Shan chickpea-tofu salad tossed with fried garlic, crushed peanuts, tamarind, and chili oil. Cold, bracing, vegetarian.
Shan-diaspora street salad now nationwide; the Yangon 19th Street tea-shop strip serves it as the daytime tea-break dish. Anthony Bourdain explored Yangon's street food and tea-shop culture in the 2013 'Parts Unknown' Myanmar episode.
Yangon's Daw Lay May tea shop on 36th Street tops it with fried-onion oil that's been cold-rested overnight to thicken — the signature mouthcoat.
Cubes of cool yellow tofu glossed with chili-tamarind oil, crunchy peanut and garlic shower on top, citrus-sour and sesame-nutty. Hand-tossed at the table in a tin bowl.
Tamarind paste must be diluted with hot water and strained — straight pulp turns the salad gritty. Tofu is sliced thick (1.5 cm) so it holds shape under aggressive hand-tossing.
Variations
Inle Lake version adds chopped tomato and pickled mustard for a sourer hit. Mandalay Shan-quarter version uses dried-shrimp powder, breaking the strict-vegetarian rule of the original.
On the Palate
Where Tohu Thoke sits in the Burmese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 2How it's made
3 steps · 2 hours 51 min
- 1165 min
Make Burmese tofu (#2352); cut into 2 cm cubes.
Watch outCut the tofu a good 1.5 cm thick — thin slices break apart under the hard hand-tossing this salad needs.
- 24 min
Toss with 4 minced fried garlic cloves + 60 g peanuts + 2 tbsp tamarind paste + chili oil.
Watch outDilute the tamarind with hot water and strain out the pulp before it goes in — straight paste leaves the salad gritty with fibers and seeds.
- 32 min
Top with cilantro; serve cold.
