SWEET TREATS
IN BURMA SWEETS ARE A PLEASURE for the moments in the day when you’re not eating a meal and just want a little pick-me-up. Most of them are made from rice or rice flour and sweetened with palm sugar in inventive combinations with coconut or banana, or sesame seeds and peanuts.
One place to find sweet treats is at morning markets; another is in tea shops, especially in the afternoon. Many sweets, such as Doughnut Rings Dipped in Palm Sugar Syrup and Street-Side Seductions, as well as the wonderful Shan Burmese version of fried bananas, Fried Sesame-Seed Bananas, are made and sold by street vendors, especially in the cities. They’re also a big favorite at temple festivals. Other sweets are made in home kitchens. That’s where I learned to make Magic Rice Balls and the sweet morning treat Sticky-Rice Sweet Buns with Coconut.
semolina cake
[SHWE GYI MONT]SERVES 8
This recipe will look strange to you if you are a cake maker: that’s because it’s a Burmese version of Indian semolina halvah, not a classic cake. You toast the semolina flour first, add the liquids and cook it over low heat, and then bake it. (It’s all easier than it sounds.) The result is a tender, delicious cross between cake and sweetmeat.
This modern “fancy” version of halvah includes eggs, which make the cake a little firmer. If you want to try an eggless version, see
Classic Burmese Semolina Cake.
1 cup packed brown sugar or granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup canned or fresh coconut milk
1 cup warm water
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
¼ cup peanut oil
¼ cup golden raisins (optional)
4 tablespoons butter, melted
3 tablespoons blanched almonds, sliced (optional)
Place a cast-iron or other heavy skillet over medium heat and add the semolina. Cook, stirring frequently to prevent scorching, until the flour starts to change color markedly, becoming a golden brown. Remove from the heat and continue stirring for a minute or so as the pan cools down, then transfer to a bowl. Add the sugar and salt and stir in, then stir in the coconut milk and water. Stir in the eggs, cover, and set aside for 20 to 30 minutes.
Place a rack in the top third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Set out an 8-inch cake pan or cast-iron skillet
Heat a heavy skillet or a large wok over medium heat. Add the oil, then pour in the semolina mixture and cook, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon to prevent sticking. The liquid mixture will start to thicken and get stickier. When it is quite sticky and thickened, about 20 minutes, remove from the heat and stir in the raisins, if using.
Transfer the mixture to the pan and smooth the top. Drizzle on the melted butter, sprinkle on the sliced almonds, if using, and put in the top third of the oven. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the cake feels firm when pressed lightly on the top. For an attractively browned top surface, you can place the cake under the broiler for a minute or two.
Remove and let stand for at least 1 hour to firm up before you slice it. Turn it onto a plate if you wish, or serve from the pan.
classic burmese semolina cake
SERVES 5 OR 6
Because this cake is tender and a little fragile (no eggs to help it firm up), I make it in a small pan, so that slices are easier to handle. I bake the cake in a cast-iron skillet, but you can also use a cake pan or even a pie plate. The taste is very light and clean. Include a few golden raisins if you like and/or top this with slivered almonds. This is a very handy cake if you are serving pure (non-egg-eating) vegetarians or vegans (use oil rather than butter for vegans).
I serve this from the pan.
½ cup packed light brown sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup canned or fresh coconut milk
1 cup lukewarm water
4 tablespoons butter or ¼ cup peanut oil
2 tablespoons golden raisins (optional)
1 tablespoon thinly sliced almonds (optional)
Place the flour in a heavy skillet and toast over medium-high heat until aromatic and touched with golden brown. Transfer to a bowl and add the sugar and salt, then add the coconut milk and water and stir to make a smooth batter. Set aside for 20 to 30 minutes.
Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Set out a 6-inch cast-iron skillet or cake or pie pan.
Place a heavy skillet or wok over medium heat and add the butter or oil. When the butter has melted or the oil is hot, add the batter and cook, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon to prevent sticking, for about 20 minutes, until thickened and sticky. If you wish, add the raisins about 5 minutes before it’s done.
Pour the batter into the pan. Sprinkle on the sliced almonds, if using. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. It will still be very soft when done; let cool completely, a couple of hours, before serving.
deep forest monklets’ sticky rice cake
SERVES 8
One day I went on an excursion up the
Dokhtawaddy River from Hsipaw with several other travelers. An hour brought us to a small landing stage overhung with vines. We walked past fields of pineapple and along a path to a Buddhist monastery called Lwe Yung, the
Deep Forest Monastery. The main temple was a beautiful place, built of wood and up on stilts, so it caught the breezes. The young monklets, from five to twelve years old, were hanging out in the temple under the benign, distracted supervision of the abbot (all the other senior monks were away). He was clearly loved as well as respected by the young ones.
After we had looked around, we were offered tea and a sweet treat, small pieces of “cake” made from sticky rice flavored with sesame seeds, sugar, and peanuts. It’s easy to make, the boys said as they ate with us, and they told me what to do.
1½ cups white Thai sticky rice (see Glossary)
⅓ cup unsalted raw peanuts
½ to ⅔ cup chopped palm sugar or packed brown or granulated sugar (see Note)
⅓ cup sesame seeds
¾ teaspoon salt
2¼ cups water
Rinse the rice in cold water, drain, and place in a small pot with a tight-fitting lid or in a rice cooker. Add the peanuts, sugar, sesame seeds, salt, and water and stir to mix well.
If using a pot, bring to a boil over high heat, then cover tightly, reduce the heat to low, and cook for 30 minutes, until the rice is tender. If using a rice cooker, cover and turn it on (it will automatically turn to “warm” when the rice is done).
Let the cooked rice stand, covered, for 10 minutes.
Lightly oil an 8-inch square baking pan or 8-inch pie plate. Transfer the rice mixture to the pan, mixing and blending it gently as you do so to distribute the flavorings (as the rice cooks, the sesame seeds end up on top, and you want them scattered throughout). Smooth the top gently without pressing down too hard, and let stand for 30 minutes to firm up.
Cut into squares or wedges. This keeps well for 3 days, covered—do not refrigerate (it toughens the sticky rice).
NOTE: Palm sugar or brown sugar, which makes a beige-colored cake, gives a more interesting smoky taste than white sugar. Two-thirds of a cup of sugar reproduces the sweetness of the monklets’ cake, but is sweeter than I like; I use ½ cup palm or brown sugar.
sticky rice cake with ginger and coconut
When I spent a morning cooking with Mimi in Rangoon (see Mimi’s Bean Soup with Tender Leaves), one of the many things I learned was the name for the “monklet” cake: it’s called htamanei in Burmese. Mimi’s version is a more sophisticated cake than the monklets’, made with fresh ginger and coconut shavings. There’s a warm hit from the ginger and a lushness from the coconut.
Add 3 tablespoons ginger cut into matchsticks when you put the rice and flavorings on to boil, and use ⅔ cup sugar. When you transfer the cooked rice to the baking pan or pie plate, mix in ½ cup or more deep-fried coconut shavings (see below). Or just press them into the surface as a sweet and delicious topping.
Sticky Rice Cake with Ginger and Coconut
fried coconut strips
MAKES ABOUT 1 CUP
Serve as a topping for sweets of all kinds or use as an ingredient in other sweet treats.
1 coconut, or about 1½ to 2 cups frozen grated coconut
About ¼ cup peanut oil or coconut oil
If using a coconut, crack it open (see
Glossary) and use a coconut scraper, a potato peeler, a very coarse grater, or a bottle cap to scrape long, flat strips of flesh from the coconut. If using frozen coconut, put it out on a plate to thaw, then squeeze out the excess water and pat dry.
Heat about ¼ inch of oil in a wok or a small heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the coconut strips or thawed coconut and stir-fry, stirring constantly to prevent burning, until touched with golden brown. Lift it out with a slotted spoon or tongs, allowing excess oil to drain, then transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate. Leftovers, once cooled, can be stored in the refrigerator.
