Skip to main content

Myanmar Laphet Thoke လက္ဖက္သုတ္

Myanmar Laphet Thoke လက္ဖက္သုတ္

Pickled Tea Leaves Salad (Laphet Thote)
One of the famous side-dishes of Myanmar is la phet thote (လက္ဖက္သုတ္). La Phet means pickled tea leaves and thote means salad. So if you translate in English, it’ll be “Pickled Tea Leaves Salad”.
Lahpet, also spelt laphet, is Burmese for fermented or pickled tea. Burma is one of very few countries where tea is eaten as well as drunk. Its pickled tea is unique in the region, and is not only regarded as the national delicacy but plays a significant role in Burmese society.
Laphet or pickled tea leaves with a dash 

of oil and served with sesame seeds, fried garlic and roasted peanuts, is another popular snack typical of Myanmar.
It has a mixed taste of light sweet and bitter. These tealeaves are also a kind of herbal leaves and largely grown in Palaung Hills in North east of Myanmar.
The tea leaves like cool weather thriving at a place of high and shady trees at a place of 4 thousand feet high above sea level. The tea sprouts are harvested between April and October every year. Two leaves and a sprout at the top of the tea plant are plucked gently. Tea leaves plucked before April are the best.
After plucking the tealeaves, they are kept in open air to keep away from heat. Later, the tealeaves are put in an oven and steamed for 5 minutes. Then, the tealeaves are spread on a short table and rolled by a team of worker. Rolled tealeaves filled big baskets in no time by collective work of Palaung youths. Plastic sheets are spread in the baskets to save the tealeaves from softening and getting rot. And then stones are put on the leaves for tenderising.
After tenderising for 2 days, the pickled tealeaves are sieved for separation of tender and rough leaves. Rough leaves are cut and then mixed with tender leaves. Then the pickled tea becomes marketable for sale.
Young and old in Myanmar fond of the pickled tea, which is a traditional delicacy. The pickled tea, mixed with fried garlic, sesame and groundnut, is served at merit sharing ceremonies and weddings.
It depicts friendship and hospitality.We invite you to visit our hill ranges where tea is grown. We will entertain you with a plate of delicious pickled tea, which is rich in mixed light sweet and bitter tastes.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Burmese Tofu Tutorial - Chickpea/Yellow Split Pea Flour version

Chickpea/Yellow Split Pea Flour version (1/2 recipe version) 1 ½ cup rice besan (chickpea) flour/yellow split pea flour 4 ½ cup water Pinch ground turmeric ½ tsp vegetable oil ½ tsp salt Utensils 5 qt heavy bottomed pan Wire whisk (preferably one with a rubber grip handle) Container to hold rice flour and water while soaking, for ½ recipe at least 6 cups, for full recipe at least 12 cups Loaf pan (this is what I use for ½ recipes, for a full recipe you will need at least a 12x3 pan) Directions 1. Put the water and besan/yellow split pea flour into a container and stir till combined. Cover container and let sit for 12 hours. 2. After soaking, oil pan and mold for tofu. Pour mixture into pan, add turmeric and bring to a boil. Put on moderate heat and stir with a whisk or large spoon for the 15 minutes. The mixture needs to be kept in continuous motion or lumps will form. 3. Once the 15 minutes are up, pour in the sludge from the soaking container and stir over low h...
1 comment
Read more

Myanma Mohinga

Ingredients 1. Rice Noodle - 1 viss 2. Cat-fish - 15 ticals 3. Rice-powder - 1 packet 4. Peanut - 1 packet 5.  Onion  - 30 ticals 6. Garlic - 5 ticals 7.  Fish  Sauce  - 2 table spoons 8.Oil - 10 ticals 9. Coriander - 1 tea spoon 10. Chilli powder- 1 tea spoon 11. Ginger - 1 lump 12.  Lemon  Grass  - 5 pieces 13. Lemon - 1 No 14. Egg - 4 Nos 15. Salt - 1 tea spoon 16. Turmerio - 1 tea spoon 17. Fried Chilli Powder - 1 tea spoon   How to make Myanma Mohinga Boil the eggs, peel off the shells and cut into small pieces. Mix the rice powder with water into a mixture. Pound the peanuts. Peel the onions, garlic and cut into small pieces. First of all, clean the fish and boil it. Then peel off the skin and flesh from the bones. Put some oil in a pot, heat it. When the oil is hot, put some garlic, onion,  chili  powder together with the peeled fish. Then mix up all for sometimes. After about 5 minutes, put t...
Post a Comment
Read more