Mayanmar: Cuisine, Culture and Customs by Mohana Gill

One of the things about cookbooks that I love is the personal aspect: cookbooks that are like scrapbooks of a persons life, a recipe that tells how she or he first tasted it, or how their mamma makes it, or how it is long a tradition in their village.  In other words, I like to see–and taste–what other people are and have been eating. It is the sort of thing that amplifies our lives.

Some cookbooks do this by taking a memoir form, others by portraiting a culture, and a land, especially a land that has long been inaccessible to much of the world.

So it is that I fell in love with Myanmar: Cuisine, Culture and Customs, a book by Mohana Gill, that won a top prize at the 2014 Gourmand Awards held in Beijing. I had met Mohana a number of years ago, in Malaysia where she lives, and had seen her at various Gourmand events over the years. Her previous books, on vegetables and fruits, with a feeling towards children, were charmingly delicious.

But it was Maynmar, a book written about her homeland, that captured my imagination. Burnese food was not new to me: having lived in San Francisco for many years we had several Burmese restaurants. I frequented the one near City Hall, for their tea leaf salad, ginger salad, pork and mango curry, tomato curry, so many things…..I ordered like this: choose one old favourite, and one new dish. That way I could explore and yet always have enough of the tastes I adore.

So I wasn’t a stranger to the cuisine: but i WAS a stranger to the culture. And to cooking Burmese food myself.

Suddenly here was my friend Mohana with a book about her culture, her homeland, her home cuisine.  I hurried along to her demonstration at the Bejing Gourmand Awards and Bookfair. We–a thoroughly interestional crowd of cookbook authors which included Mridula Baljekar of India, Dorinda Hafner of Australia, Ofer Vardi of Israel, and really: the whole world was represented– munched the many goodies she brought. We chomped on toasted lima beans, tasted golden crunchy bits of garlic, took teeny nibbles from hot hot hot chillies…..as Mohana showed slides of her homeland and foods, we tasted our way through the ingredients. And at the end of her talk we were all yabbering at once: I want to go! when are you going? should we go together? when can Mohana meet up with us and take us around?

Together we all, under Mohana’s guidance, made tea leaf salad. So much garlic! so many chillies! some were a little frightened….but as we tasted and tasted and tasted, there wasn’t one who didn’t fall under the spell of this fascinating dish: a dish that so represents Burmese food: the fermented tea leaves, the crispy cruncy seeds and legumes, and enough garlic and chillies to win over even the most timid of eaters. We, to the last person gathered, LOVED it. As a banquet was scheduled for not long after the demonstration, I wanted to save some for the other delegates who hadn’t been lucky enough to come to the demo.

I’m not saying that people didn’t look at me strangely: i mean: who goes to a banquet with a big bowl of food in their arms? For each table, I divvyed up the salad, and plopped it down to puzzled looks. But here is the thing: the next day wave after wave of delegates came to me saying: that was so delicious, what was it, where can we find it, how can we buy or make it?

It was easy to simply say the name of the book.

But here is the thing: a number of years ago, in fact, a lot of years ago, before europstar, and before ease of travel throughout the Eu for Europeans, I visited France. At the border, or possibly an information office upon arrival, we were given a small booklet describing all of the delicious specialities of the whole country, region by region. In one fell swoop I learned about where to find the best goats cheese (La Loire), where to find fougasse bread (Provence), where the best butter was (Normandy) and so forth. It was one big food and drink education of France. And I’ve always cherished it. A few years later I was lucky enough to come upon a similar book of Italian specialities, and again, in one fell swoop became italo-literate, foodwise.

Now of course, so many of these things are sold in British and American supermarkets, and in fact, all over the world people are familiar with French and Italian specialities. But Burmese food: THAT is a mystery. I think it would be wonderful if the embassies or government tourist bureaus of Myanmar could hand out such a book, or booklet based on this book, as a way of familiarizing strangers to this exotic cuisine. I know that I want to try the delicate soup of roselle (like sorrel) soup with a smoky hit of grilled fish; and the tomato curry, with its ginger and turmeric, and masses of coriander leaves and just enough chillies to slap my mouth in a good way,  looks like something i might like to make throughout tomato season.

And really: once you’ve eaten the food, you already know the locals. You’re ready to open your heart; actually i’ll take it a step further: once you fall in love with  cuisine, its not far behind that you will be in love with the culture too.

Here is a recipe excerpted from Myanmar, Cuisine, Culture and Customs:

Published by Marshall Cavandish, all rights belonging to Mohana Gill.

Khazan Thoke: Cellophane Noodle Salad

Serves 4-6

Mohana says this is possibly the most popular salad in Myanmar. It is pretty wonderful

250g/9 oz cellophane/glass/mung bean noodles

1 tablespoon roasted chickpea flour (besan; toast it in a small ungreased frying pan until it is golden/brownish)

1 onions, peeled and thinly sliced

1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves/cilantro

1/4 cup coarsely chopped mint leaves

1 tablespoon (or less if desired) chile flakes (i tend to use little if any if i’m using a hot chile oil such as szechuan chile oil, which is easily available, also easy to make, and delicious. And hot, very hot.

2 tablespoons crisp-fried shallots (I prefer to buy these ready made; if not, Mohana has directions for their preparation)

2 tablespoons chile-infused oil/ hot chile oil

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Salt to taste

Fish sauce to taste

Place the cellophane noodles in a large heatproof bowl, and pour boiling water over the noodles to cover. Let sit a few minutes then drain the noodles and refresh under cold running water. Drain and place in a serving bowl. Noodles should be tenderized.

Sprinkle the roasted chickpea flour on the noodles, then add the onion, coriander/cilantro, mint, chile flakes if using, and crisp fried shallots. Toss well.

Add the chile oil and lemon juice, taste and season with salt and fish sauce. Serve as part of a multicourse  menu.