Yam Ta-Wai, Thai-Burmese Salad Recipe

You guys, my following is so massive (jkjk). I posted a picture of this dish in my Insta stories this week and the recipe requests slid into my DMs. So here I am, sharing the recipe.

This recipe was brought to Thailand by Southern Burmese immigrants. It became a staple of Royal Thai cuisine when Burmese people began working in the Royal Court and adapting their native recipes to Thai flavor preferences. Royal Thai cuisine made its way to the general population when those working and studying in the palace (sort of a domestic work/study program) brought the dishes they learned back to their families and communities. Most likely, Yam Ta-wai is very similar to the original Burmese dish, with the Thai influence showing up in the curry dressing. The dressing is essentially a concentrated Thai red curry with dried fish added for body and aroma. The original curry dressing likely calls for fewer aromatics than the Thai version.

As this is a Royal Thai dish, all of the ingredients should be cut very thin and should not exceed the length of a spoon in size (specifically, the spoon you'll be eating with). All of the vegetables should be similar in size, so that no one vegetable overpowers the others. A nice guide for your cutting size and shape is the bean sprouts in the recipe. As long as you're not cooking for the King of Thailand, you don't have to do prep to the bean sprouts, so just cut all your vegetables to be similar in size to the sprouts. (** If you are cooking for a Thai royal, you need to remove the tops and tails of the sprouts- but I don't need to tell you that. As a Royal Thai chef, you know that already ;-) what are you even doing reading this blog?!)

Ok, on to the recipe!

Yam Ta-Wai, Southern Burmese Salad Recipe

Serves 2-3