaves and then banana leaves outside
• Sa-nwin makin (ဆနွင်းမကင်း) – dessert cake made from semolina, sugar, butter, coconut

• 

  Mon-inspired banana soup

Rakhine (Arakanese)-inspired[edit]

• Mont di - an extremely popular and economical fast food dish where rice vermicelli are either eaten with some condiments and soup prepared from nga-pi, or as a salad with powdered fish and some condiments.
• Kya zan thohk - glass vermicelli salad with boiled prawn julienne and mashed curried duck eggs and potatoes.
• Ngapi daung - an extremely spicy condiment made from pounded ngapi and green chili
• Khayun thee nga chauk chet - aubergine cooked lightly with a small amount of oil, with dried fish and chilli
• Nga-pyaw-thi-bohn - bananas stewed in milk and coconut, and garnished with black sesame. Eaten either as a dish during meals, or as a dessert.
• Saw-hlaing mont - a baked sweet, made from millet, raisins, coconut and butter
• Sut-hnan - millet cooked in sweet milk with raisins

– Source:^[11]

Gallery[edit]

• 

  Mohn la jin - pickled daikon or mooli

• 

  Cha-om omelette - a popular dish with ladies

• 

  Bu nyunt hinjo - young vine of gourd clear soup

• 

  Dunt dalun chin-yay - drumstick sour soup

• 

  Pè bohk - dried fermented bean cakes to grill or fry

• 

  Thayet chin thohk - fermented green mango salad with onions, green chilli, roasted peanuts, sesame and peanut oil

• 

  Nga paong thohk

See also[edit]

• Republic of the Union of Myanmar (Burma)

References[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• Myanmar Business Today; Print Edition, 27 February 2014. A Roadmap to Building Myanmar into the Food Basket of Asia, by David DuByne & Hishamuddin Koh

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cuisine of Myanmar.

• Photo guide to eating in Myanmar
• Guide to eating vegetarian in Myanmar
• Mi Mi Khaing, Cook and Entertain the Burmese Way. Rangoon, 1975