Burmese Ginger Salad (Thoke)
We first ate this salad at Mandalay, a Burmese restaurant in Washington D.C where our nephew Aditya took us to celebrate his graduation. It was an instant favorite with us and we’ve since tried it at home with great success.
2 cups very finely chopped cabbage
2 carrots , peeled , shredded
2 scallions , trimmed , chopped
2 green chillies , finely chopped
1 firm plum tomato, chopped
2/3 cup peeled chopped young ginger
4 Tbsp. roasted peanuts, divided
2 Tbsp. dried shrimp,cooked, crumbled
3. Tbsp fried garlic slices
3. Tbsp. sesame seeds, toasted
3 tsps. yellow split pea flour ( besan ) , toasted ( See notes)
Burmese dressing ( see notes)
Cilantro, chopped , for garnish
Assemble these ingredients in mounds in a large plate as you prepare them ; cabbage, carrots, scallions, green chillies, tomato and ginger . Coarsely chop 1/2 the peanuts , leave the others whole. Sprinkle with the whole peanuts , the chopped peanuts , fried garlic , dried shrimp and sesame seeds. Place a small bowl of the Burmese Dressing in the center of the composed salad. Just before serving , mix all the ingredients and the dressing together, top with the toasted gram flour and serve, garnished with just a little cilantro.
Serves 4.
Thoke is the Burmese term for salad. There are two other salads at Mandalay which we also love . One is the Fermented Tea Leaf Salad and the other a Gram Fritter Salad. They are all very similar and contain the same ingredients and dressing except that in the other two, the amount of ginger is reduced and substituted for with the main ingredient ( Tea Leaves or Gram Fritter as the case may be ). I am not quite sure which tea leaves to use ; all I know is that they are green tea leaves. As for the the Gram flour fritters they are very crisp fritters , somewhat like falafel , which are crumbled into the salad just before serving.
Notes:
1. The Burmese dressing consists of peanut oil, fish sauce and lemon juice. I make it differently with a mixture of peanut oil, fish sauce, rice vinegar, sugar and a dash of chopped fresh red chillies ( available bottled in Asian stores). Make a little extra and store in the refrigerator. The proportion I use is roughly this : 3 Tbsp . peanut oil, 3 Tbsp. fish sauce, 4 Tbsp. rice vinegar,1 Tbsp. sugar, 1/2 tsp red chillies.
2. The cabbage should be very finely chopped , the rest of the ingredients to match.
3. Instead of the gram flour, I use fine sev. This has two advantages. It cuts down on the preparation and it remains crisp.
wow…can’t wait to try this out
Thank you for this recipe. I get this salad (Tea Leaf salad) here in San Francisco at Mandalay. They use yellow split peas in their version and I just want to know if I have to toast these peas or soak them first and then toast them? This salad is scarily addictive and, except for the shrimp ingredient, a good vegetarian option and full of protein, flavor and above all, different textures. It’s awesome to be able to make it at home now, thanks to this recipe. Please let me know if you think I should toast, or soak and toast those lovely yellow split peas.
eclectic24 replies : I’ve never tried to toast yellow split peas at home. However, I think the way to do it would be to thoroughly soak them first, then dry them before frying them in a little oil.Also, you can get lightly fried split peas or similar crunchies (packaged ) in Indian grocery stores. Look for them in the snacks section.
No, yellow split peas are not soaked. They are roasted, in a pan (no oil needed) until they slightly brown. This allows them to be crunchy in the salad. When they sit in the salad with the dressing, they take in some of the dressing and become slightly softer and more edible.
Here’s the pic:
http://ansonholzer.com/ginger-thoke.jpg
The best thing ever! I added bean sprouts, roasted yellow dhal and chick-pea (gram/channa/nahouk) flour spiral snacks, as well as some salt and lime juice. If I eat this every day, I’ll seriously live forever.
I have eaten this salad at the Burmese restaurant in Chiang Mai Thailand and it was the best and most filling salad I have ever eaten. I’m glad the receipe has been posted as I will make it at home now. I was wondering what the dressing was. Thanks for listing it also.
[…] cabbage ginger salad and I came home wanting to figure out how to make it. The New York Times and this blog had a good recipe, but the fish sauce (in the NYT recipe) and a few other ingredients had me […]