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.
