Date Product Entered Market: June 1 2019
The Burma Love Fermented Tea Leaf Salad Kit contains one tub of vegan fermented tea leaf dressing and one tub of Burmese Crunchy Mix to make up to four servings of our tea leaf salad recipe. Just add crisp fresh romaine lettuce, fresh tomatoes, fresh jalapeños, and lemon juice to enjoy the original ‘Recipe of Burma Superstar’.This product contains 100 percent organic fermented tea leaves and is vegan, gluten-free, and dairy-free.
About this producer
Napa Wine Pioneer Nicholas Molnar Dies At 94
Nicholas Molnar proved Napa wrong, and he did so after escaping Hungary in 1956 when Budapest failed to topple the Stalinist government no easy feat. The Chronicle wrote yesterday that when he purchased his Carneros acreage he was told the land was too harsh for grapes. Molnar lived his truth: first in Carneros, then again in Lake County.
What Is Burmese Tea
There is a strong tea culture in Myanmar and Burmese teahouses can be found all over the country. Haz Chit Hat is called Burma milk tea. It would be wise to try out Burmese black tea, as it is dark and hot, mixed with a light coating of evaporated milk and condensed milk, to see which will do the best.
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Burma Superstar Fermented Tea Leaf Salad
Weve been cooking our way through the new Burma Superstar cookbook lately. This week we decided to try out the Sesame Chicken recipe along with the Fermented Tea Leaf Salad. You can buy kits that include almost everything you need to make the salad at Bi-Rite, Whole Foods, The Berkeley Bowl, and Rainbow Grocery.
Hopefully theyll eventually get the kits online so everyone outside of the Bay Area can take advantage as well. The salad is so delicious and makes the perfect light vegetarian lunch or dinner, or accompaniment to another recipe in the book. Such a great weeknight meal!
You can find the recipe for this Sesame Chicken and more in the Burma Superstar cookbook here. Get the recipe for Shan Noodles here.
Were giving away a copy of the Burma Superstar to FOUR of our readers. All you have to do is . If you are already an Insider, then youre automatically entered. Winners will be selected at random and well email you directly. This giveaway has ended, but keep an eye out for more giveaways via our email list.
- 1Burma Superstar Fermented Tea Leaf Salad Kit
- 1-2heads of hearts romaine lettuce,sliced thin
- 1-2 tomatoes,diced
Burmese Tea Leaf Salad Or Lahpet Thoke
If you lived in Myanmar and a friend popped in to visit, this is the snack youd serve. Lahpet, which means green tea, and thoke, which means salad, is an eclectic mix of flavors and textures that includes soft, pickled tea leaves, crisp, roasted peanuts and other crunchy beans, toasted sesame seeds, fried garlic and, if you like, dried shrimp and chopped tomato. Its meant to be served with all the ingredients in separate piles so that guests can pick out a combination to their own preference each time they grab a handful. While nowadays the salad is typically served as a final course at the end of a meal, historically lahpet was an ancient symbolic peace offering that was exchanged and consumed after settling a dispute between warring kingdoms. Letting each person customize his or her salad toppings, sounds like a perfectly democratic way to stop an argument! That way everyone is at least somewhat satisfied in the end.
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Fully Fermented Vs Shortcut Tea Leaf Dressing
Compared to Burma Superstar’s, my homemade lacks a certain fermented funk that comes from the tea leaves resting in the dark for a long period of times. In their book, Desmond and Kate explain that there’s a bamboo shoot taste in fermented tea-leaves. Additionally, different grades of tea may be used and the dressing color reflects that. There’s a certain addictive quality to the dressing, too. I imagine that months of fermentation adds to that. Maybe some cooks add a touch of MSG or Asian mushroom seasoning granules, too.
Instructions for creating a tea-leaf dressing shortcut were simply to brew tea with the leaves, leave them to ferment for a couple days till they smelled like overripe fruit then whirl them up with seasonings and oil in a small processor. I did that using fancy tea that I regularly drink and found that the fermentation didn’t do much for my tea. I opted to skip that, saving about 2 days of waiting.
Though my homemade tea leaf salad dressing wasn’t as complex as Burma Superstar’s, it was darn good, once combined with all the goodies on the salad platter. So, if you’re not near a source for Burma Superstar’s tea leaf salad dressing, make your own!
Crisp Crunchy Briny Options
Now you can have fun. You need a bed of crisp lettuce or cabbage. Add tomato for color, juiciness and umami. There are often fried lentils in Burmese tea leaf salad the crunchy yellow lentils are ubiquitous in the cuisine but unless you’re going to use lots of them and batch cook them, it’s an investment of time to make 1/4 cup for one recipe.
Given that, I’ve subbed store-bought roasted chickpeas and soynuts. When I recently asked Kate, she said to skip the legume if you want, and increase the peanuts and/or seeds. Naomi Duguid, in Burma, suggests the same workaround.
Toasted, roasted seeds are included for nuttiness and you can vary those too. I blended sunflower and pepitas for the version at the top. Some days I included sesame seeds. Other days, I skip them. The ground dried shrimp is simply processed in coffee grinder , but I’ve skipped it many times, opting to drizzle a little fish sauce or seasoning with a bit of extra salt.
You need some stuff atop the greens so at the least have tomato, fried garlic, and nuts. The dressing will bring it all together.
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How To Make Fried Garlic Chips
Garlic chips may seem like an optional ingredient but garlic has umami. The handsome fried chips are easy to make and the leftover garlicky oil is great in the dressing! Here’s a quick video to encourage your adventure:
These fried garlic chips are also fabulous for munggo, a wonderful Filipino mung bean stew.
Fried Yellow Split Peas
- 1/3 cup yellow split peas
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- Pinch of salt
Place peas in a bowl and cover one inch of water. Soak at least four hours or overnight. Drain split peas through a fine-mesh strainer, shaking off the excess water.
Line a plate with paper towels. In a wok or small saucepan, heat the oil over medium-high heat for one minute. Add the split peas. Once the oil starts to bubble rapidly around the split peas, lower the heat slightly and continue to fry, stirring often, until they begin to crisp up and turn slightly darker, about five minutes.
Drain well. Scatter the split peas on the lined plate and season with salt. The split peas should be crunchy, but not rock-hard, once cooled. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two weeks.
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Where To Buy Burmese Tea Leaf Salad Kits
If you want to take the easy way out and skip making your own saladbut why would you, its SO easyyou can buy DIY kits online. Burma Love Tea Leaf Salad Kits contain Laphit Fermented Tea Leaf dressing and crunchy toppings, including sesame seeds and peanuts.
You can also find similar kits and ingredients on Amazon:
Burmese Pickled Tea Leaves Yuzana
Culinary literature about Burmese foods always focuses on the wonderful, very unique taste of their pickled tea leaf salad. For the first time we can offer these ingredients prepared in the traditional way.
The combination of flavors is a special treat you unlike anything you’ve tried.
We’ve shown below in pictures how to prepare the salad, it’s very simple. Just prepare a plate of diced tomatoes & shallots, then mix in the ingredients from this kit.
The box we show here is quite large, enough for at least 6 large salads.
Inside each box is a double-wrap plastic bag containing the wet tea leaves which have been fermented just right, with a hint of chile pepper although not spicy at all.
There is also a large of crunchy fried legumes still slightly oily and covered in sesame seeds. Combine the crunchy nuts and sour tea leaves with fresh tomatoes and shallots for an unforgetable mix of texture & flavor. So delicious, and everyone it seems loves it.
If you love food, at least once you must try this Burmese salad.
The box states “Yuzana pickled tea is prepared from choicest tender leaves grown in famous namhsan mountain slopes. Hygienicallly preserved to guarantee lasting exotic aroma and delectable taste, a truly Myanmar delicacy.
Ingredients: yuzana lephet, round fried garlic, baked sesame, baked peanuts, fried butterfly peas, fried Australian peas, fried gram chick peas, salt, peanut oil, lemon, garlic, fresh chilli, preservatives E202 0.1% & E296.
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Burma Superstar Tea Leaf Salad
This homemade vegan version of Burma Superstar’s famous Tea Leaf Salad is a delicious mix of greens, nuts, and seeds in a flavorful dressing.
Burma Superstar is one of my favorite restaurants in San Francisco. One of their most famous dishes is Tea Leaf Salad which has been served since 1992.
Once you try it, you’ll understand why everyone orders it. The salad comes out of the kitchen with the components separated on the plate, and then it’s tossed at the table.
But you don’t have to travel to San Francisco to try it. Now you can make a copycat version of a Burmese Tea Leaf Salad at home using their ingredients.
Bring Home The Flavors Of Burma Superstar
Burma Love Foods was founded in 2016 by Desmond Tan, owner of Burma Superstar Restaurants, to enable our customers to bring home the tastes and flavors of Burma.
At the heart of our product offerings is the Fermented Tea Leaf Dressing, which boasts bright and flavorful notes of green tea. The fermented tea leaves are seasoned with spices and lime juice, mixed with our Burmese Crunchy Mix and tossed with fresh shredded vegetables. The unique savory flavor and mildly stimulating effect make our tea leaf salad satisfying, energizing, and unforgettable.
In 2020, our Fermented Tea Leaf Dressing was awarded the prestigious Nexty Award for Best New Condiment by the New Hope Network, the leaders in the natural and health foods products industry.
Our product range includes a range of Grab N Go salads, Tea Leaf Dressings in three flavors, a Traditional Burmese Crunchy Mix, and a Tea Aioli Dip.
For more information about our products, visit www.burmalovefoods.com.
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Fried Garlic Chips And Garlic Oil
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1/3 cup thinly sliced fresh garlic
Line a heatproof bowl with a strainer. Line a plate with paper towels.In a wok or small saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat for a minute or two . Add garlic and gently stir. When bubbles start to form rapidly around the garlic, decrease heat to low and cook, stirring often, until the garlic is an even golden color and nearly completely crisp, about three minutes. If the garlic starts to darken too quickly, remove it from the heat and let it continue to fry in the oil.
Garlic and oil into the strainer. Lift the strainer up and shake off the excess oil. Scatter garlic onto the lined plate. The garlic should crisp up as it cools. The chips can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for month month. Refrigerate the oil up to six months.
What To Drink With Burmese Tea Leaf Salad
After spending all that time making the salad, serve it with flair. Kate is a wine pro who’s also written several books on food and wine, including Wine Style. I typically order beer at a Burmese restaurant but Kate offered this advice to expand my options:
I’m no longer intimidated by Burmese tea leaf salad because I now better understand it and can now make it myself. I hope you do too!
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Mindfulness Inspiration Thich Nhat Hahn Dies
Known to many by his advice to slow down and experience eating an orange, Vietnamese activist and ambassador Thich Nhat Hahn died at 95-years-old in Hue, Vietnam. The poet and practitioner of peace was known to sell out shows at the Berkeley Community Theater in the late 1990s. Interviewed in a grove between Gilroy and Watsonville, the monk told the Chronicle that practicing open-mindedness is like eating fruit: We have the right to enjoy all kind of fruits, and we have the right to enjoy every spiritual tradition of humanity.
Is Laphet Thoke Healthy
It contains both similar, but slightly less strong, polyphenols, which have been linked to certain health benefits in a study conducted in the Journal of Ethnic Foods. Its taste is more winelike than herbal, complemented by a distinctive bitterness that resembles the wine-like tannins of tannic acid.
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Burmese Fermented Tea Leaf Salad
Burmese fermented tea leaf salad, or Lahpet Thote, was one of our favourite foods on a visit to Myanmar. It is unofficially their national dish and is surprisingly delicious. I have made this regularly since returning back to Australia and our friends are always dubious and then delightfully surprised when they try it. This is my variation of the recipe.
These Burmese not only drink green tea but ferment it the fresh young leaves are well fermented by natural forming microbes over a period of 3-4 months. It contains wonderful health benefits as green tea contains polyphenols, phenolic acids and catechin, is high in antioxidants and has immune boosting properties. Such a delicious way to boost your gut health!
Ingredients:
1 tbsp pickled tea leaf
3 tomatoes, seeded, chopped
2 cups of baby spinach, thinly sliced
¼ cup thinly sliced ginger, fried
1 tbsp peanut oil
Juice of 1 lime
Fried Mixture:
190 g dried lima beans, soaked overnight in water, drained, husks removed
60 ml peanut oil
2 tbsp gently sesame seeds
75 g unsalted roasted peanuts
2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced and fried
Method:
- Dry lima beans with paper towel.
- Heat oil in a deep saucepan over medium heat.
- Add beans and cook, stirring, for 7 minutes or until golden.
- Add sesame seeds and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until lightly toasted.
- Remove from heat, stir in peanuts and cool completely.
- Makes 3 cups.
Salad preparation:
Serves 2-3
Burmese Tea Leaf Salad
Burmese tea leaf salad is an addictive salad with a combination of textures and savory, salty, mildly sour flavors. The key ingredient is the fermented tea leaf dressing which can be easily made at home with green tea.
My friend Ruchi from The Tiffin Kitchen suggested that I look into Burmese Tea Leaf Salad as we were brainstorming for our monthly tea post. Last month, we shared Matcha Soda and Peaches & Cream Milk Oolong Tea and this month, we are sharing how tea can be enjoyed as a meal/snack. Do stop by Ruchis blog where she is sharing Gyokuro Tea Leaf Salad as a part of her Asian-rice bowl. After some internet searching & recipe testing, I am happy to present my version of Burmese Tea Leaf Salad . Burmese Tea Leaf Salad is a famous fermented tea leaf salad from the Shan State, Myanmar . Lahpet also spelled laphet, lephet, letpet, or leppet, means fermented or pickled tea leaf and thoke, means salad in Burmese language. This salad was traditionally used as a peace symbol or as a peace offering between kingdoms at war but now a days, it is served as a snack or as an expression of hospitality to guests.
I enjoyed Burmese Tea Leaf Salad as a meal but you can easily serve it as a side dish. The savory, umami, fresh salad is really addictive and I hope you will give it a try soon. If you like Burmese Tea Leaf Salad , I would recommend making the tea leaf salad dressing in a large batch and store in the refrigerator.
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What Is Burmese Milk Tea
Many people eat tea when they are young since Burmese milk tea and laphet-yay is frequently eaten, while yay nway nyan shops serve free-flowing herbal teas as well. There is a steeping process in which tea leaves are soaked in boiling water and then they are poured into a big old tea sock. And the liquid is diluted with sweetened condensed milk.
Burma Superstar’s Tea Leaf Salad And Tea Leaf Dressing
Ingredients
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds 1 Roma tomato, seeded and diced 1 small jalapeño, seeded and diced 2 tsp fish sauce or a few generous pinches of salt 1 lemon or lime, cut into wedges
1. Prepare the tea leaves one to two days in advance. Brew a pot of two tablespoons loose leaf green tea. Save the leaves and press out excess water. Transfer to a closed container and let sit at room temperature for one to two days.
2. If using whole, unseasoned laphet leaves, soak them for five minutes in cold water to extract some of the bitterness. Drain, squeezing the leaves to remove excess water. Taste the leaves. If they still taste bitter, repeat the step again.
3. Put the leaves in a food processor with the garlic and chili flakes and pulse a few times. Add the lemon juice and half of the oil, briefly pulse, and then, with the processor running, drizzle in the rest of the oil. If the leaves are not pre-seasoned, add one teaspoon of salt. You will have about half a cup of tea leaf dressing.
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