The Myanmar New Year is just around the corner. When Thingyan arrives, everything associated with the festival – its decorations, scents, music, and festive atmosphere – fills the air. Thingyan songs, Thingyan drums, Thingyan dances, mandats (pandals or pavilions), festival flowers, and Thingyan accessories all come alive during this season. Among them, Thingyan food is also an essential part of the celebration.
Therefore, instead of our usual weekly feature on regional dishes, this week we highlight Thingyan foods that appear only once a year, during the Thingyan festival.
Mont Lone Yay Baw
(Glutinous Rice Balls with Jaggery Filling)
Mont Lone Yay Baw is traditionally prepared during Thingyan as part of the festival customs. Families make it at home to offer as alms, to enjoy together, and to share with neighbours. That is why this dish is often regarded as one of the signature foods of Thingyan.
Here is a simple recipe that you can try at home; it’s not complicated and doesn’t take much time. Give it a try!
Ingredients
1. Glutinous rice flour – 120 grammes
2. Rice flour – 40 grammes
3. Salt – about ¼ teaspoon
4. Water – 110 millilitres
5. Jaggery – 80 grammes
6. Fresh coconut (as desired)
Method
Mix the glutinous rice flour, rice flour, and salt in a bowl.
(If you use only glutinous rice flour, the dough becomes too sticky, so a small portion of regular rice flour is added.)
Gradually add the 110 millilitres of water into the bowl and knead until a soft, pliable dough is formed – not too soft, not too hard.
Cover and let the dough rest for about 15 minutes.
Cut the jaggery into small chunks. Prepare a pot of boiling water for cooking the rice balls.
After 15 minutes, start shaping the dough. Take a small portion (about the size of a longan fruit) and roll it in your palm. Flatten it slightly and make a small indentation with your finger. Place a jaggery piece inside and cover it with dough, sealing it well.
(If not sealed properly, the jaggery may leak out during boiling.)
Once the water is at a rolling boil, drop the balls in. When they float to the surface, boil for one more minute, then remove with a strainer. Place them briefly (about 1 minute) in cold water.
Remove from the cold water, coat with freshly grated coconut, and your delightful Thingyan Mont Lone Yay Baw is ready to serve.
Shwe Yin Aye
(A Cool and Refreshing Thingyan Dessert)
Thingyan falls in the peak of the hot summer season. That is why the Myanmar people created a dessert perfectly suited to the heat, called Shwe Yin Aye, a name that itself evokes coolness and refreshment.
Here is the recipe for this iconic Thingyan dessert.
Ingredients (for 10 servings)
1. Mont Let Saung jelly – 1,000 millilitres
2. Sago pearls – 25-tical portion, cooked
3. Glutinous rice (steamed) – 3 cups
4. Plain bread – 10 slices
5. Coconut jelly — one 25-gramme packet, cooked
6. Coconut milk — 1½ cans (about 600 millilitres)
7. Sugar — 250 grammes, melted with a little water
8. Ice (as desired)
9. A pinch of salt
Method
For convenience, buy ready-made Mont Let Saung jelly from a shop.
(For those who want to make it themselves: mix 8 tablespoons of rice flour, 2 tablespoons of corn flour, and a little salt in hot water. Cook on low heat until thick, add food colouring, then pour slowly into cold water to set.)
To make the coconut jelly: boil 300 grammes of sugar with 1 can of coconut milk, water (1.5 litres) and 50 grammes of gelatin until dissolved. Pour into a tray about 2 inches deep and let it cool and set. Cut into cubes.
To prepare the steamed glutinous rice: rinse until the water runs clear, soak for at least 6 hours, drain, place on a steaming tray lined with a thin cloth, and steam until cooked. Turn the rice occasionally for even cooking.
Dilute the coconut milk (600 millilitres) with 1,000 millilitres of water.
Melt the sugar with a little water into a syrup.
To serve:
In a bowl, add the Mont Let Saung jelly, steamed glutinous rice, coconut jelly, sago, bread pieces, and ice. Pour in the coconut milk mixture, drizzle with sugar syrup, add a couple of ice cubes, and your delightful, cooling Shwe Yin Aye is ready to enjoy with your whole family. — MOON
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The Global New Light of Myanmar (GNLM) has been featuring popular and well-known regional foods from across Myanmar on a weekly basis. This week, we present the recipe for the famous Pyay-style chicken Palata.
Cooking methods for chicken curry vary slightly from region to region. Some use chickpeas, while others use gram flour. This recipe highlights the version commonly prepared by residents of Pyay, using chickpeas.
Ingredients
(For the chicken curry)
Chicken – 1 kilogramme
Onions – 3
Ginger and garlic paste – 1 tablespoon
Salt – 1 tablespoon
Seasoning powder – 1 tablespoon
Curry leaves – 10
Bay leaves – 5
Cinnamon stick – 1
Fenugreek seeds – about 1 tablespoon
Cumin (or masala) – 2 tablespoons
Chilli powder (for colour) – 2 tablespoons
Oil – 300 millilitres (18-19 ticals)
(For the soup/gravy)
Chickpeas – 160 grammes (or gram flour – 100 grammes)
Turmeric – a pinch
Water – 3 litres
Salt – 2 tablespoons
Seasoning powder – 2 tablespoons
Potatoes – 3 large
(To serve with)
Palata (layered flatbread) – 15 pieces
Thinly sliced onions
Shredded cabbage
Mint leaves
Green chillies
Lime
Preparation
1. Soak the chickpeas for about three hours, then boil until soft. Let them cool and grind them in a blender until slightly coarse (not too smooth). If a blender is unavailable, mash them with a spoon. Transfer to a large pot.
If using gram flour instead: Mix the flour with three litres of water and a pinch of turmeric in a pot, strain, and bring to a boil until the raw flour smell disappears.
2. Cut the chicken into medium pieces, wash, and marinate with seasoning powder, turmeric, salt, and masala. Refrigerate for about two hours.
3. Grind chilli powder (or soaked dried chillies with seeds removed), onions, and ginger into a smooth paste.
4. Peel and cut the potatoes into quarters, wash, and season with salt and seasoning powder. Fry in hot oil for about three minutes, turning occasionally, then set aside.
5. In the same oil, add curry leaves, bay leaves, fenugreek seeds, and cinnamon.
When fragrant, add the ground paste and sauté.
6. Once the paste becomes aromatic and slightly crispy, add the chicken and stir well. When the meat firms up, add the potatoes and cook, gradually adding warm water as needed.
7. When the chicken and potatoes are tender, add them to the pot with the chickpea mixture and stir over low heat.
8. Adjust the consistency with warm water (not too thick or too thin), taste, and season as desired. Then turn off the heat.
9. To serve, place the Palata pieces on a plate and pour the chicken, potato, and chickpea gravy over them. Garnish with cabbage, onions, green chillies, mint leaves, and a squeeze of lime.
Enjoy your delicious Pyay-style Palata. — Moon
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Kayah Sausage: A Distinctive Myanmar Traditional Delicacy
When people talk about food from Kayah, the first thing that usually comes to mind is the spiral-shaped sausage. There is even a saying that if you have visited Kayah State but have never tasted Kayah sausage, then you have not truly been to Kayah.
Kayah sausage is different from other types of sausages. It is a traditional food made from local ingredients such as Makha fruit, mountain-grown chillies, hill pork, and pork intestines. The slightly tangy and distinctive flavour of the local Makha fruit, combined with the unique taste of the sausage, creates an exceptionally delicious dish. Because of its distinctive taste, Kayah sausage has become a well-known delicacy throughout Myanmar.
Therefore, this week we present the traditional recipe for making Kayah sausage, a speciality of the Kayah ethnic people.
Ingredients
1. Pork belly – 50 ticals (about 800 grammes)
2. Pork intestine casing – about 4 feet (or collagen casing)
3. A little salt
4. Sugar – 4 tablespoons
5. Thick soy sauce – 2 tablespoons
6. Light soy sauce – 2 tablespoons
7. Sichuan pepper powder (or Chinese five-spice) – a small amount
8. Makha powder (for its distinctive aroma and flavour) – a little
9. Food colouring – a small amount
10. Corn starch – a small amount
11. Cooking wine – 2 tablespoons
Preparation
First, remove the skin from the pork and either mince or grind the meat.
Next, mix all the ingredients together and knead them well with the minced pork. Let the mixture marinate for about one hour.
If using pork intestines as the casing, clean them thoroughly beforehand. Alternatively, collagen casing can be used. Collagen casing is a material commonly used as a substitute for natural sausage casings.
Insert either the cleaned intestine or the collagen casing into the sausage funnel tube. Pull it along the tube to the end and tie the other end tightly to prevent the filling from leaking out.
Take a small portion of the minced pork mixture, form about five small balls, and fry them to taste. If the seasoning is satisfactory, you may proceed to stuff the remaining mixture into the casing.
Press the marinated pork mixture into the funnel so it passes through the tube and fills the casing. Use a toothpick to prick any air pockets that form in the sausage to prevent trapped air.
When one casing is filled, remove it from the tube and tie the end securely.
Hang the prepared sausages in strong sunlight for about four hours a day for three days to dry. Alternatively, they can be placed on a tray in an oven and heated at 80°C for about one hour.
Once dried, the delicious Kayah sausages are ready. They can be fried and eaten immediately or stored for later consumption when needed.
Kayah Steamed Parcel (Kayah Hinhtoke)
Another traditional Kayah dish that never becomes tiresome, no matter how often it is eaten, is Kayah Hinhtoke, a steamed parcel with a fragrant aroma of spring onions. The preparation method is described below.
Ingredients
• Spring onions – 500 grammes (one large bunch)
• Rice flour – 150 grammes
• Pork (or chicken) – 100 grammes
(Reduce the amount if you prefer less meat.)
• Oil – 1 tablespoon
• Salt – a small amount
• Banana leaves for wrapping
Preparation
Wash the pork and boil it with a little salt until the water evaporates.
Then cut the meat into small pieces.
Wash the spring onions and slice them thinly.
Place the spring onions in a bowl and add the rice flour, pork, oil, and a little salt. Mix thoroughly. If the mixture is too dry, add a small amount of water and knead again.
Wash the banana leaves and wipe them dry.
Wrap portions of the mixture in the banana leaves. Slightly warm the banana leaves over a gentle flame to prevent them from cracking, and cut them into the desired size.
Secure the parcels with toothpicks to prevent them from opening, then place them in a steamer tray.
Add water to the steamer pot, place the tray on top, cover it, and steam for about 40 minutes.
After 40 minutes, the parcels are ready.
You can unwrap the parcels and enjoy this delicious traditional Kayah dish as a snack, often served together with fried chilli and garlic chives. — MOON
gnlm
When people think of Mogok, they immediately associate it with precious gemstones. Yet, just like its valuable rubies and sapphires, Mogok is also home to a variety of delicious local dishes. This week, we present some of the well-known foods from this charming hill town, situated 3,800 feet above sea level.
Mogok Pork Meat Jelly (Wetnanton)
Wetnanton is a popular winter delicacy in Mogok. In earlier times, before refrigerators were widely available, this dish was prepared and enjoyed only during the cold season. It is left outdoors overnight in the winter chill to naturally set and firm up. By morning, it is sliced and served.
Made primarily from collagen-rich cuts such as pork trotters, ribs, or pork meat, this traditional pork meat jelly sets naturally without any artificial gelling agents. Because it is eaten plain, its flavour should remain mild and delicate.
Ingredients
1. Pork trotters (or pork ribs or pork meat)
2. Carrot
3. Garlic
4. Spring onions
5. Chinese coriander
6. Green chilies
7. Star anise and cloves
8. Ginger
9. Sugar (or seasoning powder)
10. Salt
11. Water
Preparation
Boil the pork trotters with water, ginger, star anise, cloves, and salt until tender. Remove and allow to cool.
Strain and reserve the clear broth.
Finely chop the cooled pork and return it to the broth. Bring to the boil again.
Add sugar, thinly sliced garlic, and diced carrots. Stir well.
When softened, add spring onions and Chinese coriander. Pour the mixture into a tray and allow it to cool and set. (During hot weather, refrigerate until firm.)
Once fully set into a jelly-like consistency, cut into cubes and serve as desired.
The result is a subtly flavoured dish with a distinctive aroma, enhanced by local herbs and a balance of sour, salty, and mildly spicy notes.
Steamed Mogok Mushrooms (Mogok Hmopaung)
Mogok Steamed Mushrooms resemble steamed dishes found in other parts of Shan State, but they are distinguished by the unique flavour of a rare dried mushroom known locally as the Tonekat mushroom. Although rare elsewhere, it is commonly found in Mogok. Other local varieties, such as white mushrooms and wood ear mushrooms, may also be used. (Where unavailable, cultivated wood ear mushrooms can serve as a substitute.)
Ingredients
1. Mushrooms
2. Ginger
3. Garlic chives roots
4. Onion
5. Garlic
6. Peanuts
7. Salt
8. Seasoning powder
9. Rice flour
10. Fermented soybean
11. Oil
12. Water
13. Banana leaves
Preparation
Wash the mushrooms thoroughly and chop them into small pieces.
Finely chop the garlic chives roots.
Pound ginger, garlic, and onion together.
Grind peanuts and fermented soybeans into a fine paste.
Mix the mushrooms with the pounded ingredients, peanut powder, soybean paste, rice flour, salt, seasoning powder, and oil. Add a little water and knead well.
Lightly heat banana leaves over a flame to soften them, cut into suitable sizes, place a handful of the mixture in each, and fold securely, fastening with toothpicks.
Steam the wrapped parcels for 15-20 minutes until cooked through. (Any steamer can be used, ensuring the steam is well sealed.)
Once done, unwrap and serve the fragrant Mogok steamed mushrooms. Garnish with fried garlic oil, coriander, or spring onions as desired.
These distinctive dishes reflect the rich culinary heritage of Mogok – a town renowned not only for its gemstones but also for its flavourful traditional cuisine. — MOON
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