About this recipe
Lahpet thoke is one of Myanmar's most distinctive dishes and a good emblem of a cuisine that eats its tea as well as drinks it. Pickled, fermented tea leaves — lahpet — are dressed with oil and lime and tossed with, or ringed by, an array of crunchy things: crisp fried yellow split peas and other fried beans, roasted peanuts, toasted sesame, fried garlic, a little dried shrimp, and fresh cabbage, tomato and green chilli. The result is soft, sour, salty, savoury and above all crunchy all at once. It is eaten as a snack, a salad and a palate-sharpener, and it carries social and ceremonial weight in Myanmar life. It is widely associated with the country as a whole and linked in particular with tea-growing Shan areas; the fermentation, the cultural role and the regional attribution are logged for verification.
Recipe facts
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Prep
- 20 minutes (with prepared fermented tea)
- Cook
- None (assembly)
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Spice
- Mild to medium (from fresh green chilli)
Allergens Contains peanuts, sesame, shellfish (dried shrimp) and, if used, fish sauce. Contains no dairy or gluten as written. Can be made vegetarian/vegan by omitting the dried shrimp and fish sauce. See the halal-status field.
Development draft. This is an untested development recipe from the cookbook project. It has not been kitchen-tested, and the quantities and timings are the author’s working draft rather than a verified result.
Ingredients
The tea
- 1/2 cup (about 120 g) prepared fermented (pickled) tea leaves, lahpet, rinsed and squeezed if very strong
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) neutral or garlic-infused oil
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) lime juice
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) fish sauce (optional; omit for a vegetarian version)
The crunchy and fresh elements
- 1/4 cup (40 g) crisp fried yellow split peas
- 2 tbsp (20 g) fried broad beans or chickpeas
- 1/4 cup (35 g) roasted peanuts
- 1 tbsp (10 g) toasted sesame seeds
- 2 tbsp (15 g) crisp fried garlic
- 1 tbsp (8 g) dried shrimp, chopped (optional)
- 1 cup shredded cabbage
- 1 ripe tomato, sliced or diced
- 1 to 2 green chillies, thinly sliced
To serve
- Extra lime wedges
- Extra garlic oil
Equipment
- Small frying pan for the fried garlic and beans (if frying your own)
- Mixing bowl
- Serving plate
Method
- Dress the tea: put the fermented tea leaves in a small bowl and work in the oil, lime juice and optional fish sauce until glossy and loosened.
- Arrange the salad: mound the dressed tea in the centre of a plate and surround it with separate small heaps of fried split peas, fried beans, peanuts, sesame, fried garlic, optional dried shrimp, cabbage, tomato and green chilli. (Or combine everything in a bowl.)
- Toss at the table just before eating, so the crunchy elements keep their crunch, adding extra lime and garlic oil to taste.
- Serve at once as a snack or alongside rice.
The Complete Edition
Lahpet Thoke (Tea Leaf Salad) sits in the Myanmar chapter
The book carries this recipe in full alongside the rest of the Myanmar chapter, the pastes and dips it is built on, and the twenty-seven pantry studies that open the collection.
In review with Amazon KDP
Both editions have been submitted to Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and are currently in review. Submitted prices are $9.99 for the kindle edition and $49.99 for the paperback. Neither is on sale yet, and prices are as submitted rather than final.