BURMESE PE BYOUK | SPROUTED YELLOW PEAS

SEPTEMBER 21, 2015 

From what I read, these yellow beans are very important ingredient of the cuisine and gets featured a lot. The salient point of course, is that you got to sprout the beans before cooking. The beans used is the regular yellow peas or Vatana in North. I simply dislike the aroma that comes after cooking the yellow peas. I avoid this as much as possible. The last time I was forced to get this was while making Ragda Patties. 

However for no reason, I seem to have stocked a whole packet of this and I suddenly realized that I don’t’ have to shop for this! This yellow peas is the main ingredient of many Burmese breakfast dishes. Pe Byouk simply means Boiled Beans. To understand this, it took me many days of reading. Some of the other dishes prepared with this is ‘htamin jaw’, fried rice with ‘pe byouk’ and ‘yei nway jan’ (burmese tea). Apart from rice, it is also paired with paratha, ‘kauk nyin paung’ (black sticky rice), ‘hsi htamin’ (yellow sticky rice), ‘mont pyet talet’ (rice pancake) and even with a bowl of plain white rice.

Read this site, if you want to know what a hold this breakfast combo dish has on the people of Myanmar! 

I finally made my own version after being inspired by this, this and this.

As I told you, I somehow don’t like how the yellow peas smell after being cooked and I have couple of dishes that I avoided just for this smell. However after cooking this, I was so surprised that the aroma was missing and I actually enjoyed this dish so much. I nailed it finally to the fact that these yellow peas gets sprouted and then boiled. Sprouting removed that smell!

I decided going forward, it is going to be sprouted yellow peas for me!

I enjoyed these boiled sauteed peas on the top of the Burmese Naan Flat-bread

Pe Byouk

How to sprout Yellow Peas

Makes: Approximately 2 – 3 cups

Soaking Time: 8 hours

Sprouting Time: 36 hours or more

Cooking Time: in Pressure cooker, 15 – 20 mins, depending on 3 -4 whistles.

For sprouting

Soak peas in a large pot with plenty of water, at least 5 to 6 inches of on top, overnight. They will expend for more than double of its size. 

Drain water in a large colander, transfer the peas to a muslin cloth and tie a thread to keep it secure. rinse in water and keep it in a vessel. Leave it this way for about 36 hours or until it starts to sprout. I soaked overnight on a Saturday, then on the Sunday morning, I tied it in a muslin cloth and left it on the counter. By Monday morning, I spotted the peas sprouts, I refrigerated and cooked it on Tuesday.

To make the Pe Byouk

Ingredients Needed:

Yellow Pea / Vatana – 1 cup

Baking Soda a small pinch (infact you can skip this)

Salt – 1/2 tsp

Sugar – 1/2 tsp

Oil – 1 tsp 

To boil the peas

Take the sprouted peas in a pressure cooker along with a pinch of salt, sugar and a few drops of oil Pressure cook for 3 -4 whistles. 

Once the peas are cooked, remove.

To saute

Boiled yellow peas – 1 cup

Onion, sliced – 1 

Oil – 2 tsp

Turmeric powder a pinch

Salt to taste

Sugar – a pinch

Water – 2 tbsp

Fried shallots with garlic, for garnishing

How to make Pe Byouk

Heat oil in a non stick, add the sliced and turmeric powder. Stir fry it till it turns light brown and soft. Add in the boiled yellow beans and saute for 3 to 5 mins. You can mash them a bit or keep them whole. Season it with salt and sugar. And then lastly, add in the water. This is to soften the beans.

Garnish with fried shallots with garlic.

Serve Pe Byouk on top of the Burmese Naan Flat-bread

Ref: