CONDIMENTS AND SAUCES
IT’S THE EXTRA DISHES ON THE TABLE that make eating in Burma such a special pleasure, mouthful by mouthful.
Some of the sauces, like Tart-Sweet Chile-Garlic Sauce (in the Burma Basics chapter—see this page), Kachin Salsa, and Sour-Plum Chutney with Chile Oil, have marked chile heat. Milder sauces include Fresh Red Chile Chutney, from Myitkyina, and Standout Tomato Chutney. Get familiar with them and then get creative, as Burmese cooks are: include a little ginger paste here or extra minced fresh herbs there, as the fancy takes you.
I’ve included several pungent sauces and one relish-like condiment that are almost always on the table at a rice meal in central and southern Burma. They are a bit of an acquired taste for foreigners (once you learn to love them, however, they’re hard to pass up) because their pungency comes from fermented fish and shrimp paste. The sauces are a traditional dip and flavoring for the plates of raw and steamed vegetables (see this page) that come to the table as part of a rice meal.
The palate fresheners are a cross between simple salads and fresh chutneys, blends of fresh ingredients without a dressing. Like the condiment sauces, they add another layer of flavor and variety to a simple rice meal, with very little effort.
MAKES A GENEROUS 1 CUP
Southeast Asian cooks know as well as Mexican cooks do how much flavor you can get from grilling vegetables before using them in salsas. Here whole tomatoes and green cayenne chiles are put on the grill (or into a heavy skillet on the stovetop) to get a little blackened and softened, then are processed to a salsa that has a touch of sweetness from the roasted shallots.
If you have Romas or other fleshy tomatoes, use them; if your tomatoes are juicier, the sauce will be a little runnier. I find myself spooning up the runnier version like a cold soup sometimes.
5 green cayenne chiles
3 medium tomatoes, preferably Roma (plum) or another fleshy variety
4 shallots, not peeled
¾ teaspoon salt, or to taste
Preheat a charcoal or gas grill until hot, or heat a cast-iron or other heavy skillet over medium-high heat.
Grill the chiles, tomatoes, and shallots on the hot grill or in the hot skillet, turning to expose all sides to the heat, until touched with black and very soft.
Peel off and discard any black areas or tough skin from the chiles and tomatoes. Cut off and discard the chile stems. Trim off the root ends of the shallots and remove the skins. Coarsely chop the chiles and shallots.
Place the chiles, tomatoes, and shallots in a food processor, add the shrimp powder and salt, and pulse several times until the mixture is reduced to a chunky sauce. Taste for salt and adjust if necessary. Serve warm or at room temperature. Leftovers will keep, refrigerated, for 3 days.
Condiments to complement a meal: Kachin Salsa (upper right) and Standout Tomato Chutney.
sour-plum chutney with chile oil
MAKES ABOUT 1½ CUPS
There’s a sour plum in Southeast Asia sometimes called hog plum in English and that I know by its Thai name,
makawk. I saw makawk for sale at the market in
Hpa’an, capital of Karen State (see
this page), and later came across this yummy chutney in a small Hpa’an eatery. It’s very simple: tart fruit stewed with a little palm sugar and heated with chile oil and garlic.
Because Southeast Asian sour plums have not yet come to North America, at least in any reliable way, I usually substitute tomatillos. Tomatillos are nothing like hog plums, but they have a similar tart edge. Green tomatoes are another option. I also make this with damson plums, an old-variety tart plum from the eastern Mediterranean that has a short season in early fall.
This is a great condiment for rice and for meat dishes of all kinds.
1 pound Asian sour plums, peeled and coarsely chopped, or substitute ¾ pound tomatillos, husked and rinsed, green tomatoes, or damson plums, coarsely chopped
¼ cup water
Scant 3 tablespoons chopped palm sugar or brown sugar
3 tablespoons peanut oil
3 or 4 bird (Thai) chiles or 3 red cayenne chiles, seeded and minced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon fish sauce
½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
Place the fruit in a pot with the water, cover, and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve it, then lower the heat and simmer, half-covered, until the fruit is very soft but not falling apart. If the pot starts to run dry, add a little more water as needed. If you are using plums, the pits will float to the surface as the fruit cooks; lift them out and discard.
Meanwhile, place a wok or a heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the oil, then toss in the chiles and cook for about 3 minutes, or until they are well softened. Add the garlic and cook for another 3 or 4 minutes, until golden. Remove from the heat.
When the fruit is cooked, add the chile mixture, fish sauce, and salt and simmer for another couple of minutes, until the oil rises to the surface. Add the chile oil and stir. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt or fish sauce if you wish.
Let cool, then store in a well-sealed glass jar in the refrigerator; it will keep for 4 days or so.
MAKES A SCANT 1 CUP
This condiment, a milder fresh-chile cousin of
Tart-Sweet Chile-Garlic Sauce, was served with the street-side rice crepes in
Myitkyina. The combo makes a wonderful late-afternoon snack. In Myitkyina the sauce is a bright red, but if you cannot find red cayennes or a red bell pepper, use green ones, and increase the sugar slightly. Notice that the garlic goes into the pot later, after the chiles, so it still has a little bite to it.
There’s some sweetness from a little sugar and a touch of tartness from vinegar. You can vary the sauce in any way that suits you.
This makes a great pairing with roast pork or grilled beef.
2 tablespoons peanut oil or vegetable oil
Scant ⅛ teaspoon turmeric
4 red cayenne chiles, seeded and thinly sliced (about ½ cup)
1 small red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and thinly sliced (about ½ cup)
¼ to ½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup water
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon rice vinegar, or substitute apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
Place a small heavy pot over medium heat and add the oil. When it is hot, toss in the turmeric and stir, then add the chiles, bell pepper, and salt and stir well. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring, then add the water. Once the water bubbles to a boil, cover and cook for 7 or 8 minutes, or until the chiles are softening well.
Add the garlic, vinegar, and sugar, stir well, and cook for about a minute, uncovered, stirring to prevent sticking. Remove from the heat and let cool before serving.
Store in a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
MAKES ABOUT ¾ CUP
Like tamarind sauces in India, this is used as a dipping sauce for deep-fried snacks. It’s also good drizzled on rice. The tartness of the tamarind is balanced by a little sugar, there’s the pungency from the
garlic, and the chile heat keeps the flavors alive in your mouth. Tamarind sauce is at its best freshly made.
¼ cup tamarind pulp (see Glossary), coarsely chopped
½ cup hot water
2 medium garlic cloves, minced (see Note)
3 green cayenne chiles, seeded and minced
½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
½ teaspoon sugar, or to taste
Place the tamarind pulp in a small bowl, add the water, and soak for about 10 minutes.
Mash the tamarind with a fork (or use your fingers) to separate the seeds and fibers from the pulp. Place a sieve over a bowl and press the tamarind through the sieve, using the back of a spoon to extract as much liquid as possible from the pulp; set the tamarind liquid aside.
If you have a mortar, pound the garlic and chiles to a paste with a pinch of salt. Alternatively, process the garlic and chiles to a coarse paste in a food processor.
Stir the paste into the tamarind liquid and add the sugar and salt. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.
NOTE: Garlic varies greatly in size, taste, and intensity. If your garlic is tender and sweet, use it as is. If it is dry and harsh-tasting, then fry it briefly in a little oil before adding it to the mortar; frying will soften its edge.
Tamarind pods are light brown, and contain a mass of pulp mixed with seeds and fibers; that mixture is sold in blocks as tamarind pulp. The pulp must be soaked in water to soften it (top) and then pressed through a strainer to produce tamarind liquid (bottom).
tamarind chutney with shallots and dried chiles
In Pakkoku, a household of fabulous cooks (see “ ‘Tribal Woman,’ ”) showed me another take on tamarind sauce. Make the tamarind liquid as above. Soak 2 or 3 dried red chiles in warm water for 20 minutes, then drain, remove the stems and seeds, and mince; or pound to a paste in a mortar. Stir into the tamarind liquid along with a scant ½ cup thinly sliced shallots. Add 1 tablespoon fish sauce, taste, and add more if needed. Stir in ¼ teaspoon sugar—it’s remarkable how it brings all the flavors together. Serve with meats, or rice or noodle dishes.
MAKES ABOUT 1 CUP
MAKES A GENEROUS 3 CUPS
Of all the stars in the condiment universe, this tomato chutney really stands out. It’s a cross between a flavoring sauce and a condiment, with mild heat.
I find myself making it frequently when tomatoes are in season (and even when they’re not, substituting crushed canned organic tomatoes). The tomatoes that grow in the dry heat of Burma have a more intense flavor than ours, so it’s important to cook the tomatoes down a little, as described below, to concentrate them.
Serve as a condiment to accompany any meal or, nontraditionally, as a sauce over rice noodles or pasta.
1 tablespoon tamarind pulp (see Glossary), coarsely chopped
¼ cup hot water
About 2 tablespoons chopped shallots
1½ teaspoons chopped garlic
Salt
3 dried red chiles, soaked in water for 10 minutes and drained
Scant ¼ cup peanut oil
¼ teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon shrimp paste (ngapi; see Glossary)
1½ pounds ripe tomatoes, finely chopped (about 3 cups), or 3 cups crushed canned tomatoes, preferably unseasoned
3 or 4 green cayenne chiles, seeded and cut lengthwise into 3 or 4 strips each
About 1 tablespoon fish sauce, to taste
About 2 tablespoons chopped coriander
Place the tamarind pulp in a small bowl, add the hot water, and let soak for 10 minutes.
Mash the tamarind with a fork to separate the seeds and fibers from the pulp. Press the tamarind through a sieve set over a bowl, using the back of a spoon to extract as much liquid as possible from the pulp. Set the tamarind liquid aside; discard the pulp.
If you have a mortar, pound the shallots and garlic to a paste with a pinch of salt, then pound the chiles to a paste. Alternatively, mince the shallots and garlic to a paste with the salt, then mince the chiles. Set aside.
Place a wide heavy skillet or heavy pot or a wok over medium heat. Add the oil and turmeric and stir, then add the shallots and garlic and stir-fry for a minute or two. Add the reserved chiles and shrimp paste and stir briefly to blend. Add the tamarind liquid and tomatoes. Stir well, bring to a boil, then lower the heat slightly and cook at a strong simmer until the tomatoes are softened and a little thickened, about 10 minutes.
Stir in the shrimp powder and cayenne chiles and cook for several minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure that nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pan, until the chiles are softened. Add the fish sauce, then taste and adjust the seasonings if you wish.
Turn out into a bowl and let cool to room temperature. Stored in a well-sealed glass jar in the refrigerator, the chutney will keep for 4 days; bring to room temperature before serving.
Sprinkle on the coriander just before serving.
Cherry tomatoes of various colors and sizes on sale at a small market in Kengtung, in eastern Shan State.
shan tomato chutney
In Shan State, this chutney’s depth of flavor comes from toasted soybean disks instead of the dried shrimp powder and shrimp paste, and it is seasoned with salt rather than fish sauce. (The result is a vegetarian chutney.) Substitute ¼ cup crumbled toasted soybean disk (see Cooking with Tua Nao,), or 1 to 2 teaspoons brown miso paste, for the dried shrimp powder and shrimp paste, and use 1 teaspoon salt instead of the fish sauce. Thicken with 2 to 3 tablespoons Toasted Chickpea Flour if you wish.
