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Kayan Thee Hnut
Serves 4 Prep 30 min Cook 25 min Total 55 min Type Side Origin Burmese

Kayan Thee Hnut

A Burmese aubergine stir-fry: cubed aubergine fried silky-soft, folded into a quick masala of fried onion, garlic, chilli, fish sauce and crushed peanuts.

Serves 4 Prep 10 minutes (plus 20 minutes salting) Cook 25 minutes Units Rate

Overview

A Burmese aubergine dish, the kind of thing that turns up on a weekday table next to a simple curry and rice. You cube the aubergine and salt it for twenty minutes to draw out the bitter water, then squeeze it dry. Onion fries dark-gold in oil; garlic, ginger and turmeric go in briefly; then the aubergine joins them and fries for eight minutes until silky-soft and just collapsing. Fish sauce, chilli powder and a touch of palm sugar season the pan, and toasted crushed peanuts scatter over at the end for crunch. Eaten warm with rice and a small piece of fish.

Ingredients

  • 600 g aubergine (cut into 3 cm cubes)
  • 1 ½ teaspoons salt (for sweating)
  • 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 onion (large, chopped)
  • 6 garlic cloves (sliced)
  • 1 thumb fresh ginger (julienned)
  • 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 1 teaspoon Kashmiri chilli powder
  • 2 tablespoons fish sauce
  • 1 tablespoon palm sugar (or brown sugar)
  • 60 ml hot water
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted peanuts (lightly toasted, roughly crushed)
  • 2 tablespoons crispy fried shallots (to finish)
  • 1 small handful fresh cilantro (chopped)

Method

Stage 1 - Salt the aubergine

  1. Toss cubed aubergine with salt in a colander; set over the sink.
  2. Leave 20 minutes - water will drip out.
  3. Squeeze handfuls hard over the sink to remove more water. Pat dry.

Stage 2 - Fry aubergine

  1. Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a wide pan over medium-high heat.
  2. Add the aubergine in a single layer; fry 8-10 minutes, turning occasionally, until deeply soft and lightly golden. The aubergine should collapse and absorb the oil.
  3. Tip into a bowl.

Stage 3 - Fry aromatics

  1. Wipe the pan. Heat the remaining oil.
  2. Add onion; fry 8 minutes until deep gold.
  3. Add garlic, ginger, turmeric and chilli powder; cook 1 minute.

Stage 4 - Combine

  1. Return the aubergine to the pan.
  2. Add fish sauce, sugar and hot water; toss together.
  3. Cook 3-4 minutes, stirring, until the sauce reduces and clings.

Stage 5 - Finish

  1. Off the heat, stir in half the crushed peanuts.
  2. Tip into a serving bowl.
  3. Top with the remaining peanuts, fried shallots and cilantro.

Stage 6 - Serve

  1. Eat with white rice and a side of curry.

Notes

  • Salt the aubergine: Without this, the cubes drink an alarming amount of oil and the texture is mushy. Twenty minutes is enough.
  • Toast the peanuts whole: Then crush. Buying pre-roasted is fine; pre-crushed loses crunch.
  • Si byan style: Burmese cooks often add more oil than seems right. Resist the urge to skimp.

Storage

  • Refrigerate 3 days; reheats well.
  • Add peanuts and fresh garnish fresh - the topping goes soft in storage.

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The Burmese fish cakes that arrive at lahpet-thoke salad tables and street snack stalls alike, bright with lime and curry leaf. You cube skinless firm fish fillets and pulse them in a food processor with shallot, garlic, ginger, lime, fish sauce and a small egg into a sticky paste. A spoon of beaten cornflour binds it. Curry leaves, sliced spring onion, chopped cilantro and a fresh chilli go in for fragrance and bite. Patties form by hand (keep your hands slightly damp so the mixture doesn't stick), then shallow-fry in batches at 170°C for two or three minutes per side until they're deep gold and crisp at the edges. Eaten warm with a sour-sweet tamarind dipping sauce.

Sides 45 minutes Serves6