Foot and Fire

Laphet thoke is another symbolic dish of Burma, albeit a snack. It consists of pickled tea leaves soaked in oil eaten with an assortment of fritters including roasted groundnuts, deep fried garlic, sun dried prawns, toasted sesame and deepfried crispy beans. Laphet is served in a traditional 'oat' - a lacquer container with individual compartments for each ingredients. Lahpet was an ancient symbolic peace offering between warring kingdoms in the history of Myanmar, and is exchanged and consumed after settling a dispute.

From Left to right: A salty gravy which must be made of fish; roasted beans; fried garlic slices, small dried shrimps, and a dish like laing (made of gabi tubers with salty fish) or this must be the pickled tea leaves, I am not sure. These are complimentary to the orders of Rice and fish/meat, and served as dips for raw and steamed vegetables. ***  The yellowing leaves are tough but they were served steamed, must be tree leaves; the miniature eggplants which were steamed, raw carrots, raw calamansi leaves, and another steamed green leaves, must be the tops of squash or sayote. These are dipped in the condiments and serve as side dish for the main dish of rice and fish/meat. I tried tearing up the calamnsi leaves and mix with my rice, they make my rice fragrant and savory, just like our pandan leaves. Another idea in serving rice! ***  A soup made of potato, sweet potato or squash.  Very thin one so that I cannot really identify. *** Two more saucers of red, which is mild ...