Burmese Cookbookမြန်မာ့မီးဖိုချောင် · The Myanmar Kitchen

Htamin Gyaw with Boiled Yellow Beans

ထမင်းကြော်

Burmese fried rice the honest way — day-old jasmine rice tossed in turmeric-stained shallot oil with buttery boiled yellow beans and fish sauce.

By Burmese Cookbook Kitchen · June 6, 2026

ရန်ကုန် Yangon & Lower BurmaThe Socialist Years, 1962–1988

Htamin Gyaw with Boiled Yellow Beans၁
Prep
10 min
Cook
15 min
Serves
4
Level
Beginner

Htamin gyaw is what a Burmese kitchen does with yesterday — yesterday's rice from the bottom of the pot, a couple of shallots, a ladle of boiled yellow beans bought from the corner pot at dawn. Fried rice exists everywhere rice does, but the Burmese version is defined by restraint: no soy sauce, no frozen peas and carrots, just grains stained gold with turmeric-shallot oil, seasoned with fish sauce, and studded with pè byouk — plain boiled beans, buttery and mild, the great Burmese breakfast starch-on-starch move.

It is honest food from a hard chapter. In the socialist decades after 1962, when imports vanished and queues were long, Yangon households became expert at making the second day taste deliberate, and htamin gyaw with beans — filling, cheap, needing nothing from a shop but the beans themselves — became the workday breakfast of a whole city. It still is. Street vendors sell it from flat griddles with a fried egg on top and sweet milky tea alongside, and nobody calls it leftovers.

Two habits make it. Start with cold day-old rice, broken up by hand, because dry grains fry and fresh ones steam. And once the rice hits the oil, stop fussing — let it sit against the hot metal long enough to toast before each toss. This recipe is also where the chapter's foundations convene: the pot rice, the shallot oil, the fried shallots, all on one plate. Cook the chapter in order and this dish is nearly free.

Let the rice sit untouched in the hot oil for a full minute before you toss. Constant stirring keeps it pale and steamy; patience gives you the toasted bottom layer that makes fried rice taste fried.

မီးဖိုချောင်စကား · A word from the kitchen

Ingredientsပါဝင်ပစ္စည်း

Serves 4

For the beans (pè byouk)

  • 150 gchana dal — or yellow split peas — the diaspora stand-ins for Burmese boiled lablab beans; soaked overnight
  • 0.5 tspturmeric
  • 0.5 tspsalt

For the rice

  • 600 gcooked jasmine rice — day-old and refrigerated — about 250 g raw; see the pot rice recipe in this chapter
  • 3shallots — sliced into thin rings
  • 3 tbsppeanut oil — or, better, the shallot oil from this chapter
  • 0.5 tspturmeric
  • 1 tbspfish sauce

To serve

  • 2eggs — optional but usual — fried crisp-edged, one per two servings or one per person
  • 2scallions — sliced
  • 2 tbspcrispy fried shallots — from the jar you made two recipes ago
  • 1lime — in wedges

Methodချက်နည်း

  1. Step 1: Boil the beans

    Drain the soaked dal and simmer it in fresh water with the turmeric and salt until tender but intact — 30 to 40 minutes, and this can happen a day ahead. You want beans that hold their shape and mash only when pressed; mushy beans disappear into the rice instead of standing against it. Drain well.

  2. Step 2: Break up the rice

    With wet hands, break the cold rice apart into loose grains, crushing any stubborn clumps. Cold day-old rice fries into separate, chewy grains; fresh warm rice steams into mush no matter what the pan does. This thirty seconds of hand work is the difference between fried rice and hot wet rice.

  3. Step 3: Fry the shallots in turmeric oil

    Heat the oil in a wok or wide skillet over medium-high heat with the turmeric. Add the shallot rings and fry until golden at the edges and sweet, 2 to 3 minutes. The turmeric stains the oil, and the oil stains the rice — that gold is htamin gyaw's uniform.

  4. Step 4: Fry the rice with patience

    Add the rice, toss to coat every grain in the golden oil, then spread it out and leave it alone for a full minute so the bottom layer toasts. Toss and repeat twice more, 5 to 6 minutes in all, until the rice is hot through with scattered toasted patches.

  5. Step 5: Season and fold in the beans

    Splash the fish sauce around the rim of the wok — not onto the rice — so it sizzles and toasts on the hot metal before you toss it through. Fold in the drained beans gently, just to warm them, keeping them whole.

  6. Step 6: Serve with the usual honors

    Pile onto plates and top with a crisp-edged fried egg, scallions, and a scatter of crispy fried shallots, with a lime wedge on the side. Eaten with strong sweet tea, this is a workday Yangon breakfast in its entirety.

ခွက်ယောက် · The tools

Equipment

All kitchen tools →

  • Carbon-steel wok

    ဒယ်အိုး

    The dai-oh — for si pyan curries, fritters, and every fried-noodle dish here. Carbon steel, seasoned dark, nothing fancy.

    Shop on Amazon →

  • Rice cooker

    ထမင်းအိုး

    Consistent long-grain rice with zero attention — and in a Burmese kitchen the rice is never optional.

    Shop on Amazon →

Equipment links are Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases, at no cost to you. Disclosure.

Questions from the kitchen

Can I use freshly cooked rice?

If you must, spread hot rice on a tray and let it dry under a fan for an hour, or give it thirty uncovered minutes in the fridge. Straight from the pot it carries too much surface moisture and will steam instead of fry. Day-old is not a workaround — it is the recipe.

What exactly is pè byouk?

Literally boiled beans — in Burma usually lablab beans or yellow peas, simmered plain with turmeric and salt, sold by the scoop from street pots at dawn. They land on fried rice, on naan and paratha, and in salads. Chana dal or yellow split peas cook up closest in flavor and hold their shape well.

This seems very plain. Is that right?

Yes, and resist the urge to fix it. Htamin gyaw is not Chinese fried rice with a Burmese accent — no soy sauce, no mixed vegetables. Its pleasures are specific: toasted rice, sweet shallots, buttery beans, the salt hit of fish sauce, and whatever balachaung or chili you add at the table. The plainness is the dish.

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