Burmese salads (; transliterated ''athoke'' or ''athouk'') are a diverse category of indigenous
salads
A salad is a dish consisting of mixed, mostly natural ingredients with at least one raw ingredient. They are typically served at room temperature or chilled, though some can be served warm. Condiments and salad dressings, which exist in a va ...
in
Burmese cuisine
Burmese cuisine () encompasses the diverse regional culinary traditions of Myanmar, which have developed through longstanding agricultural practices, centuries of sociopolitical and economic change, and cross-cultural contact and trade with ne ...
. 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
Burmese curry refers to a diverse array of dishes in Burmese cuisine that consist of protein or vegetables simmered or stewed in an aromatic curry base Burmese curries generally differ from other Southeast Asian curries (e.g., Thai curry) in ...
, and as entrees.
The iconic ''
laphet thoke
Lahpet, also spelled laphat, laphet, lephet, leppet, or letpet in English (, ), is Burmese for fermented or pickled tea. Myanmar is one of the few countries where tea is both consumed as a drink and as an eaten delicacy, in the form of pickled t ...
'' (fermented tea leaf salad) is traditionally eaten as a palate cleanser at the end of a meal.
Ingredients
![Street vendor preparing tofu salad](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Street_vendor_preparing_tofu_salad.jpg)
Burmese salads are typically centered on one major ingredient, ranging from starches (e.g., rice and noodles) and cooked ingredients (e.g.,
Burmese fritters
Burmese fritters ( my, အကြော်; ; known as ''a-kyaw'' in Burmese) are traditional fritters consisting of vegetables or seafood that have been battered and deep-fried. Assorted fritters are called ''a-kyaw-sone'' ( my, အကြော ...
and proteins) to raw fruits and vegetables. Common starches used in Burmese salads include rice,
egg noodles
Noodles are a type of food made from unleavened dough which is either rolled flat and cut, stretched, or extruded, into long strips or strings. Noodles are a staple food in many cultures (for example, Chinese noodles, Filipino noodles, I ...
,
rice vermicelli
Rice vermicelli is a thin form of noodle. It is sometimes referred to as 'rice noodles' or 'rice sticks', but should not be confused with cellophane noodles, a different Asian type of vermicelli made from mung bean starch or rice starch rather ...
,
rice noodles
Rice noodles, or simply rice noodle, are noodles made with rice flour and water as the principal ingredients. Sometimes ingredients such as tapioca or corn starch are added in order to improve the transparency or increase the gelatinous and che ...
, and potatoes. Burmese salads may also feature raw vegetables and fruits, such as tomatoes, cabbage, onions,
kaffir lime
''Citrus hystrix'', called the kaffir lime or makrut lime, (, ) is a citrus fruit native to tropical Southeast Asia.
Its fruit and leaves are used in Southeast Asian cuisine, and its essential oil is used in perfumery. Its rind and crushed leave ...
,
long beans, and mangoes. Fermented ingredients, including ''
lahpet
Lahpet, also spelled laphat, laphet, lephet, leppet, or letpet in English (, ), is Burmese for fermented or pickled tea. Myanmar is one of the few countries where tea is both consumed as a drink and as an eaten delicacy, in the form of pickled t ...
'' (pickled tea leaves), ''
ngapi
Ngapi ( my, ငါးပိ , ), formerly also spelled ngapee, nga-pee and gnapee, is a pungent paste made of either fish or shrimp in Burmese cuisine. Ngapi is usually made by fermenting fish or shrimp that is salted and ground then sundried. Lik ...
'' (fish paste), ''
pon ye gyi
''Pon ye gyi'' ( my, ပုန်းရည်ကြီး, ; also spelt ''pone yay gyi'' and ''pone ye gyi'') is a fermented bean paste commonly used as a condiment or marinade in Burmese cuisine, especially in pork and fish dishes. ''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
Chili oil is a condiment made from vegetable oil that has been infused with chili peppers. Different types of oil and hot peppers are used, and other components may also be included. It is commonly used in Chinese cuisine, Southeast Asian cuisi ...
,
garlic oil
Garlic oil is the volatile oil derived from garlic. It is usually prepared using steam distillation and can also be produced via distillation using ether. It is used in cooking and as a seasoning, a nutritional supplement, and also as an insecti ...
, and
sesame oil
Sesame oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from sesame seeds. The oil is one of the earliest-known crop-based oils. Worldwide mass modern production is limited due to the inefficient manual harvesting process required to extract the oil. O ...
, toasted
chickpea flour
Gram flour or kadala maavu is a pulse flour made from a variety of ground chickpea called Bengal gram or ''kaala chana''. It is a staple ingredient in the cuisine of the Indian subcontinent, including in Indian, Bangladeshi, Burmese, Nepali ...
,
lime juice
A lime (from French ''lime'', from Arabic ''līma'', from Persian ''līmū'', "lemon") is a citrus fruit, which is typically round, green in color, in diameter, and contains acidic juice vesicles.
There are several species of citrus trees ...
,
fish sauce
Fish sauce is a liquid condiment made from fish or krill that have been coated in salt and fermented for up to two years. It is used as a staple seasoning in East Asian cuisine and Southeast Asian cuisine, particularly Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, P ...
,
tamarind paste, peanuts, and fried garlic, and then thoroughly mixed by hand.
Aromatic fresh herbs like
, mint, lime leaves, and green onions are also used to garnish Burmese salads.
List of Burmese salads
![Samosa salad](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Samosa_salad.jpg)
While the repertoire of Burmese salads has not been codified, Burmese salads are invariably suffixed with the word "''-thoke''" (သုပ်; ) in the
Burmese language
Burmese ( my, မြန်မာဘာသာ, MLCTS: ''mranmabhasa'', IPA: ) is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken in Myanmar (also known as Burma), where it is an official language, lingua franca, and the native language of the Burmans, the count ...
. Burmese salads are typically named after the salad's central ingredient (e.g., pomelo, ginger, etc.). Common Burmese salads are listed below.
Fermented products
![Pickled Tea & Ginger Salad](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Pickled_Tea_%26_Ginger_Salad.JPG)
* ''
Gyin thoke
Burmese salads (; transliterated ''athoke'' or ''athouk'') are a diverse category of indigenous Salad, 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 ar ...
'' (ဂျင်းသုပ်; ) – salad of shredded pickled ginger, with sesame seeds and assorted fried beans
* ''
Laphet thoke
Lahpet, also spelled laphat, laphet, lephet, leppet, or letpet in English (, ), is Burmese for fermented or pickled tea. Myanmar is one of the few countries where tea is both consumed as a drink and as an eaten delicacy, in the form of pickled t ...
'' (; ) – 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'' (ငါးချဉ်သုပ်) - a salad of
ngachin
''Ngachin'' ( my, ငါးချဉ်; ), also called pickled fish, is a traditional fermented fish product used in Burmese cuisine. ''Ngachin'' consists of raw freshwater fish, which is pressed with a mixture of cooked rice gruel and salt as it ...
(pressed sour fish), garlic, shallots, fresh chillies, and coriander
* ''Ngapi thoke'' (ငါးပိသုပ်) – salad of
ngapi
Ngapi ( my, ငါးပိ , ), formerly also spelled ngapee, nga-pee and gnapee, is a pungent paste made of either fish or shrimp in Burmese cuisine. Ngapi is usually made by fermenting fish or shrimp that is salted and ground then sundried. Lik ...
(fermented fish paste)
* ''Pon ye gyi thoke'' (ပုန်းရည်ကြီးသုပ်) ''–'' a salad from
Upper Myanmar
Upper Myanmar ( my, အထက်မြန်မာပြည်, also called Upper Burma) is a geographic region of Myanmar, traditionally encompassing Mandalay and its periphery (modern Mandalay, Sagaing, Magway Regions), or more broadly speak ...
, featuring ''
pon ye gyi
''Pon ye gyi'' ( my, ပုန်းရည်ကြီး, ; also spelt ''pone yay gyi'' and ''pone ye gyi'') is a fermented bean paste commonly used as a condiment or marinade in Burmese cuisine, especially in pork and fish dishes. ''Pon ye gyi'' ...
'' (fermented bean paste), raw diced onions and shallots, and
dried shrimp
Dried shrimp are shrimp that have been sun-dried and shrunk to a thumbnail size. They are used in many East Asian, Southeast Asian and South Asian cuisines, imparting a unique umami taste. A handful of shrimp is generally used for dishes. The fla ...
* ''Hsei be u thoke'' (ဆေးဘဲဥသုပ်; ) – a salad made with
century egg
Century eggs (), also known under a wide variety of names (see infobox), are a Chinese egg-based culinary dish made by preserving duck, chicken or quail eggs in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, quicklime, and rice hulls for several weeks to severa ...
s, raw shallots, and julienned cabbage and carrots
Vegetables and herbs
![Pennywort Salad](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Pennywort_Salad.jpg)
* ''Gazun ywet thoke'' (ကန်စွန်းရွက်သုပ်) - a salad made with blanched
water spinach
''Ipomoea aquatica'', widely known as water spinach, is a semi- aquatic, tropical plant grown as a vegetable for its tender shoots. ''I. aquatica'' is generally believed to have been first domesticated in Southeast Asia. It is widely cultivate ...
, lime juice, fried garlic and garlic oil, roasted rice powder and dried shrimp
* ''Khayanchin thi thoke'' (ခရမ်းချဉ်သီးသုပ်; ) – a salad made with raw tomatoes, raw shallots, and dried shrimp powder
* ''Khayan thi miphok thoke'' (ခရမ်းသီးမီးဖုတ်သုပ်; ) – a salad made with fire-roasted eggplant, shallots, and ''ngapi''
* ''Kyaukpwint thoke'' (ကျောက်ပွင့်သုပ်) – a sour Rakhine salad made with ''kyaukpwint'', an edible seaweed
* ''Magyi ywet thoke'' (မန်ကျည်းရွက်သုပ်; ) – an
Upper Myanmar
Upper Myanmar ( my, အထက်မြန်မာပြည်, also called Upper Burma) is a geographic region of Myanmar, traditionally encompassing Mandalay and its periphery (modern Mandalay, Sagaing, Magway Regions), or more broadly speak ...
salad featuring tender blanched
tamarind
Tamarind (''Tamarindus indica'') is a Legume, leguminous tree bearing edible fruit that is probably indigenous to tropical Africa. The genus ''Tamarindus'' is monotypic taxon, monotypic, meaning that it contains only this species. It belongs ...
leaves, garlic, onions, roasted peanuts, and pounded dried shrimp
* ''
Mezali phu thoke'' (မယ်ဇလီဖူးသုပ်; ) – 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
Tazaungmon ( my, တန်ဆောင်မုန်း; also spelt Tazaungmone) is the eighth month of the traditional Burmese calendar.
Festivals and observances
* Kahtein (Thadingyut - Tazaungmon)
*Full moon of Tazaungmon
** Tazaungdaing Fest ...
* ''Mon-la-u thoke'' (မုန်လာဥသုပ်; ) – a salad made with sliced radish, vinegar, and chilis
* ''Myinkhwa ywet thoke'' (မြင်းခွာရွက်သုပ်; ) – an herbal salad featuring pennywort leaves dressed with lime juice and fish sauce
* ''Pethi thoke'' (ပဲသီးသုပ်; ) – a salad of blanched and chopped green beans, and fried onions
* ''Tama ywet thoke'' (တမာရွက်သုပ်) – a salad made with bitter
neem leaves
Fruits
![Thayet chin thouk](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Thayet_chin_thouk.JPG)
*''Shauk thi thoke'' (ရှောက်သီးသုပ်; ) – a salad of sliced lemon or
kaffir lime
''Citrus hystrix'', called the kaffir lime or makrut lime, (, ) is a citrus fruit native to tropical Southeast Asia.
Its fruit and leaves are used in Southeast Asian cuisine, and its essential oil is used in perfumery. Its rind and crushed leave ...
(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
Kya zan hinga ( my, ကြာဆံဟင်းခါး; ), also known as kyazan chet (), is a dish of glass noodles in chicken consommé in Burmese cuisine. It is made with mushrooms, bean curd skin, lily stems, shrimp, garlic, pepper and som ...
)
*''Kywegaw thi thoke'' (ကျွဲကောသီးသုပ်; ) – a salad of pomelo and shallots dressed in dried shrimp powder, chickpea flour, and fish sauce
*''Mayan thi thoke'' (မရမ်းသီးသုပ်နည်း; ) – a salad made with sour
marian plums and dried shrimp
*''Ngapyawbu thoke'' (ငှက်ပျောဖူးသုပ်; ) – a salad of cooked
banana flowers, peanuts, and sesame seeds
*''Thayet thi thoke'' (သရက်သီးသုပ်; ) – a salad of julienned green mangoes, mixed with dried shrimp, onions, garlic, and chilis
*''Thayet chin thoke'' (; ) – Fermented green mango salad with onions, green chilli, roasted peanuts, sesame and peanut oil
* ''
Thinbaw thi thoke'' (; ) – 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'' (ပုဇွန်သုပ်; ) – pickled prawn salad
*''Kinmun thoke'' (ကင်းမွန်သုပ်; ) – a sour and spicy salad made with cooked cuttlefish
*''Kyettha thoke'' (ကြက်သားသုပ်; ) – a salad of shredded chicken, tomatoes, and shallots dressed in chickpea flour, fish sauce, turmeric, and lime
*''Kyetchidauk thoke'' (ကြက်ခြေထောက်သုပ်; ) – a sour and spicy salad made with
chicken feet
Chicken feet are cooked and eaten in many countries. After an outer layer of hard skin is removed, most of the edible tissue on the feet consists of skin and tendons, with no muscle. This gives the feet a distinct texture different from the ...
*''Ngaphe thoke'' (ငါးဖယ်သုပ်; ) – a salad of
bronze featherback
The bronze featherback (''Notopterus notopterus''; as, কান্ধুলি ''kandhuli'', bn, ফলি, bn, কাংলা,, th, ปลาสลาด, ปลาฉลาด, ปลาตอง, Vietnamese: ''Cá thát lát'', my, င ...
fishcake
A fishcake (sometimes written as fish cake) is a culinary dish consisting of filleted fish or other seafood minced or ground, mixed with a starchy ingredient, and fried until golden.
Asian-style fishcakes usually contain fish with salt, water, ...
s, diced raw shallots, and raw tomatoes
*''Nga baung thoke'' (; ) – mixed vegetables and prawn, wrapped in morinda leaves and banana leaves outside
*''Pyigyi nga thoke'' (ပြည်ကြီးငါးသုပ်; ) – a salad made with cooked squid
Rice and noodles
![Khauk swe thoke](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Khauk_swe_thoke.jpg)
*''Htamin thoke'' (ထမင်းသုပ်; ) – Rice salad with tomato puree, potato,
glass noodle
Cellophane noodles, or fensi (), sometimes called glass noodles, are a type of transparent noodle made from starch (such as mung bean starch, potato starch, sweet potato starch, tapioca, or canna starch) and water. A stabilizer such as chitos ...
, toasted
chickpea flour
Gram flour or kadala maavu is a pulse flour made from a variety of ground chickpea called Bengal gram or ''kaala chana''. It is a staple ingredient in the cuisine of the Indian subcontinent, including in Indian, Bangladeshi, Burmese, Nepali ...
, crushed toasted dried fermented beancake, crushed dried shrimp, crushed dried chilli, garlic and dressed with cooked peanut oil, fish sauce, lime or tamarind and
* ''
Khauk swè thoke'' (ခေါက်ဆွဲသုပ်; ) – Wheat noodle salad with dried shrimps, shredded cabbage and carrots, dressed with fried peanut oil,
fish sauce
Fish sauce is a liquid condiment made from fish or krill that have been coated in salt and fermented for up to two years. It is used as a staple seasoning in East Asian cuisine and Southeast Asian cuisine, particularly Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, P ...
and lime
*''Kya zan thoke'' (; ) – Glass vermicelli salad with boiled prawn julienne and mashed curried duck eggs and potatoes
* ''Let thoke sone'' (လက်သုပ်စုံ; ) – similar to ''htamin thoke'' with shredded green
papaya
The papaya (, ), papaw, () or pawpaw () is the plant species ''Carica papaya'', one of the 21 accepted species in the genus ''Carica'' of the family Caricaceae. It was first domesticated in Mesoamerica, within modern-day southern Mexico and ...
, shredded carrot,
ogonori
''Gracilaria'' is a genus of red algae (Rhodophyta) notable for its economic importance as an agarophyte, as well as its use as a food for humans and various species of shellfish. Various species within the genus are cultivated among Asia, South ...
sea moss, wheat noodles, and glass noodles
*''
Mont di thoke'' (မုန့်တီသုပ်) – a variety of regional salads featuring rice vermicelli called ''
mont di''
* ''
Nan gyi thoke
''Nan gyi thoke'' ( my, နန်းကြီးသုပ်, ; also spelled ''nangyi thoke'' or ''nangyi dok'') is an ''a thoke'' salad dish in Burmese cuisine, made with thick round rice noodles mixed with specially prepared chicken curry a ...
'' (နန်းကြီးသုပ်; ) – 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'' (နန်းပြားကြီးသုပ်; ) – As above with
tagliatelle
Tagliatelle (; from the Italian ''tagliare'', meaning "to cut") are a traditional type of pasta from the Emilia-Romagna and Marche regions of Italy. Individual pieces of ''tagliatelle'' are long, flat ribbons that are similar in shape to fettucci ...
.
Other
![Tophu thoke](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Tophu_thoke.JPG)
*''Samuza thoke'' (; ) – a salad of cut
samosa
A samosa () or singara is a fried Indian pastry with a savory filling, including ingredients such as spiced potatoes, onions, and peas. It may take different forms, including triangular, cone, or half-moon shapes, depending on the region. Samo ...
pieces with onions, cabbage, fresh mint, light potato curry broth, masala, chili powder, salt and lime
*''Tophu thoke'' (; ) – a salad of Fresh
Burmese tofu slices, dressed and garnished with peanut oil, dark soy sauce, garlic, and lime leaves
Regional adaptations
Cambodia
Mee kola ( km, មីកូឡា or ), commonly called Burmese-style noodles, is a
Cambodian noodle dish that originated among the
Kola people
The Kola people, ''Bakola'', also known as the Koya, ''Bakoya'', are pygmies of the NE Gabon– Congo border area. They speak the Bantu Ngom language
Kele is a Bantu language of Gabon. Dialects of the Kele language are scattered throughout G ...
, who originally descended from Burmese migrants to Cambodia's northwest. The noodle salad consists of steamed rice vermicelli, cooked with
soy sauce
Soy sauce (also called simply soy in American English and soya sauce in British English) is a liquid condiment of Chinese origin, traditionally made from a fermented paste of soybeans, roasted grain, brine, and '' Aspergillus oryzae'' or ''Asp ...
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
The 1962 Burmese coup d'état on 2 March 1962 marked the beginning of one-party rule and the political dominance of the army in Burma (now Myanmar) which spanned the course of 26 years. In the coup, the military replaced the civilian AFPFL-g ...
, over 300,000
Burmese Indians
Burmese Indians are a group of people of Indian origin who live in Myanmar (Burma). The term 'Burmese Indian' refers to a broad range of people from South Asia, most notably from present-day countries such as India, Bangladesh and also Pakis ...
returned to their ancestral homes in India.
Many refugees settled in the port city of
Madras
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
(now Chennai), where a community around
Burma Bazaar
Burma Bazaar is a market run by Burmese refugees in Chennai, India. It is located at Parrys Corner and is one of the several unorganized or grey market shopping hubs of Chennai. The bazaar was set up in 1969 by the Government of Tamil Nadu. It i ...
in
George Town formed.
Burmese Indian refugees there became street hawkers, selling a dish locally called atho (அத்தோ), 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
Tamarind (''Tamarindus indica'') is a Legume, leguminous tree bearing edible fruit that is probably indigenous to tropical Africa. The genus ''Tamarindus'' is monotypic taxon, monotypic, meaning that it contains only this species. It belongs ...
, salt, fried onions, chili flakes, garlic and
ajinomoto
is a Japanese multinational food and biotechnology corporation which produces seasonings, interlayer insulating materials for semiconductor packages for use in personal computers, cooking oils, frozen foods, beverages, sweeteners, amino acids, an ...
seasoning.
See also
*
Burmese cuisine
Burmese cuisine () encompasses the diverse regional culinary traditions of Myanmar, which have developed through longstanding agricultural practices, centuries of sociopolitical and economic change, and cross-cultural contact and trade with ne ...
References
External links
*
{{Salads
Burmese cuisine
Salads