burmese salad

(lahpet thoke)

This salad is a funky, citrusy, sensory bomb. One of our favorite things we ate when backpacking through northern Thailand, this salad reads as crunch on crunch, sour on sour, and feel good on feel, well, better. This one is versatile and craveable, and super substitution-friendly. Ours has sweet and floral meyer lemon in lieu of traditional diced tomato, but pink grapefruit or pomelo would be lovely too. Add any of your favorite nuts and seeds, herbs, or citrus to make this seasonal or personalized.

FERMENTED SENCHA CABBAGE:

1 head napa cabbage

1 bag or 16oz of sencha green tea

2 limes, zest and juice

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar 

1 tsp salt 

2 cloves garlic, minced

TEA LEAF DRESSING:

3 TBL (58g) seasoned rice wine vinegar

2 TBL (30g) mirin

2 TBL (26g) extra virgin olive oil

1 TBL (20g) sencha tea leaves, steeped

¼ tsp (1g) salt

5 cranks black pepper

⅛ tsp xantham gum (optional)

Steep sencha in medium-hot (180 degrees) h2o for 2-4 minutes and strain off tea. Enjoy a cup and steep leaves again. Reserve this liquid and chill for some iced green tea for another day. Combine steeped, cooled tea leaves, lime zest and lime juice, rice wine vinegar, garlic and salt in a small container. Leave the container on the counter to marry and ferment for up to 48 hours. Room temp is fine for a funkier flavor or you can refrigerate.

Cut cabbage into small, half-inch pieces from leaf to stem. Discard core. Reserve leafier parts. Combine half of the fermented tea leaves with thicker, more fibrous parts of cabbage and ferment for at least one more day, two would be best. Three will be dangerously delicious. 

For dressing, combine vinegar, mirin, tea leaves, salt, and pepper in a blender or bullet and blend until smooth. Feel free to leave specks of tea leaves more coarse for a mottled appearance, like pixelated camo or a QR code. Slowly incorporate olive oil in a steady stream to emulsify. Add a pinch of xantham gum if you desire a slightly tighter, thicker dressing. 

When ready to assemble your salad, add leafier raw cabbage to fermented cabbage and tea mix, soybeans, pepitas, sunflower seeds, ginger, herbs, and dressing to a large metal mixing bowl. Toss until well coated and all components are evenly incorporated. Divide and spoon into 4 or 6 plates. Salad should look heaping and plentiful. On top, add your meyer lemon jewels, 8-10 per plate, and sprinkle with fried shallots. 

SEEDS AND CRUNCHIES FOR TOSSING:

2 TBL pepitas

2 TBL sunflower seeds

2 TBL fried soybeans

2 TBL fried shallot 

½ cup mint

½ cup cilantro

½ cup thai basil (regular basil will be fine, purple basil would be pretty)

2 meyer lemons, supremed and cut into thirds, about the size of a pinkytip

fresh ginger, about 2 full thumbs’ length, cut into matchsticks

¼ cup-ish tea leaf dressing

(A note on fried shallots: you can find these pre-packaged in any Asian market. Feel free to make these yourself by patting dry and tossing in a little cornstarch before frying, or in a pinch, grab a can of French’s Fried Onions. YOLO.)