How to cook Burmese breakfast with nann and white peas!

Since I came back to California, I have been recreating some of the Burmese dishes I tasted in Burma.

After tantalizing you all with my previous food blogs, I should post some recipe. 

Here is one for the main ingredient of many Burmese breakfast dishes - boiled yellow beans called Pe Pyot.  I found a version of recipe from this blog written by an oversea Burmese like me.

My recipe is simple, though require sprouting the yellow beans. I would attempt to describe my step by step method. Please see the photo in clockwise.

Clockwise: Yellow beans/peas, how to sprout, after 36 hours, cooking in rice cooker

Where to shop for yellow beans

Burmese yellow beans are also called yellow peas, garden peas or Vatana in Indian. I used to find them in Indian grocery stores in Hong Kong and in US. Asian supermarkets in the Bay area such as Ranch99, Marina or Pacific Supermarket carry them. The one in my picture came from Pacific Supermarket in Daly City.

• Pacific Supermarket, 1420 Southgate Ave, Daly City, CA 94015 (650)994-1688.

How to sprout yellow beans

Must you sprout? I tried both ways and sprouting is easy, tastier (in my humble opinion) and it only takes a little patient of 2 or 3 days. Raw food has been advocating health benefits of sprouted beans, even cooked sprouted beans aid easier digestion, provide additional Vitamins and protein.

I used this youtube video method for sprouting beans.

1. Soak yellow beans a bowl of water for 8 hours or overnight.
2. Place the beans in a dish towel/cheese cloth and put it in a pot, close it and leave it in a cool, dry, and dark place overnight. Youtube video suggested in a dry oven.
3. Check it in the next morning and make sure it is wet. Wash the beans and place it back in the pot if there are no sprouts yet. The sprouts may already been there depending on the state and condition of the beans. 
4. I had a few issues in my trials of sprouting - if the weather is very hot like summer in Hong Kong, the beans can get spoiled. I would sprout the beans in the refrigerator. Yes it works but it may take a lot longer than 3 days.

How to boil yellow beans

Pe Pyot literally means boiled beans. Pe is beans, pyot means boiled. Pe could have been any beans but we love these specific yellow beans.

Ingredients

• 2 cups of dried yellow beans, presoaked and sprouted yellow beans
• 1/2 teaspoons of salt
• 1/2 teaspoons of black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoons of baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoons of turmeric (optional)
• 3 cups of water (or more if the sprouted beans more than double the size)

Method

• 2 cups of dried yellow beans would double the size after soaking and sprouting, would produce about 4 cups or more. It is organic living beans that I just had about 6 cups of beans the night before.
• My method is place them in the rice cooker, add water and all the ingredients and let the rice cooker cook it till it foamed and the beans are tender. Remove the foam.
• If you don't have a rice cooker, one can use the same recipe in a pot. Let it boil first with higher temperature on a stove, reduce heat after boiling and cover the pot and let it cook for 30 to 45 mins. The beans can get dried and stuck to the pot so stir a bit and add water if needed. 
• Taste it and season with salt and black pepper.

Baking soda is a necessary magic for cooking this bean to be tender and soft. Turmeric is optional.  I really like the nice yellow color and the taste though one needs to be careful of using too much in a dish as it can be a bit bitter. Turmeric is used frequently in Burmese, Indian and other Asian dishes. It is known to have anti-infammatory or other medicinal power, and use frequently in Ayurvedic medicine. 

Burmese Breakfast using yellow beans

Now that you have a basic boiled yellow beans, you can now use it for a number of breakfast dishes.

1. Burmese style fried rice (recipe below)
2. Nan bread or Paratha with yellow beans (recipe for yellow beans below)
3. Black sticky rice with yellow beans 
4. Hsi Htamin (Yellow sticky rice) with yellow beans 
5. Mont Pyet Talet (Rice pancake) with yellow beans

1. Burmese Style Fried Rice

This is a very traditional Burmese breakfast you can find in a cafe in a city like Yangon or Mandalay. We can also get this in Burma Superstar or other Burmese restaurants in the Bay area.  As a vegan dish as shown in the picture below, I don't use eggs. The recipe though uses eggs.

Ingredients

• 2 eggs 
• 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric (optional)
• 1/4 cup of vegetable oil
• 4 cups of leftover cook rice, white rice or brown rice (traditional one is white rice, Burma Superstar uses brown rice)
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
• 1/2 medium yellow onion sliced thinly
• 2 cups of boiled yellow beans (already cool and boiled ahead by above recipe)

For Garnish

• 1/2 medium yellow onion sliced thinly and fried 
• 2 tablespoon of fried minced fresh ginger (optional)
• 2 tablespoon of chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
• 1 fried egg sunnyside up (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon of grounded toasted white sesame seeds (optional)

Method

• In a bowl, break eggs and beat with a fork lightly.
• Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium high heat, add 1/2 medium sliced yellow onion, and cook stirring occasionally until it is soft, translucent and tender but not brown. 
• Add beaten eggs and scramble a bit until it is cooked well. Add rice, turmeric, and yellow beans and season with salt. Fry over medium high heat for about 10 mins, while stirring frequently. Taste and season with salt and black pepper.  
• Serve with crispy fried onions. 

You may also add all other optional garnishes. In Burma, garnishes are brought to your table on small side dishes and up to individual's taste, one can add those to the dish. We love all kinds of garnishes.

2. Nan bread or Paratha with yellow beans (recipe below for yellow beans)

Ingredients 

• 4 Nan or pita bread and/or Paratha
• 1 cup of Boiled yellow beans
• 1/2 Medium fried yellow onions
• 1/8 cup of vegetable or olive oil

Method

• Heat oil in a frying pan, add 1/2 medium sliced yellow onion, and cook stirring occasionally until it is starting to be brown. Take out the onion and set them aside for garnish.
• In the same oil, add yellow beans to heat them up for 3-5 mins. Depending on your taste, one can mash them a bit or keep them whole. Season with additional salt and pepper as needed.
• Garnish with fried onions.
• Serve with warm Nan, Pita bread and/or Paratha. Paratha is layered fried bread. 

One can buy Pita bread in almost all the grocery stores. Nan and Paratha can be purchased in a local Indian grocery store. One day, I will try to make my own and will post a recipe.

3. Black sticky rice with yellow beans 

One can purchase black sticky rice in most Asian groceries and supermarkets. Cook the rice in a rice cooker with 1 cup rice to 1 cup water ratio. Sprinkle with salt and grounded toasted sesame seeds.

4. Hsi Htamin (Yellow sticky rice) with yellow beans 

This picture came from my recent Burmese breakfast at Feel in Yangon. Here I have Hsi Htamin (yellow rice), literal meaning in Burmese mean Hsi = Oil, Htmain = rice, Oil rice along with black sticky rice, garnish with freshly grated coconut. I will post the recipe soon. This is one of my favorite dishes.

5. Mont Pyet Talet (rice pancake) with yellow beans

I will find the recipe soon, re-create at home and will post it as this is really yummy. Another variation is Mont Lin Ba Ya (Lin Ba Ya means a couple - husband and wife).  It is made of smaller pancakes with yellow beans cook separately and put them back together. 

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