Condiments, Sides and Small Dishes

Many Burmese meals consist of different dishes brought together at the table. In which every meal has its complementary side dishes. Typically, the main dish will be either a meat or fish curry, if not both. These are commonly paired with a salad or vegetable assortment to help create a complete meal.

As we grow older, we may need to have vegan related food instead of eating meat. Lentil or legume group type of food is also a good source of protein. From the legume group, white vatana bean also plays a role in most of the Burmese snack foods.
Steamed white vatana bean, refried with shallot makes a great taste together with Parata or Nann for breakfast. In Burma, most tea shops sell the item since it is always a popular breakfast for teashop lovers.

Oh! one memory that I forgot to mention. It was 10 years ago when we met at a "moms and children group lunch" for social gathering. Each of us brought our homemade traditional food for potluck lunch. As I have close friends who are vegetarians, hopefully, this recipe will be a suitable crowd-pleaser appetizer and be great as party food.

Every tea shop in Burma sells this item and it is commonly available. The refried vatana mash can also be paired with an Asian donut ( Youtiao or Yu Char Kway). This combination was not available during my childhood and I discovered it when I revisited Burma after staying away for ages. We frequently have this refried vatana bean to make a good breakfast whenever fresh-baked Nann is available.

This mashed Vatana bean, as a cheese spread option, tastes great with toasted bread!

Refried Vatana Bean ( Burmese mashed Vatana bean spread)

Ingredients

2 cups   Steamed Vatana Bean
1 cup     Shallot ( Thinly sliced)
1/2 tsp   Turmeric Powder
1  tsp     Salt
1/2 tsp   Sugar
1/2 cup  Canola oil

Instructions

1.  In the stir fry pan with medium-high heat, add the oil and fry the shallot, Turmeric powder till golden brown color.

2. Strained it and let it cool down in the bowl.

3. Then add the steamed Vatana bean into the stir fry pan.

4. Add 1/2 cup of water and let it simmer with low heat to make sure all the bean are softened.

5. We may turn off the stove when beans are mashed with leftover oil in the pan.

6. After turning off the heat, we can sprinkle all the fried shallot on top.

(Note: We may also enjoy this mashed bean with toasted bread, deep fried Youtiao, Nan or Parata)