Burmese Tea Salad

 Ok, you have to remember, this is way better to eat than to look at.  The combination of ingredients is phenomenal, and well worth ordering the tea leaves.

This salad is often called Burma’s national dish. Laphet is the word for “green tea” and thoke means “salad” (it’s pronounced “la-pay toe”). It’s a dazzling combination of fermented tea leaves, soft-textured and a little acid and astringent, with other tastes and textures: crisp, roasted peanuts and other crunchy beans, toasted sesame seeds, dried shrimp, and garlic. Laphet thoke is traditionally served as a final taste at the end of the meal, much like sweetened whole spices may be served at the end of a north Indian meal, or tea or coffee at the end of a Western meal.

Packages of prepared laphet thoke ingredients—the tea leaves and all the other flavorings—are sold everywhere in Burma--but are impossible to find in the U.S.  Burmese who live abroad buy stacks of the packages when they return on visits to take back with them. In other words, finding fermented tea leaves outside Burma and northern Thailand can be a problem.  One can order them online from a New York–based company called Minthila.

Ingredients
About 3/4 cup packed fermented tea leaves, rinsed and coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons Toasted Sesame Seeds, lightly ground
2 to 3 tablespoons roasted peanuts, whole or coarsely chopped
2 to 3 tablespoons fried split roasted soybeans
1/2 cup thin tomato wedges
2 tablespoons dried shrimp, soaked in water for 10 minutes and drained
1 cup shredded Napa cabbage
Salt
optional dressing:
1 to 2 tablespoons Garlic Oil
1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon soy sauce or fish sauce
Pinch of salt
Rinse tea leaves.
Combine all the ingredients (except salt) in a bowl. Mix with your hands, separating any clumped tea leaves and the shreds of cabbage to blend everything thoroughly. Add the dressing ingredients and blend thoroughly with your hands. Add salt to taste and adjust other seasonings if you wish.