Recipe(tried): Burmese Nan Yang Restaurant Ginger Salad

Burmese Ginger Salad
Source: Sunset Magazine, Dec. 1988
Makes 6 first-course servings

Less known than the cuisines of its Asian neighbors, the food of Burma deserves recognition. Here, we present a refreshing sampler menu inspired by the Burmese Nan Yang Restaurant in Oakland.

If you're familiar with Indian, Thai, and Chinese cooking, you may recognize their influence on Burmese cuisine, but its flavor combinations are unique. Burmese food is less fiery than some Southeast Asian dishes; the primary seasonings used are dried shrimp, fish sauce, garlic, lemon, and ginger.

The ginger salad is an appealing combination of crunchy and sweet-hot ingredients. In rural Burma, it's a post-harvest, festival-season specialty.

Together, the cold noodle salad and spiced vegetable soup are a typical Burmese breakfast, but we suggest them for a Western supper with the first-course ginger salad to add substance.

All three recipes call for cabbage; red provides more color contrast for the salads, and green looks better in the soup, but you can use just one type. You'll find raw peanuts and flaked coconut in healthfood stores. Look for the fish sauce, dried shrimp, and black fungus in Oriental markets or well-stocked grocery stores.

Burmese Ginger Salad

3/4 cup yellow or green split peas
3/4 cup blanched (skinned) raw peanuts
3/4 cup slivered fresh ginger (matchstick pieces 1/16 to 1/8 inch thick, 2 to 6 in. long)
3/4 cup distilled white vinegar
3/4 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
2 tablespoons sesame seed
1/3 cup salad oil
2 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce (nam pla or nuoc nam) or soy sauce
1 1/2 cups finely shredded red or green cabbage
1 or 2 fresh jalapeno chilies, stemmed and thinly sliced crosswise
1/3 cup slivered onion
3 tablespoons small dried shrimp; whirl in a blender until powdered
2 limes or 1 lemon, cut into wedges

Place peas and peanuts in separate small bowls and cover with warm water; let stand at least 3 hours or up to overnight. Drain well and pat dry. Also, place ginger and vinegar in a small bowl, then cover and chill at least 2 hours or up to 2 days; drain and discard vinegar.

In a 10- to 12-inch ftying pan over medium heat, stir coconut often until golden, about 8 minutes; pour out and set aside. Repeat with sesame seed, 3 to 5 minutes. Add oil to pan. When oil is hot, add split peas and stir often until deep golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Lift out with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Repeat with peanuts, 4 to 5 minutes.

Add garlic to oil in pan and cook, stirring often, until golden, 1 to 3 minutes, Lift from pan with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Let oil cool. Stir fish sauce into oil; set aside. (At this point, you can cover coconut, sesame, peas, peanuts, garlic, and oil mixture separately; store at room temperature up to 1 week.)

On a platter, arrange ginger, coconut, sesame, peas, peanuts, garlic, cabbage, chilies, onion, and shrimp in separate piles. At the table, pour oil mixture over salad, squeeze limes on top, and mix ingredients.