Burma

This week has been all about Burmese food, ever since I picked up Naomi Duguid's Burma: Rivers of Flavor from the library. We have suffered through quite a heatwave, so we've mostly tried the salads. 

Here you see Mandalay Grated Carrot Salad, and Peas for Many Occasions. This might've been my favourite meal so far. It seemed like every bite of the carrot salad was a little different -- it has all the typical Burmese salad flavourings of lime juice, fresh herbs (coriander, mint), peanuts, fried shallots, 'fish sauce', toasted chickpea flour, and green chile. I used my homemade fish sauce, based on a recipe from Chowhound but with some added stinky tofu. Duguid advises that vegetarians should replace the recipe's dried shrimp powder with extra toasted chickpea flour plus some soy sauce or miso, so I added some soy sauce. The recipe for Peas (in this case chickpeas) is simple and quick if you start with canned beans, and tastes like much more than the sum of its parts (turmeric, shallots, 'fish sauce', herbs, lime juice). Together, they made a really quick and satisfying lunch.

And here, clockwise from left there's Punchy-Crunchy Ginger Salad, Shan Tofu Salad, and Succulent Pomelo Salad. The ginger salad was great. Along with the ginger, napa cabbage and tomatoes, you have all the usual suspects (fish sauce, lime, peanuts etc) plus pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds. I left out the fried garlic and garlic oil because I didn't have any on hand. Still, it was marvelous. And the Shan tofu salad was pretty great too. I had just made the tofu, and it had only been in the fridge for 1 hour rather than the recommended 4, but it was already sliceable. The silky texture of the cold tofu was really nice with the dressing of garlic/soy sauce/lime leaves/rice vinegar. I didn't have any shallot oil on hand, so sprinkled on some fried shallots.

We've also tried the Intensely Green Spinach and Tomato Salad with Peanuts, the Okra-Shallot Stir-Fry, and the Tamarind-Pumpkin Curry. These three didn't wow me as much, but they were all pleasant.

When these recipes work, they really work. I don't know if it's just because I am not familiar with Burmese food, but I find something really mysterious and fascinating about the flavour combinations.

Overall, from a vegan perspective, this is a book worth looking at. There are lots of interesting salads and vegetable curries, some soups and snacks (I'm looking forward to trying the (inherently vegan) rice crepes) as well as quite a few condiments (chutneys, chile sauces etc) and desserts. Most of the recipes require substitutions (there's fish sauce and or shrimp powder in just about all the vegetable recipes, it seems) but I really appreciated the fact that Duguid gives some suggestions for how to make these replacements (p. 31).