Not quite eating local in Kayah State

On my last couple trips to Myanmar, I’ve been fortunate enough to visit some destinations that were new to me, and some that are more or less new to tourism. Kayah State happened to be both of these.

Myanmar’s smallest state, Kayah State hugs the Thai border in the country’s east. For decades, much of the state was a battleground between the Burmese army and the military wing of the Karenni National Progressive Party. Foreigners have been visiting the area for a while, but only on government-sanctioned group tours, and only then when things were quiet. Today, with a ceasefire signed and fighting relegated to the past, parts of Kayah State have been officially designated ‘open’ by Myanmar’s central government, and for the first time, independent tourists are allowed to visit. I’d never been to Kayah State, and was excited about the prospect of visiting an ‘untouched’ destination, and perhaps even encountering some food that was new to me.

Undoubtedly Kayah State’s biggest tourist draw is the Kayan. Known in English as ‘longnecks’ and in Burmese as Padaung (actually a Shan term meaning ‘wearing gold’ — a moniker generally considered pejorative by the Kayan), the tribe is best known for the women’s habit of wearing stacks of brass rings around their necks. Over time, the rings lower the women’s collarbones and ribcage, making their necks appear unusually long. A common myth claims that if the coils are removed, the women’s necks will fall over and the women will suffocate. In fact the women attach and remove the coils at will and there is no evidence that this deformation impairs their health at all.

A few local guides are trying to re-establish the tourist trail to Kayan villages, and with them I went to Rangkhu, allegedly the largest Kayan village in the state.

We drove about an hour south of Loikaw, the capital of Kayah State, through a savagely deforested landscape of spiky hills. Kayan villages in Thailand have been compared to human zoos, and there are allegations that Kayan women are used to draw tourists at Inle Lake, but there was nothing touristy about Rangkhu. It’s a poor, relatively featureless place, whose inhabitants seemed mildly bewildered to see us. Only a handful of tourists have passed through the village in the previous decade, and foreign tourists haven’t been allowed to stay overnight in Rangkhu since 1996.

Upon arriving, we were told that a local woman had been ill for a few months without any sign of improving. Although the majority of the Kayan have adopted Christianity, some are still animists, and in an effort to help the woman, the villagers had killed a pig and two chickens and were making a stew-like dish, which along with rice and some rice alcohol, the village shaman would offer to the spirits:

It was generous offering for a group of people who didn’t appear to have much.

After the food was prepared, a tiny portion was put in a couple bamboo tubes. The shaman walked to a nearby hillside:

unceremoniously deposited the offerings on a rock, and left.

That was about as close as I got to local food in Kayah State. After asking around in Loikaw, I was told that the only local dish available in the town’s restaurants was something called hin htoke.

Served at a tiny housefront restaurant called Mingala, hin htoke takes the form of a rice flour batter seasoned with herbs, topped with meat (pork or chicken), wrapped in a banana leaf and steamed:

It was a simple but delicious dish, particularly when served the Burmese way, with a squeeze of lime and a drizzle of spicy chili oil.

Except that it wasn’t exactly local; I was told later that hin htoke actually has little to do with Kayah State, and is associated with the Intha, a group of people who live near Inle Lake, in neighbouring Shan State.

So perhaps I didn’t get to experience local food in Kayah State, but to be honest, if I hadn’t been told, I probably wouldn’t have noticed.

Mingala Hin Htoke
Kant Kaw Rd, Loikaw
9am-6pm

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Local Tofu Gems in Seattle, Vancouver, Portland

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September 23, 2012Local Tofu Gems in Seattle, Vancouver, Portland

Among the terrific unintendedconsequences of going on the book tour were the local tofu tips that people volunteered.Before I left for the Pacific Northwest, I got insights from tofu lovers. Onthe road, some people shared their favorite sources for good local stuff, particularly in Seattle.

Beatriz S. already owned the bookand had signed up for the DIY tofu class at Book Larder in Seattle. She’d readthe book and sent me a “Welcome to Seattle!” email with a list and comments onlocal options. After I got to the city, SeattleTimes staff food writer NancyLeson also shared her picks, and so did chef/restaurateur Eric Banh and authors Pat Tanumihardja and Michael Natkin. I was delighted to haveall these people on the tofu train! I had a rental car and took a look myself in Seattle.Even if you don’t live in the cities covered in this post, you’ll glean ideasfor finding good Asian food and ingredients.

NorthwestTofu and Chu Minh Tofu

Seattle’s International District (“ID”)on Jackson Street is where a number of the city’s Asian markets are. It’sscruffy and is slowly being upgraded. Drive up the hill and under the overpassand things may seem somewhat downtrodden and ghetto. But around 7th, Viet Wahmarket has an okay selection of tofu. Skip it and drive a little further to anondescript strip mall for Chu Minh tofu.I’d bought Chu Minh’s tofu at Uwajimaya grocery store and it was very good alittle on the too firm side to be “firm”. It’s sold on Styrofoam trays wrappedin plastic. To get the very fresh stuff, you can pop into the shop itself andbuy from a bean curd source.

Continue further up Jackson to20th, outside of the ID. There’s a gem called Northwest Tofu. Ilike this place because (1) they make some exceptional products and (2) theysell dumplings. How can I not love a tofuand dumpling shop? Order tofu products at the counter or grab it from the fridge. Food such as dumplings and salt and pepper tofu need to ordered from the stuaff. 

They sell Chinese-style tofudirectly from the store, which advertises itself as a deli and restaurant. WhatI loved was the seasoned pressed tofu (in the lead photo) that’s brown on theoutside from being marinated in soy sauce and spices. There’s a thin and thickone. The thick one is tender and creamy on the inside and well-flavored, resembling excellent pressed tofu (dou fu gan) in Taiwan. I cut slicesof it to nibble on, drop into noodle soup and tuck into sandwiches.

Eric Banhused the thinner firmer brown tofu (it’s just pressed harder) to stir-fry withrapini and roast duck at Monsoon restaurant’s Asian Tofu luncheon. The fresh tofu was of medium-firm texture,sold in a plastic bag just like in Asia. I used the soy milk to make short cuttofu and it was just fine, though a bit more watery than Thanh Son’s.

What I didn’t get to try fromNorthwest tofu was their fresh tofu skin. They’re one of the few small shops inAmerica that make tofu skin (often called by its Japanese name, yuba). Nancy Leson said it wasphenomenal. They’d run out when I got there, they said. Here’s a photo thatNancy ran with her 2011 tofu storyin the Seattle Times.

 

Anna Chen of Northwest Tofu making tofu skins. Photo by Ellen Banner/Seattle Times

ThanhSon Tofu

I picked up some of Thanh Son’s soymilk at Uwajimaya for shortcut tofu at the Book Larder class, where I comparedit to tofu I made using from scratch soy milk. It was very good soy milk, a tadbetter than Northwest Tofu’s. I tracked down the factory on 12th,which was easily noticed by the mural on the side of the road.

Alas, it was notopen that day, a Tuesday; chains on the doors made the point. A bit of tofu gossip from Eric: ThanhSon will be opening a new and larger facility soon.

Since I didn’t get to try ThanhSon tofu from the Seattle shop, I’ll provide you with Beatriz’s comments:

This is my favoritefresh tofu store - I keep going back again and again.

It’s owned byVietnamese people. They sell fantastic tofu pudding, with pandan flavor andplain with ginger syrup. Their blocks of tofu and soy milk are somehow alwayswarm when I go there, it doesn’t matter which time of the day. They don’t evenkeep them in the refrigerated section - I assume it sells before there’s a needfor that. They also have fried tofu with different flavors, but those I preferto fry myself at home.

In addition to tofu,they serve some prepared foods and sell Vietnamese ingredients. You can get their tofuat Uwajimaya (the big Asian chain supermarket in the area) but it’s not nearlyas fresh. Always refrigerated, never warm.

What Thanh Son does is veryVietnamese. It’s different from Northwest Tofu, which is Chinese, and Chu Minh,which is in somewhere in between.

Philip and Jun Jo Lee of Readers to Eaterstold me about Tofu 101 that just opened in Bellevue. I didn’t get a chance tostop by but people I queried said that it was very Taiwanese, though they didn’thave stinky tofu or tofu noodles, per current Yelp reviews. Theirwebsite is not helpful. Tofu 101 sells Taiwanese snacks for the somewhat tonyChinese population in Bellevue.

For Japanese style tofu, try Tacoma tofu, which I bought in tubs atUwajimaya. Labeled momen (cotton inJapanese), the medium-firm was lovely and tender. The firm was great too.Tacoma’s website has photosof their factory shop floor, in case you’re interested in the tofu-makingprocess.

Vancouver and Portland

In Vancouver, there were mostly Chinese-style shops. I spent nearly 20minutes at T&T market inChinatown trying to figure it all out. There’s a tofu ghetto in the back of thespic-and-span store (one in the major Canadian chain) and I got stuck there in bewilderment.

The labeling in Canada for tofutexture is not the same as in the US. It tends to be softer, with a silky-firmtexture due to combining gypsum and glucono delta lactone. The best way for meto figure out the textures was through the protein count on the averageserving. See the little table in AsianTofu in the “Buying Guide” section.

The tofu that I was most impressedby in Vancouver on this visit was a smoked pressed tofu made by Sunrise Soya. It’s as good as what Ihad in Sichuan China. It tasted like smoked gouda and is what I used for thestir-fried smoked tofu, pepper and pork that I demoed on City TV in Vancouver. You’ll see itthere on screen. Sunrise is a tofu powerhouse in western Canada. I saw theirproducts sold in Seattle’s Asian markets too, though the smoked tofu was nowhereto be found in the U.S. I took some across the border to eat in WashingtonState.

In Portland, I found Japanese-style Otatofu at Whole Foods in downtown. It looked really good. Years ago,Oregonian food columnist and writer IvyManning took me to Thanh Son,which had great Vietnamese-style deep fried lemongrass tofu. I also noticed Bui Natural Tofubut didn’t get a chance to check it out.

That’s my tofu roundup from theroad. Do you have thoughts on these spotsor have ones to add? We’d all love to know your insights.

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Comments Local Tofu Gems in Seattle, Vancouver, Portland

Among the terrific unintendedconsequences of going on the book tour were the local tofu tips that people volunteered.Before I left for the Pacific Northwest, I got insights from tofu lovers. Onthe road, some people shared their favorite sources for good local stuff, particularly in Seattle.

Beatriz S. already owned the bookand had signed up for the DIY tofu class at Book Larder in Seattle. She’d readthe book and sent me a “Welcome to Seattle!” email with a list and comments onlocal options. After I got to the city, SeattleTimes staff food writer NancyLeson also shared her picks, and so did chef/restaurateur Eric Banh and authors Pat Tanumihardja and Michael Natkin. I was delighted to haveall these people on the tofu train! I had a rental car and took a look myself in Seattle.Even if you don’t live in the cities covered in this post, you’ll glean ideasfor finding good Asian food and ingredients.

Stay Connected                    Asian Tofu in the News"Cooking with Tofu (Are You Serious?!)"
— Michael Rulhman on his tofu conversion

"This book should be a priority for anyone with the slightest interest in Asian cuisines."
— Anne Mendelson, Taste & Travel

"The most gratifying part about cooking from Asian Tofu is that all the recipes work the way they’re written."
— T. Susan Chang, Boston Globe

Book info, reviews, radio & TV . . .Events: Demo & classesSat., Sep 29, 12-4pm, @LoveAppleFarms, Santa Cruz
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Asian Dumplings, hands-on {nearly sold out}

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Hong Kong Local Foods Poster

Hello!

Gosh, it feels like the last time I blogged was ages ago. Dear readers, I apologize. I recently moved into a new apartment, and have been spending the last few weeks working on absolutely nothing but my manuscript to meet my fast-approaching deadline. So please bear with me…there are plenty of new recipes coming soon!

I would like to take a few moments, however, to share this adorable food poster, found recently while searching for decorating ideas. This illustration of Hong Kong local eats would look great on the kitchen walls of a Cantonese food fan. Egg tarts! Pineapple buns! Egg waffles! Cart noodles with beef and cuttlefish balls! I never thought a cartoon could make me so hungry, or become so nostalgic.

What do you guys think? Anything missing? I might have replaced the instant noodles with a bowl of wonton noodle soup, but otherwise this looks pretty spot-on. The sanitized chopsticks up top is a nice touch.

Check this out at Society6, where you can apparently also order the graphic in t-shirt or sweatshirt form.

Tagged as: Design, Fun, Hong Kong

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The Mobile Locavore: An Exotic Taste from your Local <b>Asian Food</b> Market

Taro is a tropical root crop that is grown widely throughout southeast Asia. The starchy underground tuber is ground up and cooked as a food staple in many cultures.

In North America we see taro primarily in asian cooking, for instance in the savory delicacy known as taro cake.

The main ingredient in this delicacy is rice flour, with taro flour mixed in. The mixture is baked and steamed in a pan about two inches deep. The result is a salty cake with a stiff gelatinous texture. The cake may have bits of shrimp, pork or chinese sausage embedded in it or sprinkled on top.

Taro cake was an entirely new taste for me.

Glad I tried it.

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