Simple, authentic, delicious: Burmese Green Tomato Salad (kayan chin thi thoke)

Green tomatoes, and some kind of pepper and onion are at the heart of this crisp, tart, easy-to-make traditional Burmese salad. Recipe below.

IT’S OCTOBER. THE DAYS ARE GETTING SHORTER, the nights crisp (well, sometimes). The bees are fewer in number and acting kind of drowsy. But the tomato plants, ever cheerful, are still optimistically generating loads of tomatoes.

As every year, it’s the green tomatoes that stress us out. There are so many—so many. Whenever the first frost comes, we’re always bummed out at all the missed opportunities.

Our recent discovery of Pa Lian, the marvelous Burmese restaurant in suburban Wheaton, set us on the right path. One of the simplest, easiest and most accessible Burmese dishes is kayan chin thi thoke—green tomato salad.

Because this is an everyday, familiar dish, there are loads of variations. Some recipes call for toasted gram flour; some call for garlic oil; some call for broad beans; some call for red onions. We went with the ingredients you see here, because we had them all in the house. But see the Kitchen Notes for variations—because, really, you will want to make this simple homey salad your own.

This recipe makes enough for a side or starter for three or four people. You can multiply it to serve more. As with any fresh salad, we recommend making it just before you serve it.

Print Pin

Burmese Green Tomato Salad

Green tomatoes, and some kind of pepper and onion are at the heart of this crisp, tart, easy-to-make traditional Burmese salad.

Course Salad

Cuisine Burmese

Servings 3 to 4

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound green tomatoes (see Kitchen Notes)
• 2 ounces jalapeño, Thai bird or other fresh pepper (see Kitchen Notes)
• 2 ounces shallot, peeled and thinly sliced (see Kitchen Notes)
• 1-2 garlic cloves, minced

For the dressing:

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil (see Kitchen Notes)
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1/4 teaspoon fish sauce, optional (see Kitchen Notes)

At the finish:

• 1/4 cup roasted peanuts, crushed with a mortar and pestle (not chopped)
• 1/3 – 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• salt, maybe

Instructions

• Wash the tomatoes and blot them dry. Then cut them in half, slice them into thin wedges and put the slices in a bowl. Cut the top off the jalapeño (or whatever pepper you are using), then slice into very thin rings. Put those in the bowl with the tomatoes. Peel the shallot, slice it fine and add that to the bowl too, along with the minced garlic.
• In a small bowl, mix together the oil, lime juice and fish sauce, if you are using it.
• Just before you are ready to serve, pour the dressing over the tomato mix and stir everything to coat. I used a big wooden spoon. Add the crushed peanuts and the cilantro and stir again. Give it a taste—you may want to add some salt, or up the lime juice. That’s it, you’re done.

Kitchen Notes

The tomatoes. We’ve seen some versions of this which say it is OK to use red tomatoes, but no. Don’t do that. The foundation of this salad is the tart forthrightness and crunch of green tomatoes.

The pepper. The most authentic recipes call for a Thai bird chile, which is dazzlingly hot. We decided to forego bird chiles as well as the habaneros our neighbor Rosa gave us (because they really are pretty volcanic). Use the pepper you love, which you are comfortable with—serranos, finger chiles, your choice. If you absolutely cannot bear hot peppers, I recommend using a red bell pepper, cut into little slivers. Don’t skip this dish because you don’t like hot peppers.

The onion. Instead of shallot, you can use an equivalent bit of red onion.

The oil. Peanut oil is traditional, but any neutral vegetable oil is fine. We used olive oil and we really liked the fruitiness of it in here.

The fish sauce. Instead of fish sauce, you can… just skip this part entirely. A lot of traditional recipes for this salad don’t use it at all. In a dish this simple, it will be pretty uncompromisingly itself. But it does add a nice umami note.