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Myanmar
(Burma) Burmese curries have the same spices as Indian curries. The
unmistakable and different taste of their curries comes from pazun
nga-pi, a fermented shrimp paste, and ngapi, fermented fish
sauce. Balachuang, a strongly flavored relish made from dried
shrimp powder, dried shrimp paste, vinegar, onions, and chili, is
Myanmar's favorite condiment, served daily with every meal. All curries
are based on a slow-cooked, mellow, dense, sauce of onions, garlic,
ginger and turmeric.
Dishes unique to Myanmar
(Burma) Burmese are hard to find
outside the home. It is unusual for people to eat in restaurants. And
the restaurants most of which are in Yangon and Mandalay, serve Indian
curries and Chinese noodle dishes, catering to the tastes of foreign
visitors. A typical national dish is mohinga, a soupy mixture of
noodles and fish that is eaten mainly at breakfast or at lunchtime. An
ingredient essential to mohinga is sliced young banana trunk.
This dish is served with tiny bowls of hot ground peppers and fresh
herbs, such as cilantro, to add as desired. Kaukswe is another
national dish, usually based on chicken with rice noodles, enriched with
coconut milk. Htamin Lethoke is similar to our composed salads.
The separate ingredients, set decoratively on a large platter, always
include rice and potatoes. Hingyo is a clear soup, eaten at lunch
or dinner.
Several varieties of rice are grown in Myanmar
(Burma) Burmese) - polished white rice, blue rice, black rice and gluten or
sticky rice used for confectionery. Long-grain rice is preferred. Some
kinds absorb less water than others, depending on the variety and the
age of the grain: the older the rice, the drier it is. Rivers, steams,
and the long coastline yield an abundance of fish and shell-fish, and
the Myanmar people have long evolved ways to preserve this bounty for
future use. Carp, catfish, eel and butterfish are among the hundreds of
varieties of fish caught in Myanmar's teeming rivers. Garden plots in
Myanmar have most vegetables similar to those grown in United States,
and many unusual kinds, such as water spinach, long beans, winter melon,
a long white radish similar to the Japanese daikon, and many kinds of
gourds and squashes.
Fruits are plentiful in Myanmar
(Burma) Burmese and are
eaten frequently as a snack and as a soothing dessert after a meal of
hot curries. Bananas, in all their bewildering variety, range from green
to red in color, and from finger-sized to a yard long. The huge leaves
of the banana plant are used to wrap both savory and sweet foods before
steaming or grilling. Slices of the tender trunk are essential to
Myanmar's national dish, mohinga. Highly prized, delicate
mangosteens, and infamous durians with their atrocious smell and
wonderful taste, are grown in the south and shipped to other parts of
the country.
Most Myanmar
(Burma) Burmese have a very sweet tooth. Cool
sweet drinks are prevalent in Myanmar's steamy climate. These are made
from jaggery (palm sugar) or pressed sugar cane juice mixed with coconut
milk or flavored with essence of rose, mint, or pomegranate. Another
essential in the diet, second only to rice, is oil. Peanut and sesame
oils are produced on Myanmar's drier plains. Curry is far and away
Myanmar
(Burma) Burmese's favorite dish, and one of its distinguishing features is the
quantity and quality of the peanut or sesame oil used in the dish.
Food plays an important part in Myanmar
(Burma) Burmese
life, particularly at family celebrations and religious festivals. A
typically sumptuous affair is the Sondawgyi festival, the celebration of
Buddha's enlightenment. The Myanmar are all great snackers, and at any
time of day will patronize food vendors hawking shrimp or peanut
fritters, fried pumpkin slices, small meat or fish balls, sweetmeats,
fruit, drinks, and crisps.
Myanmar
(Burma) Burmese too has its rules of etiquette. At the table it is
customary to take only a small serving from one dish at the beginning of
a meal. This is mixed with rice and eaten before another dish is tried.
When all the dishes have been tested, then it is all right to combine
one or two, but never several dishes at the same time. A bowl of hot
water, soap, and a towel will be placed nearby for hand washing before
the meal. It is still customary to eat with the fingers of the right
hand - though soup spoons and forks are sometimes provided. At the end
of the meal, hand washing is again dictated by etiquette, if not by
necessity. |
