Cubed golden Shan tofu (made from yellow split-pea or chickpea flour, its color from turmeric) tossed with garlic oil, dried chili, and lime. Vegan Shan-highland staple.
Shan-state highland dish from Taunggyi and Hsipaw, eaten daily in Shan tea-shops and at the Inle Lake floating-market vendors. Distinct from tohu thoke in that tofu is cubed (not sliced) and dressing is sharper.
Taunggyi market vendor Daw Khin Khin Lay has sold it from the same stall since 1987 — she sets 30 trays of tofu nightly to slice for next-day salads.
Bright-yellow cubes glossed with garlic oil, dried-chili speck red, lime acid sharp, no sweetness. Cool, clean, vegetal — the antithesis of rich Bamar coconut curries on the same table.
Garlic oil is the workhorse — cloves are slow-fried in peanut oil at 110°C until just gold (overshoot to brown and the salad turns bitter). Tofu is cubed warm, not cold, so it absorbs the oil before setting hard.
Variations
Hsipaw village version adds chopped tomato and is dressed warmer. Inle Lake floating-market version uses dried-fish-powder funk (broken vegan rule) and chopped pickled mustard.
On the Palate
Where Shan Tofu Salad sits in the Burmese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 2How it's made
3 steps · 9 min
- 15 min
Cube Shan tofu (#2352).
Watch outCube the tofu while it's still warm, not fridge-cold — warm and soft it drinks in the oil before it sets firm.
- 23 min
Toss with 4 cloves fried garlic + 60 ml chili oil + lime + salt.
Watch outCheck that the fried garlic came out just gold, not browned — pushed to dark brown it turns the whole salad bitter.
- 31 min
Garnish with cilantro; serve cold.
