Mainland Southeast Asia · Volume 42, The Tea Leaf, the Curry Oil and the Caravan Road
Tohu Nway and Tohu Thote
The Shan hills
An illustration of the dish, not a photograph of it cooked.
- Time
- 30 minutes
- Researched
- 12 sources cited
- Reviewed
- Not yet reviewed from inside the tradition
- Cooked
- Not yet cooked and reported
As tradition built it
Serves 4 to 6. About 30 minutes, plus setting.
Ingredients
- 100g chickpea flour
- 700ml water
- 1 tsp each salt, turmeric
- to taste for the salad: oil, tamarind sauce, crispy garlic, shallot, roasted peanuts, coriander, lime leaf, fish sauce or dried shrimp powder
Method
- Whisk chickpea flour into water with salt and turmeric to a smooth batter.
- Cook over direct heat, stirring continuously, until the starch gelatinises and the mixture thickens to a pourable, glossy batter.
- For tohu nway, serve immediately, warm and soft, dressed simply.
- For tohu thote, pour the batter into a shallow tray, cool fully until firm and sliceable, then cut into pieces and toss with oil, tamarind sauce, crispy garlic, shallot, roasted peanuts, coriander and lime leaf, adding fish sauce or dried shrimp powder for a non-vegan version.
What a modern chef changes
The absence of a coagulant treated as the dish's real technical interest, not glossed over
Rung 6
Method
- Do not stop stirring once the batter begins to thicken. An unstirred pot sets unevenly, firm at the base while the top is still liquid, because the set here is pure starch gelatinisation, not a coagulant reaction that would forgive a pause.
- Treat warm-and-soft and cooled-and-firm as two equally finished dishes, not a soft failure and a proper success. Serve both from the same batch where the menu allows it, precisely to show a diner that one starch, handled two ways, gives two genuinely different textures.
- Slice the cooled block only once it has fully firmed, at least an hour, ideally longer; cutting too early tears rather than slices cleanly.