Burmese Tea Leaf Salad ... Lahpet Thoke (pronounced “la-pay toe”)

I contribute recipes to the blog of my friends' tea company, Arbor Teas. Here I share the process of fermenting tea leaves to create a very special salad that is highly important in the culture of Burma. 

If you lived in Myanmar and a friend popped in to visit, this is the snack you’d serve. Laphet, which means “green tea”, and thoke, which means “salad”, is an eclectic mix of flavors and textures that includes soft, astringent tea leaves, crisp, roasted peanuts and other crunchy beans, toasted sesame seeds, fried garlic and, if you like, dried shrimp and chopped tomato. It’s meant to be served with all the ingredients in separate piles so that guests can pick out a combination to their own preference each time they grab a handful. While nowadays the salad is typically served as a final course at the end of a meal, historically lahpet was an ancient symbolic peace offering that was exchanged and consumed after settling a dispute between warring kingdoms. Letting each person customize his or her salad toppings, sounds like a perfectly democratic way to stop an argument! That way everyone is at least somewhat satisfied in the end. 

Lahpet is so important to the culture that when tea leaves are harvested, the best of the crop is set aside for fermenting, while the rest is dried and processed for drinking tea. The freshly harvested tea leaves are briefly steamed, then packed into bamboo vats and set in pits, pressed by heavy weights to encourage fermentation. Packages of prepared laphet thoke ingredients—the tea leaves and all the other mix ins—are readily sold in Burma. Finding fermented tea leaves outside Burma and northern Thailand, however, isn’t very easy, save for a few online companies. The other option is to try fermenting the leaves yourself. Since most likely you won’t have access to fresh tea leaves, dried green tea leaves make a perfectly acceptable substitute. In this recipe I used Arbor Teas’ organic Makaibari Estate Darjeeling Green Tea. It has lemony, vegetal and earthy qualities that align well with the other ingredients in the salad. If you’d like to play around with flavors, Arbor Teas also offers an organic Darjeeling 1st Flush Black Tea from the same estate. Although the leaves are oxidized during processing, they retain many of the green tea characteristics in their flavor profile, tasting very dry and citrusy. Also, because the leaves were harvested when young, they are smaller and potentially easier to chew. And if price point is not your first concern, the organic Makaibari Estate Silver Tips White Tea, which offers a very delicate floral complexity, might be even more similar to “fresh leaves” since it is barely manipulated during the manufacture process. 

Burmese Tea Leaf Salad

(Adapted from Burma: Rivers of Flavor) 

Serves 6 as a snack 


1 cup organic dried green tea leaves, loosely packed 
1 cup kale, green cabbage or Napa cabbage, finely chopped or shredded 
½ cup finely chopped cilantro, loosely packed 
½ cup green onions, finely chopped 
1 tablespoon garlic paste 
2 tablespoons finely chopped ginger root 
2 green chilies, minced (optional) 
juice squeezed fresh from one lime 
generous pinch of salt 

3 tablespoons peanut oil 
1 head garlic, all cloves thinly sliced 
2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted and lightly crushed 
3 tablespoons roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped 
3 tablespoons roasted soybeans, lightly crushed 
3 tablespoons roasted pumpkin seeds 
½ cup thin tomato wedges (optional) 
2 tablespoons dried shrimp, soaked in water for 10 minutes and drained (optional) 

Reserved garlic oil (see below) 
1 teaspoon fish sauce 
fresh lime slices 
pinch of salt 

Fermenting the tea leaves 

Pour 4 cups of hot water over the dried tea leaves, stir, and let soak until the leaves have expanded and are quite soft, about 10 minutes. Then drain, pick through the leaves, and discard any tough bits. Squeeze out any remaining liquid from the tea leaves as thoroughly as possible. Next place the tea leaves in lukewarm water and mash with your hands a little. Drain and squeeze out extra liquid. Repeat this rinse once more, then add cold water and let stand for 1 hour (or as long as overnight). This longer soak helps to remove the strongest, tart and bitter edge of the tea. Drain, squeeze thoroughly to remove excess water, and discard any remaining tough bits. Chop the leaves finely and mix together with about 1 cup finely chopped kale, 1 loosely packed cup mixed chopped cilantro and scallion greens, 2 tablespoons finely chopped ginger, 1 tablespoon of garlic paste, a generous pinch of salt, and the juice of 1 lime. For an extra kick include 2 minced green chilies. Cover the dish tightly and allow it to ferment, untouched, for two days in a dark, cool space, like a pantry. After two days, place the container in the refrigerator. It's now ready to serve! 

Serving the salad 

When ready to serve, set a wide skillet over medium heat. Add the sesame seeds and let them heat, shaking the skillet from time to time to ensure that they aren’t scorching. You will start to smell them toasting after a few minutes. Keep stirring so they don’t scorch, and cook for another minute or two, until they are golden. Transfer to a dinner plate and let cool completely. Next, heat the peanut oil over medium-high heat, add the sliced garlic, reduce the heat to medium and fry until just golden, about 5 minutes. Lift the garlic out of the oil with a slotted utensil and set aside on a plate to crisp up. Save the oil, now flavored with garlic, to use in the final dressing. Serve the salad unmixed, arranging small piles of all the ingredients on a platter. Toss the fermented tea leaves with the reserved garlic oil, a few splashes of fish sauce, and fresh squeezed lime juice to give an extra sour note. Add a generous pinch of salt, mix again, taste and adjust other seasonings if needed. Place the leaves in a neat pile in the center of the other crunchy mix-ins.

Warming Matcha Smoothie & Thai-Tea Cream Biscuits

I contribute recipes to the blog of my friends' tea company, Arbor Teas. Here are two breakfast recipes that use their teas to begin your morning on a good note.  

I agree. A warm smoothie doesn’t sound all that appetizing to me either. But after a long, chilly winter of drinking cold smoothies, a hot one actually makes a lot of sense. Think drinkable oatmeal, fortified with energy and nutrients, including Arbor Teas' organic matcha green tea. Matcha provides a welcome dose of antioxidants, L-theanine--an amino acid proven to promote relaxation, chlorophyll--a powerful detoxifier, Vitamins C and A, selenium, zinc, chromium, and magnesium. All of this makes for a healthy, natural energy boost and a delicious start to your day.

Warming Matcha Smoothie

Makes about 2½ cups
1 very ripe banana
1¼ cups almond milk, steaming hot
4 TBS old fashioned oats
2 TBS blueberries, fresh or frozen
½ TBS coconut butter (try making your own)
½ TBS whey powder
¾ tsp organic matcha green tea, or more to taste
1 Medjool Date, seed removed

Blend all ingredients together at once, until smooth.
Enjoy straightaway.

Also, you might like to pair it with these...

Thai-Tea Cream Biscuits

You may call this a scone, but I prefer cream biscuit. It’s on the softer (less dense) side of the biscuit-to-scone continuum, especially if you take care to use the gentlest mixing possible. The lovely Thai mango scone I had as part of an impressively creative full-service tea at Craftsman & Wolves, a contemporary pâtisserie in San Francisco’s Mission District, inspired this attempt at replication. In addition to mango, I added Arbor Teas’ Organic Thai Iced Tea, unsteeped. Since it’s a mix of black tea, vanilla bean, cardamom, and anise seeds, when used dry in baking, the spices in the Thai tea toast in the oven, elevating their flavor quite favorably. I especially liked the subtle, fragrant black licorice taste from the anise. Green curry adds an usual twist that plays nicely against both the toasted spices and the slight sweetness of the biscuit.

makes about 8-10 biscuits

2¼ cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon (15 grams) baking powder

¼ cup (50 grams) granulated sugar

1 tablespoon (5 grams) organic loose Thai tea leaves

½ teaspoon kosher salt

6 tablespoons (85 grams) cold, unsalted butter

½ cup chopped mango (dried, fresh or frozen)

½ cup (50 grams) shredded coconut

1 tablespoon (19 grams) green curry paste

1 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

In bowl of a food processor, briefly pulse flour, baking powder,sugar, Thai tea, and salt to even distribute. Add the butter to the flour mixture, and pulse several more times until the mixture resembles a crumbly texture with tiny pea-sized bits of butter. Next add the mango and coconut, and pulse to distribute. Dump this dry mixture into a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the green curry paste into the heavy cream to create a slurry, then gently fold this into the dry mix with the spatula.  Lightly knead the dough just once or twice in the bowl, to bind all the ingredients in  one large mass. It’s important that the dough is not overworked, so don't worry about getting it completely mixed. Transfer the dough to a floured work surface. Using your hands, gently press the dough out to a ¾-inch thickness. Cut 2½-inch circles with a floured biscuit cutter or the top edge of a drinking glass. Place the biscuits on the baking sheet,leaving a couple inches between each. Reroll the scraps of dough as necessary.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until bronzed at the edges. Cool in pan for a minute, then transfer to a cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Matcha Evergreens

I contribute recipes to the blog of my friends' tea company, Arbor Teas. Here is a recipe that uses one of their teas in a festive holiday cookie.  

Besides flavor, one of the best uses for matcha powder in baking is to take advantage of its deep green hue as a natural food colorant. Green-tinged cookies cutout in the shape of trees make a unique addition to a cookie plate with a woodland or festive holiday theme. Arbor Teas offers an organic cooking grade matcha green tea powder that is specially blended to retain its flavor and aroma when mixed with other ingredients. Its slightly bitter flavor tastes particularly nice when paired with  sweetened pistachio paste. Pistachio paste can be a hard-to-find ingredient that might not be shelved in your local grocery. Luckily you can find it online at any well-stocked baking store, or you can try your hand at making it yourself with either this recipe or that one.

 

Pistachio Sanding Sugar Sprinkles

¼ cup shelled pistachios 

¼ cup coarse sanding sugar

In the bowl of a food processor, coarsely chop pistachios into small pieces. Be careful not to grind into a powder. Stir in sanding sugar and set aside.

Matcha-Pistachio Cutout Cookies

⅔ cup unsalted butter, softened

1 tablespoon pistachio paste

¼ cup confectioners' sugar

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon matcha green tea powder

⅛ teaspoon salt

¼ cup finely chopped pistachios

1 large egg white, lightly beaten

1. Combine butter, pistachio paste, confectioners' sugar, and vanilla extract in a large bowl. Beat mixture until light and fluffy, using an electric mixer at medium speed.
2. Sift together flour, matcha powder and salt in a medium bowl, then stir in the chopped pistachios. Slowly add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating on low speed until combined.
3. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.
4. Preheat oven to 350º F.
5. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to a ⅛-inch thickness. Using a tree-shaped cookie cutter, cut out as many cookies as possible, placing the cutters as close as possible to avoid waste. Place on prepared baking sheets approximately 1 inch apart. 

6. Brush trees with the egg white to moisten. Sprinkle evenly with pistachio-sanding sugar. Lightly press into dough with finger tips.
7. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until edges of cookies are lightly golden.
8. Cool on pan for 1 minute, then remove to wire rack to cool completely.

9. Re-roll scraps to make more.

Green Rooibus-Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

I contribute recipes to the blog of my friends' tea company, Arbor Teas. Here is a recipe that uses one of their teas as a foundation for a soup broth.

If you enjoy drinking non-caffeinated and herbal teas, then surely by now you have experienced African rooibus. And perhaps you’ve even learned how to pronounce it properly too (hint: ROY-bus). But have you tried green rooibus, yet? It’s an unoxidized version of traditional (oxidized) rooibus that tastes lighter, less sweet and more herbal compared to its counterpart. These qualities also make green rooibus infusions a perfect foundation for soup broth. Here I blend green rooibus with roasted butternut squash, garlic, onions and cream for a wonderfully rich and herbal wintertime soup. It whips up without too much trouble and freezes nicely if you’d like to have a meal at the ready as the busy holiday months approach us.

Green Rooibus-Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

serves 4

4 cups water
3 TBS Organic green rooibus tea leaves
2 lb butternut squash, split in half lengthwise and seeds scooped
3 cloves garlic sliced
olive oil
1 medium onion, finely sliced
2 cups heavy cream
salt, fresh ground pepper and fresh ground nutmeg to taste


1. Bring water and organic green rooibus to a boil in a small sauce pan. Simmer for 5 minutes, then top with a lid and remove from heat. Allow rooibus to infuse while you proceed to the next step.
2. Preheat oven to 350° F.
3. Place the halved butternut squash on a roasting pan, sprinkle with the sliced garlic and drizzle with olive oil. Roast until slightly browned and soft, 45 minutes to an hour.
4. Heat a bit of olive oil in a large saucepan and sauté the onion until translucent. Turn off heat and set aside. Reserve saucepan, without wiping clean for the final steps of simmering the soup.
5. Scoop roasted garlic slices and squash from its skin into the canister of a blender. Add the sautéed onions and then strain the rooibus broth into the canister. Blend until completely smooth.
6. Pour the soup back into the saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally and scraping up any browned bits left behind from sautéing the onions.
7. Add the cream, salt, pepper, and freshly grated nutmeg to taste. Bring to a simmer again and heat gently for 10 minutes more. Do not allow to boil.

Masala Chai-Spiced Donuts

I contribute recipes to the blog of my friends' tea company, Arbor Teas. Here are two donut recipes I adapted using their Masala Chai teas.

Chai Cider Donuts

Chai Glazed Donuts

Choose your own adventure! This post is filled with decisions... Fried or Baked? Caffeinated or Not? Doughnuts or Donuts? When the weather turns cool, I like to make donuts. At least that’s how I’ve settled on spelling it. As for fried or baked? Well, that’s a texture preference. Personally, I like the cake-like quality of a fried cider donut more so than the doughy-ness of a glazed. The caffeine question is a bit more mood related. Arbor Teas’ organic Masala Chai Black Tea has more prominent notes of spicy cardamom and a kick from black pepper, while the naturally decaffeinated Organic Masala Chai Rooibos has a flavor profile distinct with warm ginger. Indecisive? The Organic Decaf Masala Chai Black Tea is yet another option that probably doesn’t help break any ties. Here are two very different and customizable approaches to making chai-spiced donuts. Which do you prefer?

Masala Chai-Spiced Apple Cider Donuts

Makes 18 3-inch donuts
Adapted from The Apple Lover’s Cookbook by Amy Traverso

Masala chai-spiced, boiled apple cider:

1½ cups fresh apple cider
1 tablespoon organic Masala Chai Black Tea or organic Masala Chai Rooibos, loosely packed in a disposable filter and tied off with kitchen twine

To make masala chai-spiced, boiled apple cider for use in the recipe below, simmer 1½ cups apple cider with the chai tea in a small sauce pan. After 5 minutes or so remove the tea bag. Bring the cider to a strong boil and continue to cook, stirring frequently to prevent spill overs, until the liquid is syrup-like and reduced down to about ⅓ cup. This should take about 25 minutes.

Donut batter:

3½ cups all-purpose flour, plus additional for work surface
1¼ teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
1 cup granulated sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 large eggs, at room temperature
½ cup buttermilk, at room temperature
⅓ cup masala chai-spiced, boiled apple cider, cooled
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Vegetable oil for frying

Masala chai-sugar for dipping:

1½ cups sugar 
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground cardamom 
2 teaspoons ground cloves
1 teaspoons ground ginger
½ teaspoons ground black pepper

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and cardamom and set aside. With a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat together the sugar and butter until pale and fluffy, 4 to 6 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for a minute after each. Next, add the buttermilk, chai-spiced boiled cider, and vanilla and mix well. The batter may look curdled at this stage. Fold in the flour mixture until mostly incorporated. A few lumps are OK, so don’t over mix.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and dust with flour. Turn the dough out onto the baking sheet and gently pat flat to about ¾-inch-thickness. Dust the top of dough with additional flour, cover with plastic wrap and put in the freezer for 10 minutes to firm up a bit. Remove the dough from the freezer and use a lightly floured 3-inch donut or a cookie cutter to cut out about 18 donuts with holes. Gather any scraps and re-roll, chilling the dough again if needed to firm it up. Place cut donuts on another baking sheet lined with parchment paper, then transfer to the freezer for 5 minutes to firm up again.

In a Dutch oven or large pot, heat about 3 inches of oil to 370° F degrees. Line a tray with several layers of paper towels. Slip 3 or 4 donuts at a time into the hot oil, being careful not to crowd the pan. Fry until deep golden on one side, about 1 minute, then flip and continue to fry about one minute more or until thoroughly cooked. Using a slotted serving spoon, transfer donuts to the paper-towel-lined tray. Continue frying the remaining dough (transferring to the freezer again for 10 minutes if you find it getting too soft as you work). 

For the topping, mix 1½  cups sugar with the spices. While still warm yet cool enough to handle, dip the donuts into the masala chai-sugar mixture.

Eat immediately with a mug of warm cider steeped in masala chai tea!

Masala Chai-Glazed Donuts (Baked not Fried!)

makes 10-14 donuts
Adapted from Doughnuts by Lara Ferroni

1 egg
¼ cup sugar
1 cup whole milk, heated to 115° F
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2½  to 3½ cups all purpose flour, divided, plus more for kneading
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1 inch cubes

For the masala chai glaze:

2 teaspoons organic Masala Chai Black Tea or organic Masala Chai Rooibos
⅓ cup water
⅔ cup milk
1 cup powdered sugar

In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the egg and sugar on medium speed until blended, about 1 minute. Add the milk, yeast, salt and vanilla, and stir until blended. With the machine on low speed, add 2 cups of flour, about ½ cup at a time, and mix until the dough is thick and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Switch to the dough hook. With the machine on medium speed, add the butter one cube at a time, and continue to knead until no large chunks of butter are left in the bottom of the bowl, 3-5 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add the additional flour until the dough gathers around the hook and cleans the sides of the bowl. It will be soft and tacky, but not overly sticky.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead gently until the dough no longer sticks to your hands. Lightly butter a large mixing bowl.

Transfer the dough to the bowl and turn to coat. Cover with a damp tea towel and let rise in a warm spot until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Punch down the dough and roll out to ½-inch thick. With a 3-inch donut or a cookie cutter, cut out 10 to 14 donuts and holes.

Preheat the oven to 400° F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the donuts at least 1 inch apart on the baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm spot until nearly doubled in size, about 20 minutes.

Bake until the donuts are light golden brown, 5 to 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, make a chai tea latte for the glaze. Steep 2 teaspoons of masala chai tea in ⅓ cup of boiling water for about 5 minutes. Heat ⅔ cup milk until steaming. Combine the hot milk with the steeped tea. Next sift one cup of powdered sugar into a separate bowl. Add 3 tablespoons of the chai tea latte to the sugar and whisk until smooth. Dip the top side of each donut into the glaze and let drip on a wire rack set over a piece of parchment paper.

Best eaten when still warm and along side an extra chai tea latte!