One Popular salad in Most Burmese Party Feast

One Popular Salad in Most Burmese Party Feast

Every year, as we participate in a Buddhist cultural celebration. We need to plan for the lunch feast for all the visitors. As I usually volunteer to prepare the salad on most occasions, I always think about this fish cake salad as it is tasty and goes well with most of the Burmese authentic food.

In Myanmar, during the Moonsoon season, Vassa is part of Theravada Buddhism. During this raining season retreat, sons of Buddha must not travel.  They must reside and practice Dhamma in specific monasteries. Thanks to Wikipedia for explaining about Vassa in Myanmar as  Warso Pwe which is usually celebrated on full moon day of this July month.

I will only describe the popular food in Myanmar Patries and celebration. Traditional Burmese party food is Coconut rice, Butter Rice and Biryani Rice ( Adopted from Indian culture popular to Burmese taste). One suitable salad item is added to most of those party dishes. It is also refreshing with lime juice and fried garlic dressing that will help to lighten the rich curry meat dishes.

Fish cake is also a luxury meat substitute protein that has tasty flavor if we made it from fresh feather back fish. Also, I guess fish cake must be a great ingredient in most of the Asian dishes. I am also happy to find out that authentic fish cake that is available at One Asian store near my home. They made is scratch from feather back fish paste and available at the deli counter. I am so grateful that tasty fish cake is prepared ready and easy to make the salad.

Fish Cake and Cabbage Salad  ( 3-4 Serving)

Ingredients

1 pk frozen fish cake (or) 1 pcs fish cake fresh from the deli
1 pcs Red Onion ( very thin sliced)
1 cup thinly sliced cabbage
1 lime
1 tbsp Fish sauce
1 tbsp roasted Besan Powder
2 Tbsp golden fried garlic oil with
1 tbsp( cut small green chili)
1 tbsp ( tiny sliced kaffir lime leaves) ( or) 2 tbsp chopped cilantro

Instruction

1.  Cut the fish cake into 2-3  pieces and put into the 2 qt pan. Add 1/4 cup water.
2. Add a little ( a pinch) turmeric powder, pepper, and a teaspoon fish sauce and boil till all the water evaporated.
3. When the fish cake is cooked through, cool and slice it very thin ( whatever shape you may choose to slice).
4. Slice the red onion into very thin slice rinse with water then strain it then set aside.
5. Sliced the cabbage into very thin slice and also rinse with water and strain it too.
6. In a bowl, add sliced fish cake, sliced onion, and cabbage together with chopped lime leaves.
7. In a small bowl, add freshly squeezed lime juice, roasted besan powder, fish sauce, and garlic oil together then stir it with the whisk. making sure all the sauce and juice mixed.
8. Add this salad dressing from step 7 into the bowl and mixed it well blending together with onion, cabbage, and fish cake.
9. Transfer into the serving bowl and serves with any meat together with Jasmine rice.

Pork curry with pickled mango

Pork Curry with Pickled Mango

Earlier this year, because I stayed with my father in Burma for so long my son seems to miss homemade Burmese food so much. One night, he showed up with his girl and they had dinner with the pork curry that I made. I noticed that her girl also love that curry flavored pork that I cooked.

In our country, we usually cook pork with either tomato or dried mango. But after moving to oversea, my mom in law showed me how to cook pork with pickled mango. We could probably cook pork in different way or style. But this particular dish is the one making us eat it tirelessly. For me, I always cook pork with the special typical pickled mango made with a very special curry powder which we use to buy at home.
The sweetness of that special mango makes the pork tastier and the curry flavor soaks into the meat to make a great fragrant-meat curry.

During my culinary school, I learned that one dish used mustard and gherkins to cook pork chop. It was tasty and flavorful, also an appetizing dish too. I realized that each country has its own way of cooking the same meat but different styles to meet customers' satisfaction. In Burmese dishes, pork dish may be cooked more than 10 varieties. The ones familiar to me include cooking pork with pickled tea leaves, pickled salted bamboo shoot, tomatoes, soy sauce, soybean,  shitake mushroom,  Roselle leaves and there are many more.

One does not know when one is going to leave this world. So I would like to leave this recipe for my son and my other friends as a future reference. By following a clear step by step method on how to cook this delicious pork curry.

Pork Curry with Dried Mango

Ingredients

1 lb        Pork Shoulder meat skin on ( cut into bite-size cubes)
1 lb        Pork Belly meat skin on ( cut into bite-size cubes)
1 cup      Fine chopped onion
2 tbsp     Ginger ( grated)
4 cloves   Garlic Chopped
1 tbsp     Chili Powder
1/2 tsp    Turmeric powder
1 tbsp     Fish sauce
1 tbsp     Light soy sauce
3-4pieces Dried mango
1 tsp       Gram Marsala or curry powder
2            Shallot ( cut into quarters)
2 tsp       Salt
1/4 cups  Canola oil

Instruction

1.  Season the pork cubes with turmeric, salt, soy sauce ahead of time before preparing the onion, ginger, and garlic.

2. In the chopper, add all the cut onion, ginger, and garlic together with the chili powder.

3. In the 4 qt wide cooking pan or dutch oven, add pork from step 1 and add onion, ginger, garlic and chili mixture together with canola oil. Mix everything together with a spoon (or hand) to make sure all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed with the meat. Add a few tbsp (2-3 tbsp) of water.

4. On the stove top with medium-high heat, put the pot and cover. Stir the meat occasionally till all the water has evaporated and there is the hissing sound of oil. Make sure not to burn the meat and onion gravy.

5. Add 2-3 cups of water, enough to cover the meat, and cook with high heat for 10 minutes. Add the cut shallot and dried mango (or Indian styled pickled mango) when the water starts boiling turn down the heat to medium-low and let it simmer for 20 minutes. Please do not forget to stir the pot occasionally.

6. When the meat is tender, add the curry powder,  stir a little and cover.

5. After 5 minutes of simmering, all the flavors should be blended with flavors. When the water is almost evaporated, it is ready to be served with Jasmine rice. This dish can be paired together with stir-fried mix vegetable or steamed vegetables.

Most Delightful Memory

 Most Delightful Memory

In my recent trip to Singapore, I was lucky to visit the newly opened Jewel garden at Singapore Changi Airport. It is popular because it has lots of shop spaces and beautiful funnel-shaped waterfall. When we went it was crowded and so could not roam around peacefully. Me, my elder sister and my husband's Brother and his wife planned the visit after our great lunch-Chicken Rice of course ( Singapore's most popular hawker food).

When we arrived at the Jewel Garden, most of the people were in wonder as to how this huge indoor garden with skylight was built. Also, some people were excited to take photos here and there including me. One funny thing was that when I chose the spot and asked my sis to take pictures, one lady came and showed my sister how to choose the right view and angle to get a good photo.   OK! my sister gave me a huge smile and took photos. I was happy and appreciated the act of kindness of the stranger even though it was a small thing.

Another coincidence as we walked through the shops, and one of the fondest memory of my life, was to find a bakery saloon. As soon as it caught my eyes prompted me to walk straight into that store. Its name? " Bangawan Solo".  This bakery is popular among the Singaporean because of its unique taste of Asian deserts never fail to comfort the customer's taste. I was amazed to see the shop space is decorated with classic and majestic European style to attract customers.

On its shelves, There was a huge variety of cookies and authentic Indonesian deserts made with rice flour. Most of them use palm sugar and are quite similar to my country's deserts.
Also, samples of each and every cookie were available just to taste, but I couldn't find an oatmeal cookie sample. So I asked the lady who seemed like the shop admin staff. " Excuse me, Ma'am, will you let me try an oatmeal cookie if its sample available? " The lady smiled at me and got some from behind the counter. Then  I saw the coffee flavored oatmeal cookie but no sample display. Therefore I asked her again " I am also interested to sample this coffee flavor, may I ?".  I was thinking " Oh!  I might make her mad but I really want to try that one honestly". But she was quietly smiling and got the coffee cookie sample for me from the cupboard behind the counter. After trying that coffee flavored cookie, I was so pleased and smiled at her. She seems so delighted to see how I enjoyed her cookie. I decided to buy two boxes of cookie for my home. Then I realized " Oh My God! She must be the owner and founder of Bangawan Solo Deli ( Famous Authentic Indonesian Deli in Singapore)??. I had read about her story when I stayed in Singapore more than 20 years ago. I admired her as the woman entrepreneur who came from Indonesia. I asked my sis " Is she the owner ?". My sis said "Yes".
Then I requested her to take a photo with me in the shop and she kindly complied.
 Even though she is a famous businesswoman ( of course a rich millionaire) she is humble to do her own job. I felt very lucky to meet her personally and made me respect her more.

Palm sugar is the most flavorful sugar substitute for making Burmese sweet desert since cane sugar is an expensive product. But now it may be scarce because palm trees are being cut down for some countries' commercials demand. I hope our country can preserve the tradition and culture of producing palm sugar well. I made this dessert at home in honor of her Indonesian deserts which is made with sweet rice once I enjoyed.

Katri Solo ( Pressed sweet rice with Brown sugar custard) ( 5-10 Serving)

Ingredients

3 cup      Sweet Rice ( glutenous rice)
1/2 cup   Sugar
3 cup      Brown Sugar
7 count   eggs
7 tbsp     Rice Flour
2 tsp       Salt
3 cans    Coconut milk ( 8 oz can)
1 tsp       Oil ( to grease the baking pan)

Instructions

1. Measure 3 cups of rice in the rice cooker and wash with water 1-2 time to rinse. Then add one can of coconut milk, 1 tsp salt, 1 cup sugar and 2 cups of water Then cook.
2. In the small pot add brown sugar with a cup of water, then boil till all the sugar melted and thicken. Then let it cool till warm.
3. In the Bowl, add rice flour, brown sugar syrup, salt, and 2 cans coconut milk together and stir or whisk till all the rice flour dissolved.
4. When the rice is cooked, In the oil ( olive or canola oil) greased baking pan, add the rice and pressed till it is of 1/2 inch in thickness. Set it aside.
5. In the bowl, cracked all the eggs and add the brown sugar coconut mixture( step 3). Then mix thoroughly and pour on top of the pressed sweet rice.
6. In the oven with 375 degrees F in a water tray. Cover the food tray completely with aluminum foil and steam the custard till thicken like soft pudding. (Maybe about 2 hours or more.)
7. OR in the steamer insert with boiling pot. put the tray inside and cover then stem till custard are firmly formed. about 1.5 hours.
8. When the custard is ready, cool it completely cold and then store in the fridge.
9. After a few hours (2-3) hours. The rice cake with brown sugar custard is ready to be cut into small pieces.
10. paring it with Jasmine tea or green tea makes a good dessert or an afternoon snack too.

Feather Back Fish Dish

Stuffed Fish stew with Chili Broth

This type of fish soup is one of a kind that made us remember our mom. As a delta region residence, my mother cooked different types of fish as a main meal for the family.
Roasted rice and lemon grass are the key ingredients to give this fish dish a unique flavor.
As a child, I hated this dish because of the small bones in the fish meat. But our mom never gave in to cook what we want because of 4 siblings having different choices. We noticed that she always cooked what our father loved to eat. We learned to compromise and ate what my mom prepared for our family dinner.


She always talked about this fish dish that she was thankful to her mother in law. Our Grandma let her join dinner with them when she returned from work as a high school teacher in the evening on her way back home. She told us about this story every time she cooks this dish. In a small town or a big city, some Myanmar families show their hospitality by inviting the guests to join in if they happen to pay a visit at lunch or dinner time. It is a beautiful, courteous habit of the people or maybe a Myanmar culture that is also familiar to me.


I have come to love this dish as it is sweet and flavorful with the lemongrass, to enjoy with side vegetables and salty shrimp paste dip. We can substitute with lake trout to make a similar dish too.


The most tricky part to prepare this dish is separating the meat from the bones after pounding the fish. The purpose of pounding it is to make sure fish meat is chewy and flavored with chili ginger paste. It is also a traditional delta region food. It may not be suitable to be served in the USA because of law and regulations. We might get sued for serving this fish with some inadvertent bones in it. As for me, I still need to try once again while I am in my motherland.

Stuffed Fish Stew in chili broth

Ingredients

2 lb      2 counts Medium size feather back whole fish ( scaled and cleaned)
1 cup    Fine Chopped onion
1/4 cup Fine Chopped Ginger
2 tbsp   Fish Sauce
1 tsp     Turmeric powder
2 tbsp   Chilli powder
2 stalk   Lemongrass ( pounded)
2 tbsp    Roasted Rice powder
4 tbsp    Oil

Instruction

1. Pound the fish with the back of a big knife or meat tenderizer. for about 10-20 minutes.
2. Cut open the fish just by slicing both sides as the photos.
3. Debone the fish then pound the fish meat a little more with salt and food tenderizer.
4. Mix the chili powder, chopped onion, and ginger together in a bowl and divide into 2 portions.
5. Spread half of the chili mixture into the fish meat and cut into 3 pieces equally.
6. Then roll each piece and set aside.
7. In the 4 Qt pot or pan, add oil and heat with medium-high heat.
8. Stir fry the chili mixture and cook for 5 min till fragrant.
9. Add the prepared fish rolls into the pan together with pounded lemongrass.
10. Sprinkle fish sauce on the fish and add roasted rice powder.
11. When all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed by stirring, add 2-3 cups of water.
12. Cover the pan and simmer for 10-15 minutes till fish is cooked and add salt to taste.
13. This dish can be accompanied by vegetable salad or stir fry vegetables.

Peppery Grilled Catfish Stew

Peppery Grilled Catfish Stew

Lemon, Lemongrass, garlic, and black pepper always play their part to flavor the good fish stew. We are used to eating fish dishes that our mom cooked in several different ways as for our dinner or lunch. This year, as I am in my original home country for the annual get together, I got a chance to see the progress of the development that indicates Yangon is improving.

To cite a few, the traffic is flowing smoothly unless if it is office hours ( peak hours 7:30 am-10:00 am). Some young women are working as professionals who are the support system of a developed country, some ethical drivers are showing some kindness by generously giving the way, some people are looking for the trash bin to throw the trash instead of throwing it on the road. Some authorities are also campaigning not to throw the trash and not to spit on the road.

Also noticed that our country's rich cultural heritage, reflected by the different variety of art and creativity since ancient time is maintained. To raise the Education level, some families working to discard the old way of teaching, and to adopt the multimedia tools that can reach out to many. Our country is really striving for developed and real democratic country status

Oh.. I am so excited to tell the story about the improvements in my motherland. But...

Let's talk about food. My sister's friend wanted to cook like mom's catfish recipe that she tasted once from my sis's lunch box. Our mother said that cooking is sometimes tricky. You cook with your eyes, you cook with your nose above all you cook with love with all your heart. What a wonderful concept of how to cook food. I love my mom's words since they remind me as of sweet memories. This Asian grilled catfish stew recipe is adapted from my paternal grandma's recipe. My mom used to mentions about how good my grandma's food was and how she enjoyed it when she worked as a young teacher. That was the time before I was even born. This peppery fish stew is also one of a kind too.

Peppery Grilled Catfish Stew ( 2-3 Serving)

Ingredients

2 Lb       Whole catfish ( 2-3 counts)
1/2 cups Chopped onion
1/4 cups Chopped garlic
1 tbsp     finely chopped ginger
1 tbsp     freshly roasted ground pepper
1.5 Tbsp  Chili Powder
1 Tbsp     Fish sauce
1 tsp       Turmeric powder
1 Stalk     Lemongrass
1/4 cup    Canola oil

Instructions

1.  Grill the whole catfish on the grill or wood fire with medium heat till it's skin start cooking as skin in its own oil. About 5-10 minutes. Then let it cool.
2. Wash all the blacken stuff from the fish because of grilling burnt skin. Then Cut the grilled fish into bite-size pieces.
3. Season the fish pieces with turmeric powder, salt, and pepper together with 1 tsp fish sauce.
4. In the nonstick pan, add oil and stir fry the chopped onion, ginger and garlic together with chili powder.
5. When all the ingredients are fragrant, add seasoned fish pieces into the pan together with a pounded lemongrass stalk.
6. Add the rest of the fish sauce and cook till all the water has evaporated. Then stir gently to season well with the fish and chili stir fry.
7. Cook the fish start sticking to the pan and start smoking fragrant.
8. Add 1.5 cups of water and cover and cook with medium-high heat.
9. when the pan starts boiling, turn down the heat to simmer.
10. When the water is evaporated halfway, turn off the heat. It is ready to serve with hot Jasmine rice.

When you have the Rotisserie Chicken

When you have the Rotisserie Chicken

One would never get tired of this chicken salad as the side dish for every meal.
Since our young days, every Chinese restaurant has this on its menu, since Myanmar love spicy and sour food. We seldom make this at home since it is also easy to make it as the appetizer. As rotisserie chicken is easily available, we can use it to transforms into cashew chicken salad for the chicken salad sandwich. Or into many Asian flavored dishes to make it as an easy meal.

As a mom, I always need to think of how to make an easy and delicious meal for the family. I could say that this is not true only for me, but for all the moms in this world who take care of their families, being as a mother. This rotisserie chicken has become very handy since we arrive in America. Since the price also a little cheaper than raw chicken sometimes, why not choosing the win-win situation by cutting down the price and also the cooking steps.

Sometimes my mom friends from other countries also shared different recipes in many other ways too. This recipe that I am sharing is the Chinese style but cold salad which can also be packed as the summer salad to enjoy with rice for family picnics ( suppose to be in cooler ( Icebox) ).
It has Chili, soy sauce and lime juice, thus giving it a little kick for everybody's taste bud and appetizing too. I always make this salad with some portion of dark meat every time I bought Rotisserie chicken from Deli. However, In this recipe, I used steamed chicken because I wanted to start from scratch. No brainer, we can easily make with rotisserie chicken meat for busy families.

Sour and Spicy Chicken Salad ( 2-3 Serving)

 Steamed Chicken ( Step 1)

 Ingredients

1/2        Chicken ( cut into pieces ) ( both dark meat and white meat)
4 sliced  Ginger
1 tbsp    Light Soy Sauce
1/2 tsp   Salt
1/4 tsp   Black pepper

Dressing ( Step 2)

1 tbsp  Crushed red pepper chili flakes
1 tsp    Red chili powder
4 tbsp  Canola oil
3 tbsp  Chopped Garlic
1/2 cup Cilantro (rough chopped)
1 tbsp   Light Soy sauce
1 tsp    Sesame Oil
1 Count Lime
6-8 count Lettuce leaves ( any kind for garnish)

Instructions

1. In the pan, add chicken pieces and all the ingredient from Step 1. Then add enough water to cover the chicken.
2. On the stove top with medium-high heat, boil that chicken for 15 minutes till rolling boil.
3. Turn down the heat and cook for 10 or 15 minutes to make sure the chicken is thoroughly cooked.
4. While chicken is cooking, make the chili oil, in the skillet on the stove top, add oil with medium heat fry both chili flakes and powder for 5-10 minutes till fragrant.
( Note: making chili oil: frying the chili powder and chili flakes can easily burn. To avoid this mix the chili powder and chili flakes in a bowl with 1or 2 tbsp of water then fry.
5. When the chicken is cooked, take out the meats from the bone and slice into thick pieces. Set aside in a bowl.

Making Dressing

6. In the mixing bowl, add 2 tbsp of fried chili oil from step 4, Then add the rest of the ingredient from step 2  (Chopped garlic, lime juice, soy sauce, 1/4 cup of chopped cilantro, sesame oil) then mix it thoroughly. ( We may add 1 tsp sugar but this is totally optional)
7. Pour the dressing onto the sliced teamed chicken pieces then mix and taste. We may add salt or lime according to our own taste.
8. On the serving plate, lay the prewashed lettuce leaves and put the mixed chicken salad on top, sprinkle the remaining cilantro for the final garnishing touch.
9. We may layer the thinly sliced tomato pieces around the salad, just to add color.
10. Enjoy with either brown rice or white rice to your preference.

Steam Duck and Pickled Mustard Leaves Soup

Steamed Duck ( Double-Boiled Duck) with Pickled Mustard Leaves Soup

As The Chinese New Year is in the first week of February this year, I remember the days when we used to pray with a big feast to celebrate the new year as my father of Chinese Ancestry. It must have been a miracle that night when my mom dreamt about an old Chinese guy she never met before. In her dream he asked " Dear daughter, may I have some stir fry Noodle with pork?". My mom had never seen her father-in-law because my dad once told me that my grandpa passed away when dad was ten years old.

So my father showed her a very old, faded photograph of his father. My mom was shocked and said yes he was the man in her dream. Starting from that day we had celebrated the Chinese New Year by praying with a big feast at home in Myanmar. When we move to this country, we do not uphold the cultural and spiritual related pujas but pray every day in our prayer room at home. Even our Mom told us that it might be a hassle, and said: "please remember to pray and recite our Buddha's teaching though, which may be enough".

This double boiled duck soup is also a great accompaniment for Chinese dishes, as the sour flavor of pickled mustard could lighten up the rich and sweet Chinese food.
We may also make the doubled boil duck with wonton noodle by using this duck too. It is also a good nutritional dish for sick patients to stimulate their appetite as well.

I made pickled mustard leaves this year as I got fresh greens from the farmers market. It turns out to be perfect, flavorful, homemade pickled mustard leaves without preservative.
But we could also buy easily from the Asian grocery store here.

Steamed Duck (Double-Boiled Duck) Soup  with Pickled Mustard Leaves

 ( 5-6 Serving)

Ingredients

1 count  Duck ( thawed and cut into pieces as preferred)
1 bulb Garlic  ( Or 10 Cloves of garlic)
2 Tbsp Sliced ginger
2 Tbsp Light Soy sauce
1 tsp   White pepper
1 tsp   Black pepper
2 tsp   Salt
1 tsp Sugar
2 count Roma Tomatoes ( Cut into big cubed )
4 count green Chili ( Sliced half to each chili)
1 box   Medium firm tofu ( optional: cut small cubed)
1 pack  Pickled Mustard ( about 10 oz) ( or 2 cups cut pickled mustard)

Instructions

1. In the steel bowl, add chopped duck pieces, ginger, pepper ( both white and black), garlic ( pounded lightly), soy sauce and salt then mix thoroughly.

2. Put this marinated meat into a big ceramic bowl and cover loosely with aluminum foil.

3. In the 8 Qt soup pot or dutch oven, add water about 4-6 inches high then put this bowl in the middle. ( Note: water level should be lower the hight of the bowl. So the boiling water won't get into the bowl).

4. Cover the pot and boil for 2 hours with medium-high heat on the stove. Occasionally check the water level in the pot, if it is low we may need to add 2 cups of water at a time.

5. After two hours of cooking time, test the meat is fork tender, then we turn off the stove.

( Note: To cut down the cooking time, we may use the pressure cooker by following the same procedure. It can be cooked within an hour.)

Making soup

6. In the 8 qt soup pot, add 3-4 cups of water ( chicken broth) and let it boil with medium-high heat.

7. When it boils, add the doubled boiled cooked duck, then add chopped pickled mustard, tomato and halved green chili altogether.

8. Cover and let it boil then simmer for 30 minutes. Then test the mustard leaves to make sure they are soft.

9. Then cut tofu into the pot and let it boil again for 15 more minutes. ( We may omit  tofu, it is optional )

10. Taste the soup, we may add salt to our own taste.

( Note: If we need the more sour taste, add more tomatoes or vinegar to adjust the taste.)