Lahpet thoke style salad (Burmese fermented tea leaves salad)

[shain]

This is NOT an authentic recipe. It's just an attempt at recreation sans the namesake ingredient.

 

Salad:

• Apx. 250 g (0.5 pound) cabbage, thinly shaved
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• -
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced
• 4-5 cherry tomatoes (or one plum tomato), diced
• Fresh chili, thinly sliced, to taste
• 3 tbsp sunflower seeds, well toasted
• 1-2 tbsp chopped peanuts, toasted
• Apx. 60g (2oz) fried/toasted peas/chickpeas/lentils (i.e. the kind you can snack on, not the raw dried one)
• 2 tbsp crisp fried garlic chips (or crisp fried shallots)

Sauce:

• 1 small garlic clove, minced
• 1 tbsp minced ginger
• About 1/2 tsp fermented shrimp paste
• 1/2 tbsp sesame paste
• 1 tbsp fish sauce (optional)
• Apx 3 tbsp of lime juice, to taste
• Chili, to taste
• 1 tsp palm sugar / (dark) brown sugar
• 1/3 tsp cumin (optional)
• Salt, to taste (about 1/2 tsp)
• A touch of MSG (optional)

 

 

Prep:

• Mix cabbage with 1/2 tsp each of salt and sugar.
• Let sit for about 30 minutes to tenderise. Do not rinse.
• Plate the salad ingredients, optionally separating each veggie and the seeds. Dividing the ingredients in a radial fashion (wedges) is common.
• Right before serving, add the sauce and mix the ingredients together.

 

If you plan on having leftovers, keep the crunchy ingredients separated and mix only the portion that you will eat immediately.

 

Edited February 11, 2019 by shain (log)

[donk79]

My cousin's wife is from Burma (Chin) and they have visited for months  at a time on several occasions.   One of the highlights of their visits is the food they prepare and share.  The tea-leaf salad is a particular favorite.   So much so that she distributed ingredients and instructions for making it at home.   Unfortunately,  there seem to be a number of undisclosed ingredients,  but I thought the process she uses might be worth sharing. 

 

 

 

Burmese Tea Leaf Salad Directions

 

For those who received our tea leaf salad packets, below are directions on how to make it.

 

1. Open up the packet and you wil find two packages. (1) A package of seeds, beans and nuts. (2) Pickeled Tea Leaves

 

2. Cut one or two garlic cloves and set place in a small amount of oil (olive oil, vegetable oil, etc.) The amount of oil depends on how oily you like your salad.

 

3. Open the pickeled tea leaves package and let sit in the oil for 15 minutes or longer. This allows for the taste of the leaves to mix in with the oil and garlic.

 

4. In a larger bowl shred about half a cabbage (more if you like) and tomatoes. If you'd like to make it spicy, you can add a cut up thai chili pepper or jalapeno.

 

5. Mix oil/garlic/pickeled tea leaves with the cabbage and tomatoes. 

 

6. Right before you eat mix in the package of seeds, beans and nuts. You want to do this right before you eat because after an hour or two the beans and seeds become soggy and the taste of the salad is not as good.

Edited April 1, 2022 by donk79 (log)

[CookBot]

This has unleashed a burning desire in me to know what fermented tea leaves are like.  Rabbithole, here I come.

[liuzhou]

There is a good DIY recipe here for laphet, which includes fermenting the leaves, then making a salad.

Tea in various forms (not usually fermented) is eaten throughout SE Asia and southern China. Good stuff. Then, of course, there's matcha.

[CookBot]

On 10/3/2022 at 9:54 PM, liuzhou said:

There is a good DIY recipe here for laphet, which includes fermenting the leaves, then making a salad.

Tea in various forms (not usually fermented) is eaten throughout SE Asia and southern China. Good stuff. Then, of course, there's matcha.

 

Thanks so much!

 

I'm not sure I'm ambitious enough to start fermenting my own tea leaves, but the process and the salad look fascinating.

[Shelby]

6 hours ago, CookBot said:

 

Thanks so much!

 

I'm not sure I'm ambitious enough to start fermenting my own tea leaves, but the process and the salad look fascinating.

I got obsessed a while back, too.  Maybe you can google around and find it cheaper, but I ordered this kit from Amazon  .  Good stuff.

Edited October 5, 2022 by Shelby (log)

[CookBot]

2 hours ago, Shelby said:

I got obsessed a while back, too.  Maybe you can google around and find it cheaper, but I ordered this kit from Amazon  .  Good stuff.

 

Not cheap, but not outrageous either.  And it does come with all the crunchy accompaniments.  Thanks, Shelby, I'll definitely consider it.

 

Question for you and for @liuzhou -- are these always made with green tea leaves, never with black ones?

 

[Shelby]

18 minutes ago, CookBot said:

 

Not cheap, but not outrageous either.  And it does come with all the crunchy accompaniments.  Thanks, Shelby, I'll definitely consider it.

 

Question for you and for @liuzhou -- are these always made with green tea leaves, never with black ones?

 

I'm definitely no expert, but the kits I've ordered are always with green leaves.  @liuzhouwill know more I'm sure.

 

No, they aren't cheap.....I think when I bought last they were a tiny bit cheaper, but like everything now, the price is higher.  There are just two of us, so one kit makes at least 2 meals, if not 3.  I go rogue and add chicken and tomatoes etc, though which stretches it out a bit more.

[Shelby]

@CookBotAs a side note, I remembered just now that I have ordered the kits through ETSY.  Make sure that they contain all of the things needed, but it might be cheaper there.....

[liuzhou]

3 hours ago, CookBot said:

 

Question for you and for @liuzhou -- are these always made with green tea leaves, never with black ones?

 

 

Although laphet can be made from black tea, in practice it isn't. The flavour is different and not what the Burmese are after.

 

In fact, the  article I first linked to mentions a black tea laphet but does stress it is very off-piste.