A slice of Burma in the lanes of Delhi

‘A thee ma, thayet; a thar ma, wet; a ywet ma, lahpet’ - ‘The best fruits are mangoes, the best meat is pork, the best leaves are lahpet.’ - A burmese rhyme

East Asia accounts for the highest green tea consumption in the world but Myanmar is the only country where tea is the main beverage as well as eaten extensively. Young green tea (Camellia sinensis) leaves are plucked and fermented to Laphet or Lahpet which then form a base for salads, locally known as Laphet Thoke (Laphet: Fermented Tea and Thoke: Salad). Street stalls featuring both the tea and the salad are a common feature all across Myanmar. Taiyaba Ali talks about a slice of Burma in the heart of Delhi.

My first acquaintance with Laphet Thoke happened while watching the Myanmar episode of Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown and I hurriedly made notes on this salad in order to look it up later. Second and more significant one came a few months ago as I walked inside a Burmese eatery in Delhi’s Humayunpur area with a friend who introduced the place as a ‘promising’ one. She was right. Named after Myanmar’s national dish Mohinga, this eatery was started by Rouhid Ali in nostalgia of the food he grew up eating. Food made by his burmese grandmother for him and his siblings during their summer vacation from school. Ali fondly recalls, “the food was the most anticipated part of the trip. Days in advance we would talk of all that we would get to eat while visiting our grandmother in Tamu.” Tamu is a border town in Myanmar, located less than 100 kilometers apart from Imphal, Manipur. Ali’s hometown.

Mohinga: The taste of Myanmar opened its doors for people in Delhi in 2018. The eatery offers a limited menu to its customers but each dish is immersed deep in burmese taste. To stay true to the food of his childhood, Ali went back to Tamu and learnt the flavours and techniques he wanted to offer. He spent six months working at a local restaurant there and returned to Delhi with his knowledge and Laphet. Many Burmese pantry staples including Laphet, Legumes, Shrimp paste etc are imported from Myanmar and used to put together dishes in his kitchen. Nearly two years down the line, he boasts of his restaurant as one of its kind in Delhi with Laphet Thoke at the heart of its popularity.

Neha, a Delhi based researcher and a frequent eater at Mohinga shares her love for the salad for its refreshing nature and easy adaptability of Laphet Thoke into both a meal and a snack, “I find the dish very refreshing and enjoy eating with my meal or in between. I also like to serve it as a starter when I have friends over.” Traditionally Laphet Thoke consists of the fermented tea leaf paste (Laphet) mixed with a variety of crunchy elements like fried butter beans, yellow chickpeas, roasted sesame seeds, fried garlic, peanuts. Vegetables in the form of sliced tomato, shredded cabbage and seasoning of fresh green chilli, fermented shrimp paste and dried shrimp. All the ingredients are combined and served on a plate.

Another form of Laphet, consumed as a snack in Burmese houses and served to the guests is called Ahlu Laphet. As opposed to the mixed salad, here the ingredients are served in a compartmented tray, mostly after or in between meals with tea. Tin Cho Chaw, who self-published Hsa* Ba: Burmese Cookbook after she moved to London says in her book, “A little of each crispy tidbit and laphet are spooned straight into the mouth and savored slowly, sometime with a bite of raw garlic and green chili. A cup of hot tea completes the ritual.”

Even though Mohinga (fish noodle soup) is Myanmar’s national dish, Laphet Thoke does a significant job in capturing the essence of essentials in Burmese cuisine, chin ngan sat or “"sour, salty, and spicy." As the fermented tea leaves bind the salad, they symbolically bring people together, around the table whether in people’s homes or innumerable tea stalls dotted along the streets in Myanmar. Today these streets bear a totally different demeanour.

Myanmar’s Military commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing announced a year-long coup on February 1, 2021 after losing general elections to the National League of Democracy Party headed by Aung San Suu Kyi. Since then, pro-democracy citizens have filled the streets in protest. The army blockade has left people with little food and shelter and no access to medical care, even as the coronavirus pandemic rages on. While the locals suffer from food price hikes, small businesses like Ali’s are concerned over the disruption in supply of Burmese products like Laphet that are at the core of his restaurant.

Both sides of the border tea-stalls in Myanmar and small-scale restaurants like Mohinga: The Taste of Myanmar in Delhi, have been at the receiving end of the coronavirus outbreak for more than a year now. And with the military coup related disruptions, many will go out of business. But we will wait for all of this to get over. People will return to these stools and spots. Because what does a new morning bring? Sunshine and a cup of tea!