A different sort of salad: Burmese Pennywort

After months of travel I have finally returned to my home kitchen. September saw me in Southern Florida and Thailand, while October moved me to Burma. November was an exploration of Thailand’s Isaan region and a return to Laos, a country I visited and loved ten years prior. My last weeks in Asia were split between Taipei and Bangkok, two opposing but equally alluring cities. Finally, I spent the holidays in my native Maryland, holed up with family (save a night in Philadelphia to bankrupt myself at Vedge and V Street – worth every penny).

I’m trying to recount some of my favoured and most interesting dishes, and as usual my notes read like those of a drunk preschooler: “flavour of whatever it is…”.

What?

Myanmar is a salad-eating country, and among the most interesting is this simple yet flavourful concoction of pennywort leaves and a dressing typical of many Burmese dishes. Pennywort is a grassy and somewhat bitter leaf that my partner says reminds him of the smell of a florist shop. Not everyone will love it, but the flavour (which is balanced by the dressing) is unique enough to at least try it once.

In London you can find pennywort at Longdan Express supermarkets and many other Asian markets (such as those along Mare Street in Hackney). One 100 gram package will yield about 60 grams of leaves.

Ideally you will serve myin kwa ywet thoke, the Burmese name for pennywort salad, with a spread of other similarly sized dishes and a heaping mound of steamed rice for all.