Burmese

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Lahpet Thoke (Fermented Tea Leaf Salad)

One of Myanmar's national dishes: a salad of fermented tea leaves, eaten rather than brewed. Raw tea leaf is too astringent to eat. Steamed leaves are pressed under a heavy weight with no brine, and after months their own juice has turned the astringency into sourness and savour. The crunchy extras are structure.

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Mohinga (Fish Noodle Soup)

One of Myanmar's national dishes: finely flaked fish simmered with lemongrass and turmeric into a broth thickened with toasted chickpea flour, ladled over thin rice noodles. The contrast between soft noodles and crisp fritters, boiled egg, raw onion and lime is the whole point — and in Myanmar it's breakfast.