Wet Thar Dote Htoe (Pork Stick)

Hi everybody let me talk to you about my very favourite Myanmar food, wet thar dote htoe (pork stick).

Have you ever tried pork stick? Countless pork stick booths can be seen on the streets. It is very popular. Pork stick is a kind of snack, pork put onto a stick. It is not the same as pork curry, it is mixed with sweet spices and just the delicious smell of it can make you feel hungry.

This snack’s origin is China but it has been adapted as a traditional snack for more than 50 years in Myanmar.



Various parts of the pig are cooked with soy-bean sauce and seasoning. The parts include carious internal organs like intestine, liver, kidney, spleen, heart, lungs, tongue as well as meat, skin and cartilage. They are then cut into small pieces, and put on tiny bamboo sticks and served. The vendor usually sells on the road side, with all the food served on a large metal pan with charcoal stove underneath. Customers sit around the pan and eat the food dipped in sauce. The meat is really delicious. If you want to try one, just walk in the streets of downtown Yangon. There are many shops there.

Now I really miss Wet Thar Dote Htoe and start to feel hungry. Similar Wet Thar Dote Htoe can be got in Singapore but taste is very different. If you come to our country and eat it, you will know it.

^_^

Bu Thee Gyaw (Crispy Gourd Fritters)

Bu Thee Gyaw (Crispy Gourd Fritters) are one of the most popular traditional snack foods in Myanmar.

ALMOST everywhere you go in Myanmar you will see men and women squatting by the side of the road next to a blazing fire, tending a frying pan half-filled with oil is placed.

These street vendors are preparing bu thee gyaw or crispy gourd fritters, a popular Myanmar snack food.

The dish consists of gourd strips dipped in a rice flour batter and deep-fried in smoking-hot oil.

This snack is most frequently sold on the street, at intersections, bus stops and markets, but can also be ordered in restaurants.

By far the most authentic way to enjoy this snack, however, is at small roadside teashops that are found all over Myanmar.

While waiting for the oil to heat, the vendor prepares the fritters. A young tender gourd is cut into finger-like strips before being soaked in the batter. When wisps of smoke start to rise from the surface of the oil, the gourd fingers are dropped in and are not taken out until they turn golden brown.

Small tables nearby bear a couple of tea cups, a pot of plain tea, a plate of lettuce, coriander leaves, and a small dish of sauce. Low stools stand around the tables waiting for customers to fill them.

The sauce served with bu thee gyaw is a concoction of hot chilli pulp, garlic and tamarind juice.

While you wait for your snack to be prepared you can drink tea, which is on the house, and watch the gourd fritters swimming in the oil while the fire underneath crackles and blazes.

At last the bu thee gyaw come out of the sizzling oil and are placed on your table. They are usually eaten with lettuce, coriander leaves and the spicy chilli, garlic and tamarind sauce, with hot tea as a chaser.

For lazy cooks, it is a great makeshift meal. You dip a bite-sized fritter in the sauce, add a morsel of steamed rice and top it with a lettuce leaf for a complete meal. It also makes an easy, quick and cheap appetiser for those times when guests drop by unexpectedly.

So some people say “At least once a week we cannot help eating bu thee gyaw”.

This simple food was even the preferred snack of the Myanmar kings, or so the story goes.

If you would like to try making your own gourd fritters, here's the recipe:

one large young gourd
200 grams of rice flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon sodium bicarbonate
½ litre water
½ litre oil for frying

Slice the gourd into thin fingers. Mix the rice flour, salt, sodium bicarbonate and water to make a runny batter. Heat the oil. Once the oil starts to smoke, dip the gourd fingers into the batter and fry until golden brown. And then, enjoy!

Japanese Food - Sushi

In here i would like to talk about Japanese famous food - Sushi

This is another of the many foods Japan obtained from China, this one coming in about 2,500 years ago. It originally meant "sour-tasting food." This was probably because the sushi was prepared by pickling pieces of salted fish and shellfish in cooked rice.

In spite of common misperception, sushi is not raw fish. Sushi actually refers to the vinegar and rice used in making sushi. The "su" refers to vinegar, and the "shi" refers to the cooked rice. The vinegar/rice portion is often topped with raw fish which is why most people think sushi means raw fish.

During the Nara Era (710-794) sushi achieved gourmet status and was even given to dignitaries. That particular kind also used wild boar and deer meat in addition to fish.

Modern-day sushi did not come about until late in the Edo Era (1600-1868). This was started with the opening of a sushi shop in Edo (downtown old Tokyo). Period living in Edo liked sashimi, which are slices of raw fish. Hanaya Yohei, the shop's proprietor, invented a new dish by placing a piece of raw fish on top of a small amount of vinegared rice pressed together into a small mound. Customers then would dip the freshly made sushi into soy sauce. He had created Japan's best-known fast-food.

Some type of sushi include:
-Edomaezushi

-Hakozushi (pressed sushi)

-Maki Sushi (rolled sushi)

-Inari Sushi (Soybean pouch filled with sushi rice)

-Temaki sushi (hand-rolled sushi with vegetables or seafood wrapped in sushi rice then shaped into a cone)

-Chirashi sushi (bowl of sushi rife topped with seafood or vegetables)

-Nigiri sushi (hand formed sushi rice ball topped with sliced seafood)

Maki Sushi, or rolled sushi, refers to rice with various toppings rolled in a piece of nori (seaweed), and then but into pieces.

There are several varieties of rolled sushi. These include Tekka Maki (tuna roll); Kappa Maki (cucumber roll); Ikkura Maki (salmon roe roll); Tsuna Maki (cooked tuna roll); Kampyo Maki (dried gourd shavings roll); and Shiso Maki (sushi rice with shredded shiso).

There is also a form of Maki Sushi referred to as Futomaki Sushi. This is a larger variety of Maki Sushi that has a mix of ingredients in it. Standard ingredients include a mix of the following items: tamagoyaki (fried egg roll), kani (crab), kanpyo (rehydrated dried gourd shavings), shiitake (rehydrated dried Chinese mushrooms), maguro raw tuna, unagi (eel cooked in sweetened mirin and soy sauce), salad leaves and cucumber.

In the U.S. we have a variety of Maki Sushi which is called the California Roll. It contains tuna, avocado, lettuce and mayonnaise.

Desserts in Myanmar

Burmese tend to prefer tea to coffee. Hot-Milk Tea is a common choice to be served during or after the meal. The reason is simply because, Myanmar Tea Leaves have a special aroma and it is handpicked from the mountainous region of Myanmar.

For the health-conscious folks, Avocado fresh juice in Myanmar style is recommended to relish.

A Taste Of Myanmar Cuisine

Traditionally, Myanmar cuisines are based on rice and main dishes of poultry such as chicken, pork and seafood. However, beef is not consumed by the majority of Burmese. Vegetable salads, are usually served to compliment the unique flavor of sweet and sour.

The methods of food preparation vary depending on the region and ethnicity as the country itself is populated with multi-ethnic diversity. In addition, due to the influx of Chinese and Indians immigrants in the past had also brought together to give birth a unique flavor of sweet, sour and mild spicy Myanmar cuisines.

Exotic Crispy Water Pancake (Ye Mont)

Delicious Myanmar snack commonly sold in the market and Pagoda festival around the country. It is also a best seller food item in the annual food festival night of December every year.

Pancake is in fact a snack of the evening enjoyed during the relaxing stroll around the festival grounds in the cool of the night.

Require Kitchen Utensils

Flat Pan or Frying Pan, Brush, Medium Size Soup ladle and Turner.

Ingredients

There are many varieties of rice in Myanmar from super grade Fragrant/Aromatic "Paw Hsan Hmway" to the less refined hard grain "Nga Sein" with which such rice based snacks are made. I will recommend not to use the fragrant rice and use the lower grade hard grain rice.

Rice Flour 300 g (2 cups)

However, if you are really adventurous and want to experiment the professional’s ways, use this method.

Wash the rice and sock in the clean water for overnight. Then put in the grinding wheel. For you, put into the blender and grind it with highest speed. Put the fine ground wet dough into (very thin) cotton beg and hang it for some time to drain out water.

2 Eggs

¼ teaspoon Baking Soda (Bicarbonate Soda)

1 teaspoon finely chopped ginger

3 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves (spring onions can be substituted)

2 table spoons vegetable oil

100 g (1/2 cup) cow pea (garden peas can be substituted)

Methods

Mix the rice flour (or wet dough) with salt, baking soda, ginger in a bowl. (If you used the rice flour, add half cup of cold water into the mixture.)

Beat the eggs in a separate bowl and add into the mixture.

Mix it well.

Add the remaining water and stir slowly until the mixture is completely syrupy but not too thick.

(The thickness of the mixture is important.)

Heat the flat pan or frying pan.

Brush the surface with vegetable oil.

When the pan is reasonably hot, pour the rice batter (about 2 to 2-½ tablespoon) with medium size soup ladle and spread it thins circularly.

Lightly brush the pancake with a little oil to make it crisp and sprinkle with boiled peas and coriander leaves (or spring onion). Cook for 3 to 4 minutes till underside is crisp. Fold in half (with Fish Slice) and cook for further ½ to 1minute on each side. Remove it onto plate and serve it hot.

Pickled Tea (Laphet)

Young and old in Myanmar fond of the pickled tea (laphet), which is a traditional delicacy. The laphet, mixed with fried garlic, sesame and groundnut, is served at merit sharing ceremonies and weddings. It depicts friendship and hospitality. 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 we can have a plate of delicious pickled tea (laphet), which is rich in mixed light sweet/and bitter tastes. :)

Myanmar Food

Myanmar food has its own special identity. Although it draws on its’ neighbors, it is neither as hot as Thai, as spicy as Indian nor does it resemble Chinese cooking much except in the stir-fry vegetables. Nowadays various kinds of Myanmar food and snacks are available in the street stalls, market stalls and local restaurants. Also most of hotels in different destinations offer Myanmar set menus, which allows visitors to try the taste of the Myanmar cuisine.

Myanmar dining tables are round and low-footed. Family members sit on the mat around the table to have meals. Unlike the Western kitchen, food is not served in courses. Dishes with different items are spread out on the table for people to take themselves form onto their plates. Food is eaten with the fingers of the right hand. Homes in cities and towns have dining tables and chairs, some people eat with fork and spoon.

Table manners

We talk about food, food culture and also some other useful or interesting things related to them here in the blog. Today, our topic is – table manners, one of the most important food cultures.

As a visitor or guest in either a home or restaurant you will find that table manners are essential and the distinctive courtesies displayed will invariably add to the enjoyment of your meals and keep you in high spirits. It is really an admirable custom to respect others at the table.


Firstly, let’s talk about the table manners of China.

China lies in the east of Asia, famous for its abundance and exquisite, Chinese food culture has occupied an important part in the nation's tradition cultures. Chinese people stress filial piety. The practice of and presenting the best or fine food first to the senior members of the family has been observed for countless generations. There is also a strictly requirement of arranging the order of the seats in formal occasions. Before starting to eat dinner, the host may offer some words of greeting. Guests should not start to eat before that, otherwise it suggests disrespect and causes displeasure.


Secondly, we take a look at some special Japanese table rules.

Nowadays, Japan is a more and more popular modern tourist city. People who are interested in travelling may feel helpful to know the food culture there. In Japan, you say ‘itadakimasu’ (means ‘I will start to eat’) before eating, and "gochisosama" (means‘Thank you for the meal’) after finishing the meal. We can easily hear these words in Japanese teleplay which seems as basic proprieties. It is considered good manners to empty your dishes to the last grain of rice. After eating, try to move all your dishes back to the same position they were at the start of the meal.

After focusing on two asian countries, thirdly, we concentrate on western country.
Britain is famous for Gentlemanliness, they advocate proprieties and appearance. When it comes to table manners, several points you need to pay more attention to. For instance, putting the hands below the table is considered as disrespect. It means even something falling onto the floor, do not pick it up during the meal. When you have meal together with Britisher, try your best to avoid making noise of tableware. Smoking during the eating time is also disrespectful either.


In above paragraphs, we focused on showing some table manners according to our experiences and the information we collected. These are just a few distinctive table manners we picked out and coordinated to share with everybody. If there are something wrong or inaccurate, any criticism or suggestion is welcome, and again, please let us know your opinion after reading the article. Thank you ^_^~

Welcome

Welcome here~~~~~~~~~~~


We are all interested in FOOD, one of the most popular topics around the world, without exception for Singapore. There are five members of our blog team, we five respectively come from Burma and China.


We would like to share the information and perspectives with all of you wherever you come from. We hope it could make sense to you during your colorful trips to other countries, bring you more fun, and every one may also make friends here. At the same time, we eagerly look forward you to come, comment, join in the discussion, and also give us some precious suggestion in various aspects (e.g. topics, content, blog design and so on). ^_^


We will keep on updating and enriching the blog, so please pay continuous attention to us, thank you sooooooo much~