Happy Thin_Gyan is also known as Happy Myanmar New Year

Happy Thin-Gyan also Known as 

Happy Myanmar New Year

In April, we always celebrate Myanmar water festival to welcome the Burmese New year.  Children in Burma who are happy to look forward that day because it occurs only once a year to throw water to other people. The signature flower for this month and which is also related to water festival is yellow color fragrant flower the Padauk ( botanical name Pterocarpus Macrocarpus). In the hot Summer season with the strong heat of the sun  people are looking forward for some April Shower to herald the bloom of that flower.
This year as I had to stay in Myanmar for family matters, I got the chance to celebrate Myanmar New Year in my native land.

One unique Burmese dessert that associated with the Thin-Gyan Festival is the boiled Rice ball filled with sweet Jaggery (Palm Sugar). In Burmese  that dessert is called Mont Lone Yay Paw, which means rice balls floating in the water. Sounds funny but the method of cooking that rice balls which suppose to be floating and swimming in the pot of boiling water after it is cooked.

Every Thin-Gyan, this dessert is available in almost every parts of Myanmar as the signature sweet dessert for the celebration. Some small town and villages in Burma, most of the people usually gathered at Buddhist Temple ( traditional community center) during Thin-Gyan for festivities. One fun thing, especially in village is that ladies make the rice ball stuffed with hot green chili in some of the rice ball and just to tease the guys who are flirting with ladies and pouring water onto them. The sweet dessert that include the chili rice ball are served for fun to to see who get hit the spicy one.

Our family tradition for every Thinggyan is making at least one or more sweet dessert for the home and neighbors. We make this sweet dessert every year to celebrate the Myanmar New Year.

This Thin-Gyan, as I was in Burma, we were able to make the traditional Mont Lone Yay Paw at home.

Traditional Myanmar Thin-Gyan Dessert 

( Mont Lone Yay Paw) (5-8 Serving)

Ingredients

3    cups    Glutenous Rice Powder
0.5  cup     Rice powder
2    cups    Chopped Jaggery
1     tsp      Salt
2     cups    Grated Coconut
1.5  cup      Water
2     tsp      Alkaline water

Instruction

1. In the mixing bowl, add both glutenous rice powder and rice powder together with salt.

2. Add the water in the bowl and mix all the ingredient to make the dough.

3. Fill the 6 QT pot with water and heat the pot until it boils.

4 . Put all the Chopped Jaggery in the small bowl .

5. Take about 1 table spoon of dough into the palm and roll with both hands to make a compact rice ball.

6. Then flatten the dough and stuff one or two pieces of Jaggery into the dough.

7. Then seal completely cover the jaggery ( by wrapping the flatten dough around the jaggery) and roll it in the palm using both hands.

8. Put the jaggery filled rice balls into the boiling water to cook.

9. When that rice balls  float in the boiling water, we can pick with strainer
    And put it in the cold water to cool it down.


10. When it cooled, strain them from the water and put them into the individual serving plates.

11. Sprinkle the grated coconut flakes on top of the rice ball to have great garnish with its sweetness.