Lahpet Thoke (Tea Leaf Salad)

Name: Lahpet Thoke (Tea Leaf Salad)
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Burmese
Ingredients: 120 g Pickled tea leaves (lahpet); 150 g Cabbage, finely shredded; 1 Tomato, diced; 60 g Roasted peanuts; 50 g Fried yellow split peas; 2 tbsp Toasted sesame seeds; 6 Garlic cloves, sliced and fried crisp; 2 tbsp Dried shrimp, chopped; 3 tbsp Peanut oil; 1 tbsp Fish sauce; 1 Lime; 1 Green chilli, sliced

Fermented tea leaves tossed at the table with fried garlic, split peas, peanuts, sesame and shredded cabbage — bitter, sour, salty and crunchy all at once, and the only salad in the world made of tea you eat rather than drink.

Fuente

Receta de Burmese home kitchens · 🏺 Tradicional · Cooking built on three things — a pot of oil-slicked onion and garlic base, fermented fish or shrimp for depth, and a table where everything arrives at once and is shared.

Myanmar · fermented tea — An ownerless traditional dish, so no cook is credited. `Lahpet_thoke` redirects to this article, which covers both the fermented tea and the salad made from it — the salad section is what this recipe rests on. Quantities and the rinse-and-taste judgement are this book's own.

Background on Wikipedia ↗

Watch it being made · 3 videos

Aysha’s Burmese Kitchen GoodFoodGoodMood KalayGuide

⏱ 20 min🍽 4 porciones🔥 320 kcal🇲🇲 Birmania🌶️

VegetarianoSin lácteos

Pasos

Rinse the pickled tea leaves briefly in cool water and squeeze them dry. Taste one — if it is fiercely bitter, rinse again.
💡 Rinsing is a judgement, not a step. Jars vary enormously in salt and bitterness, and the only way to know is to taste before you dress anything.
Dress the leaves with the peanut oil, fish sauce and a squeeze of lime.
Arrange the cabbage, tomato, peanuts, split peas, sesame, fried garlic and dried shrimp around the leaves in separate heaps on one plate.
💡 Keep the heaps separate until the table. Half the point of lahpet thoke is that everyone sees what is in it and mixes it themselves.
Toss everything together at the table, add the chilli, and eat immediately while the fried bits are still crunchy.

💡 Consejos

Lahpet is served to guests, at weddings and after meals, and it was historically exchanged to settle disputes — offering it is a gesture, not just a course.
It is also drunk as tea in Myanmar — the same leaf, two entirely different uses. The salad is the one people travel for.
The caffeine is real. A big plate late at night will keep you up.