meemalee

Fritter Seller in Mandalay 36 years ago today, my mother, father, and two brothers disembarked from a plane at Heathrow Airport. I was a stowaway, born four months later. As well as the anniversary of my family's arrival in the UK, today is also  Independence Day in Burma (aka Myanmar), marking 67 years since Burma left the British Empire*. To celebrate both these occasions, I'm delighted that the Huffington Post has given me the opportunity to talk to you about Burmese food, and share my tips for eating and drinking in Burma. Here's my Insider Food Guide to Myanmar - see also below for photos of all the various dishes which I describe in detail: Typical Burmese spread Mohinga , our national dish Mandalay Noodle Salad ( Mandalay Mohntee / Mont-Di ) Lahpet Thohk - Pickled Tea Leaves Salad Ngapi Yay-Jo with blanched vegetables - Similar to Bagna Cauda, Ngapi is ...

Mont Lone Yay Paw - Sweet Floating Rice Balls Burmese New Year begins this weekend - a week long Buddhist festival which is known as Thingyan in Burma aka Myanmar. Three of the signs that signify that Thingyan has begun are that people start chucking water at each other indiscriminately in the spirit of mischievous fun, the sunshine yellow padauk flowers are blossoming, and the sweet snack known as Mont Lone Yay Paw  (or mote lone yay paw ) is dished up to everyone. A traditional Burmese dessert, similar to Malaysia's onde onde , China's tangyuan and Indonesia's klepon (and, I suspect, influenced by all these) ,   mont lone yay paw is to Thingyan what plum pudding is to Christmas Day - ie if you're having a pud to celebrate the occasion, you wouldn't dream of serving up anything else. The name mont lone yay paw literally means "round snack on the water" in Burmese, as it's made by boiling up balls of r...

Burmese Meatball Curry A-thar-lohn-hin aka meatball curry is eaten throughout Burma, but especially in Upper Burma. It is usually made with goat ( seit-thar ), but beef ( a-mair-thar ) is also popular. Lamb makes an excellent substitute, although is uncommonly used in Burma, partly because the Burmese word for "lamb" is thoh which also sounds like our word for "rotten". It's also good using 50:50 pork and beef mince, and the higher up you travel in Burma, the more likely pork will feature in the mix. Traditionally served with steamed rice, you could also eat it with naan bread, or even serve on noodles for a Burmese take on spaghetti and meatballs. Burmese Meatball Curry (A-thar-lohn hin) Serves 4-6 For the sauce 4 medium onions, diced  2 cloves garlic, chopped 1 tsp turmeric 4 tbsp groundnut or other neutral oil 400g can chopped tomatoes  3 red finger chillies  1 tbsp sweet paprika  2 tbsp fish sauce - good quality - I like Three ...

On the road back from Pindaya in 1989. Shortly afterwards, we overturned the car trying to avoid a bullock. As Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond have discovered in the Top Gear Burma Christmas (?) special which has just been shown on BBC2, transport in Burma (also known as Myanmar) is interesting .  For instance, as a result of British colonial rule, we used to drive on the left-hand side and so all the cars are left-hand drive, but in 1970, Ne Win , the military ruler who was in charge of Burma for decades, decided out of superstition that he would make everyone switch to driving on the right as apparently we were sliding to the left politically (he also once shot at his own reflection in a mirror because he believed that would make him safe from assassination). This change made, and makes, driving in Burma slightly terrifying, as the driver can't really see the road properly.  And until recently, only military and government officials were allowed to ...