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 ...

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 A side dish, sometimes referred to as a side order, side item, or simply a side, is a food item that accompanies the entrée or main course at a meal.Burmese curries, 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

Burmese salads are typically centered on one major ingredient, ranging from starches (e.g., rice and noodles) and cooked ingredients (e.g., Burmese fritters 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, In ...

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 rath ...

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 ch ...

, 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 leav ...

, 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 pickle ...

'' (pickled tea leaves), '' ngapi'' (fish paste), '' 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 cuis ...

, garlic oil, 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. ...

, 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,

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, Lao ...

, tamarind paste, peanuts, and fried garlic, and then thoroughly mixed by hand. Aromatic fresh herbs like

coriander Coriander (;

, mint, lime leaves, and green onions are also used to garnish Burmese salads.

List of Burmese salads

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 coun ...

. Burmese salads are typically named after the salad's central ingredient (e.g., pomelo, ginger, etc.). Common Burmese salads are listed below.

Fermented products

* ''

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 (pressed sour fish), garlic, shallots, fresh chillies, and coriander * ''Ngapi thoke'' (ငါးပိသုပ်) – salad of ngapi (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'' (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 s ...

s, raw shallots, and julienned cabbage and carrots

Vegetables and herbs

* ''Gazun ywet thoke'' (ကန်စွန်းရွက်သုပ်) - a salad made with blanched water spinach, 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

salad featuring tender blanched

tamarind Tamarind (''Tamarindus indica'') is a leguminous tree bearing edible fruit that is probably indigenous to tropical Africa. The genus ''Tamarindus'' is monotypic, meaning that it contains only this species. It belongs to the family Fabacea ...

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

*''Shauk thi thoke'' (ရှောက်သီးသုပ်; ) – a salad of sliced lemon or

(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 (biology), tissue on the feet consists of skin and tendons, with no muscle. This gives the feet a distinct texture di ...

*''Ngaphe thoke'' (ငါးဖယ်သုပ်; ) – a salad of bronze featherback fishcakes, 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

*''Htamin thoke'' (ထမင်းသုပ်; ‌) – Rice salad with tomato puree, potato, glass noodle, toasted

, crushed toasted dried fermented beancake, crushed dried shrimp, crushed dried chilli, garlic and dressed with cooked peanut oil, fish sauce, lime or tamarind and

coriander Coriander (;

* '' Khauk swè thoke'' (ခေါက်ဆွဲသုပ်; ‌) – Wheat noodle salad with dried shrimps, shredded cabbage and carrots, dressed with fried peanut oil,

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 Burmese salads (; transliterated ''athoke'' or ''athouk'') are a diverse category of indigenous salads in Burme ...

'' (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

*''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. Sam ...

pieces with onions, cabbage, fresh mint, light potato curry broth, masala, chili powder, salt and lime *''Tophu thoke'' (; ) – a salad of Fresh

Burmese tofu Burmese tofu ( my, တိုဖူး, ; or my, တိုဟူး, ) is a food of Shan origin, made from water and flour ground from yellow split peas and the Burmese version of chickpea flour, also known as ''besan'' flour, in a fashion simil ...

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 Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Loca ...

, 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 '' As ...

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 ...

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

, 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, ...

seasoning.

References

External links

* {{Salads Burmese cuisine Salads