Burmese Cookbookမြန်မာ့မီးဖိုချောင် · The Myanmar Kitchen

1752–1885

Konbaungကုန်းဘောင်

The last dynasty. Mandalay’s court codifies the cuisine — si pyan curries, royal mont, and the etiquette of the shared table.

Mont Let Kauk, the Burmese Bracelet Doughnut

Sweets & Mont · 50 min · Beginner

Mont Let Kauk, the Burmese Bracelet Doughnutမုန့်လက်ကောက်

Chewy glutinous rice rings fried until blistered and gold, then drowned in warm toddy-palm jaggery syrup — the teahouse doughnut Burma names after a bracelet.

Si Chet, Burmese Chili Oil

Rice & Foundations · 30 min · Beginner

Si Chet, Burmese Chili Oilဆီချက်

The essential Burmese table oil — peanut oil gently fried with chili flakes, garlic, shallot, and a little ngapi, then spooned red over rice, noodles, and salads.

Thayet Thi Thanat, Green Mango Pickle-Salad

Salads & Thoke · 30 min · Beginner

Thayet Thi Thanat, Green Mango Pickle-Saladသရက်သီးသနပ်

Tart, crunchy green-mango shreds dressed with fried garlic oil, chili, dried shrimp, and toasted chickpea flour — the sour thanat that cuts a heavy Burmese meal.

Toh Sa Yar, the Vegetable & Ngapi Platter

Rice & Foundations · 40 min · Beginner

Toh Sa Yar, the Vegetable & Ngapi Platterတို့စရာ

The platter of raw and blanched vegetables around a pungent ngapi dip that no Burmese meal is complete without — the fresh, bitter counterpoint to curry.

Chin Baung Kyaw, Sour Roselle Leaves

Curries · 45 min · Beginner

Chin Baung Kyaw, Sour Roselle Leavesချဉ်ပေါင်ကြော်

Lower Burma's beloved sour greens — roselle leaves fried down with bamboo shoots, dried shrimp, and green chili until they collapse into a dark tangy relish.

Ganan Hin, Mud Crab Curry

Curries · 70 min · Intermediate

Ganan Hin, Mud Crab Curryဂဏန်းဟင်း

Mud crab curry from the Myeik archipelago — whole crab in the shell, folded through a slow shallot si pyan with fresh turmeric, tomato, and pepper.

Htamane, the Sticky Rice Harvest Feast

Sweets & Mont · 80 min · Intermediate

Htamane, the Sticky Rice Harvest Feastထမနဲ

Myanmar's Tabodwe festival sticky rice, kneaded with peanut oil, toasted sesame, peanuts, coconut, and ginger — the dry zone's harvest folded into one dish.

Htan Yay, Toddy of the Lowlands

Drinks & Teahouse · 15 min · Beginner

Htan Yay, Toddy of the Lowlandsထန်းရည်

Palm toddy the delta way — fresh-tapped sap drunk sweet at dawn or left to ferment itself milky and gently fizzy by afternoon, plus an honest home method.

Htanyet, Toddy Palm Jaggery Sweets with Coconut

Sweets & Mont · 35 min · Beginner

Htanyet, Toddy Palm Jaggery Sweets with Coconutထန်းလျက်

Toddy palm jaggery from the Bagan dry zone, melted and rolled into little candies around toasted coconut — the after-meal sweets Burmese pair with green tea.

Tohu Kyaw, Fried Shan Tofu

Street & Fritters · 40 min · Beginner

Tohu Kyaw, Fried Shan Tofuတိုဟူးကြော်

Wedges of Shan chickpea tofu fried until the crust shatters and the middle turns molten, served hot with a sour tamarind-garlic dipping sauce.

Tofu Nway, Warm Shan Tofu Noodles

Noodles & Mohinga · 50 min · Beginner

Tofu Nway, Warm Shan Tofu Noodlesတိုဟူးနွေး

Warm chickpea tofu that never sets, ladled like golden custard over rice noodles with garlic oil, chili, and peanuts — Shan State's great breakfast.

Tohu Thoke, Shan Tofu Salad

Salads & Thoke · 35 min · Beginner

Tohu Thoke, Shan Tofu Saladတိုဟူးသုပ်

Ribbons of silky Shan chickpea tofu tossed by hand with tamarind, garlic oil, sesame, and chili — the cool market salad of Taunggyi and Inle Lake.

Khaw Pote, Shan Pounded Sticky Rice

Sweets & Mont · 80 min · Intermediate

Khaw Pote, Shan Pounded Sticky Rice

Steamed sticky rice pounded with toasted sesame, patted into cakes, and toasted until blistered — the Shan New Year sweet, served with jaggery syrup.

Mandalay Peanut and Sesame Jaggery Brittle

Sweets & Mont · 30 min · Intermediate

Mandalay Peanut and Sesame Jaggery Brittle

A Mandalay market brittle of roasted peanuts and toasted sesame set in dark toddy palm jaggery — snapped into amber shards and eaten with green tea.

Mawlamyine Mohinga

Noodles & Mohinga · 115 min · Intermediate

Mawlamyine Mohingaမော်လမြိုင် မုန့်ဟင်းခါး

Mon State's fish-dense, pepper-bright take on the national noodle soup — more catfish, more ngapi, a looser broth, and rice noodles the Mon claim as their own invention.

Mont Phet Htoke, Banana-Leaf Parcels of Coconut and Jaggery

Sweets & Mont · 60 min · Intermediate

Mont Phet Htoke, Banana-Leaf Parcels of Coconut and Jaggeryမုန့်ဖက်ထုပ်

Chewy glutinous-rice dough folded over dark coconut-and-jaggery filling and steamed in banana leaf — a market-day mont from Mon State's palm country.

Mont Pya Tha Let, Dawei's Layered Griddle Sweet

Sweets & Mont · 65 min · Intermediate

Mont Pya Tha Let, Dawei's Layered Griddle Sweetမုန့်ပြားသလက်

Dawei's signature griddle sweet — thin rice-flour crepes stacked with sticky palm-sugar coconut, pressed warm, and sliced into soft, chewy diamonds.

Nga Chauk Chet, Dried-Fish Monsoon Curry

Curries · 50 min · Beginner

Nga Chauk Chet, Dried-Fish Monsoon Curryငါးခြောက်ချက်

A Rakhine monsoon curry of dried fish — soaked, then simmered with tomato, green chili, and tamarind into a lean, deeply savory pot built for rice.

Nga Chauk Thoke, Dried Fish Salad

Salads & Thoke · 25 min · Beginner

Nga Chauk Thoke, Dried Fish Saladငါးခြောက်သုပ်

A fiery Rakhine dried-fish salad — nga chauk fried crisp, pounded to flakes, and tossed with shallots, green chili, and lime, with barely any oil at all.

Nga Shint Chet, Paddy Eel Curry

Curries · 70 min · Intermediate

Nga Shint Chet, Paddy Eel Curryငါးရှဉ့်ချက်

Rice-paddy swamp eel from the delta, seared and braised with a whole head of garlic, turmeric, and cracked pepper until the gravy turns dark and sticky.

Ngapyaw Phu Thoke, Banana Blossom Salad

Salads & Thoke · 45 min · Intermediate

Ngapyaw Phu Thoke, Banana Blossom Saladငှက်ပျောဖူးသုပ်

The Ayeyarwady delta's banana blossom salad — shredded blossom massaged by hand with garlic oil, dried shrimp floss, toasted besan, lime, and fish sauce.

Ohn Htamin, Coconut Rice

Rice & Foundations · 45 min · Beginner

Ohn Htamin, Coconut Riceအုန်းထမင်း

Jasmine rice cooked in coconut milk until rich and faintly sweet — the festive rice of Myanmar's coconut coast, born for chicken curry and balachaung.

Pazun Chauk, Dried Shrimp Floss

Rice & Foundations · 20 min · Beginner

Pazun Chauk, Dried Shrimp Flossပုစွန်ခြောက်

The dried prawns of the Myeik archipelago, toasted and pounded into the fluffy golden floss that quietly seasons half the Burmese table.

Pone Yay Gyi Thoke, Bagan's Black Bean Salad

Salads & Thoke · 25 min · Beginner

Pone Yay Gyi Thoke, Bagan's Black Bean Saladပုန်းရည်ကြီးသုပ်

Bagan's signature salad of inky fermented horse gram paste tossed with shallots, crisp garlic, peanuts, and green chili — pungent, deep, made for hot rice.

Pone Yay Gyi, Bagan's Black Bean Paste

Rice & Foundations · 260 min · Intermediate

Pone Yay Gyi, Bagan's Black Bean Pasteပုန်းရည်ကြီး

Bagan's fermented horse-gram bean paste, made the slow home way — boiled, soured, and reduced to a black umami jam that anchors Upper Burma's table.

Seik Thar Hin, Dry-Zone Goat Curry

Curries · 135 min · Intermediate

Seik Thar Hin, Dry-Zone Goat Curryဆိတ်သားဟင်း

Upper Burma's slow goat curry — bone-in meat braised si pyan style with shallots, ginger, and turmeric until the gravy darkens and the amber oil returns.

Tua Nao, Shan Fermented Soybean Discs

Rice & Foundations · 210 min · Intermediate

Tua Nao, Shan Fermented Soybean Discsပဲပုပ်

Shan State's seasoning backbone — soybeans boiled, fermented, pounded, and sun-dried into discs you toast over flame and crumble into everything.

Bamboo-Tube Sticky Rice

Rice & Foundations · 95 min · Intermediate

Bamboo-Tube Sticky Riceဝါးခေါင်းထမင်း

Glutinous rice packed into green bamboo and roasted over embers until it steams in its own perfumed skin — the Kachin hills' portable rice, oven route included.

Mohinga, the National Breakfast

Noodles & Mohinga · 120 min · Intermediate

Mohinga, the National Breakfastမုန့်ဟင်းခါး

Myanmar's beloved catfish-and-lemongrass noodle soup, built properly — a broth thickened with toasted chickpea flour, rice noodles, and the full crackle of toppings.

Htoe Mont, Mandalay's Celebration Cake

Sweets & Mont · 120 min · Intermediate

Htoe Mont, Mandalay's Celebration Cakeထိုးမုန့်

Mandalay's celebration cake — glutinous rice stirred slowly with palm sugar, coconut, and peanut oil until it slices clean. A Konbaung-era gift food.

Mont Lin Ma Yar, the Couple Snack

Street & Fritters · 50 min · Intermediate

Mont Lin Ma Yar, the Couple Snackမုန့်လင်မယား

Myanmar's husband-and-wife snack — two griddled rice-batter half-spheres, one hiding a quail egg, one chickpeas, joined into a single crisp bite.

Gin Thoke, the Ginger Salad

Salads & Thoke · 40 min · Beginner

Gin Thoke, the Ginger Saladဂျင်းသုပ်

Myanmar's bright ginger salad — shredded pickled young ginger massaged with toasted chickpea flour, fried beans, peanuts, and sesame for warmth and crunch.

Pork Curry with Pickled Mango

Curries · 125 min · Intermediate

Pork Curry with Pickled Mangoဝက်သားချဉ်

Slow-simmered pork belly curry from Upper Burma, its richness cut by tart pickled mango — the old pairing of fat and sour, simmered until the oil returns.

Mandalay Meeshay, the Slippery One

Noodles & Mohinga · 90 min · Intermediate

Mandalay Meeshay, the Slippery Oneမီးရှည်

Mandalay's slippery rice-noodle bowl — a glossy, starch-thickened pork topping over noodles, cut by sour pickled bean sprouts, garlic oil, and broth alongside.

Crispy Fried Shallots & Shallot Oil

Rice & Foundations · 40 min · Beginner

Crispy Fried Shallots & Shallot Oilကြက်သွန်ကြော်

Slow-fried shallots and their amber oil, the twin seasoning that dresses half of Burma's salads — sliced evenly, started patiently, never rushed.