Myanmar Green Tea Salad

Posted by Dana Oshiro

Yesterday I met my friend Erin in Alameda and had lunch at Burma Superstar. It was delicious. Erin ordered the tea leaf salad and I was both surprised and impressed. It was delicious and I picked off of her plate. Burma Superstar makes their recipe with romaine lettuce; however, traditional recipes call for cabbage. I prefer the romaine, but it's up to you.

I found the following recipe at Kitchen Caravan.

LEPHET THOKE

Ingredients
4 cups thinly sliced Napa cabbage (about 2/3 head) (Again I like romaine instead)
2 T unsalted roasted peanuts
1 tsp toasted sesame seeds
6 medium shrimp, shell on
2 garlic cloves + 2 T oil for frying
3 T sesame oil
2 T green tea leaves
1 tsp fish sauce
1 juicy lime
2 T cilantro, finely chopped
½ tomato, seeded and diced (optional)
*Burma Superstar also adds soy beans

Directions
1. COOK SHRIMP: Shell and de-vein the shrimp. Fill a medium sized saucepan with water and bring it to a simmer. Poach the shrimp until just cooked through, which only takes a matter of minutes. Remove them from their poaching liquid as soon as they are done cooking, cool, and refrigerate. Clean the shrimp shells under running water. Dry them well. Slice the poached shrimps in half lengthwise.

2. INFUSION: Heat up the sesame oil in a small pan, and add in the shrimp shells along with the tea leaves. Let them infuse in the oil on moderate heat for 5-10 minutes, then turn off the heat and continue to let them infuse while you prepare the rest of the salad.

3. GARLIC: Heat up the 2 tablespoons of oil in a skillet, and fry the garlic until golden brown. Remove the garlic with a slotted spatula and set it on some paper towel to soak up some of the oil.

4. MIX: Combine the cabbage, peanuts, sesame seeds, shrimp, soybeans and tomato (if you are using) together in a bowl.

5. TOSS WITH DRESSING: Drain the infusing oil of the shrimp shells and tea leaves, pressing hard on the solids, in order to extract all of the flavored oil. Make the dressing by whisking together the infused oil, fish sauce, lime juice, some salt to taste, and the cilantro.

6. DANA'S EXTRA STEP: Add another teaspoon of green tea leaf to the dressing and let sit for 30 min in fridge. Pour the dressing over the salad (including the tea leaves) and toss well. Top the salad with the fried garlic.

TAGS: Burma, Myanmar, Peanuts, Salad Dressing, Salads, Soy Beans, Tea Leaves
POST TOOLS: