Hsi Htamin

Mandalay's morning rice: glutinous rice steamed and then turned through fragrant golden sesame oil with a little turmeric and salt, pressed into a round and cut into wedges, crowned with toasted sesame, crisp fried onions, and crushed roasted peanuts, the breakfast and snack that gives Burmese sesame oil its purest expression

Origin: Mandalay, Upper Burma (Myanmar)

From the journey of Sesame.

Hsi htamin (literally 'oil rice') is a sticky-rice dish of Upper Burma, eaten for breakfast and as an anytime snack, and sold from morning stalls and tea shops around Mandalay. Its character comes wholly from sesame: the golden, fragrant cold-pressed sesame oil (hnan zi) that is one of the primary cooking fats of the Burmese kitchen, and the toasted sesame seeds scattered over the top. Glutinous rice is steamed, then patiently worked through the warm oil with a little turmeric for colour and salt for seasoning, pressed into a round, and cut into wedges to be finished with crisp fried onions, the onion oil, and crushed roasted peanuts. Myanmar is one of the world's largest sesame producers, and dishes such as this, alongside the toasted sesame stirred through lahpet thoke and the sesame salt eaten with plain sticky rice, show how deeply the seed is woven into everyday Burmese eating.

Ingredients

Rice

  • 400 g glutinous (sticky) rice, soaked 4 hours or overnight
  • 4 tbsp sesame oil (fragrant cold-pressed, not the dark roasted East Asian type)
  • 0.5 tsp ground turmeric
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp sugar

Topping

  • 3 tbsp white sesame seeds, toasted
  • 1 large onion, thinly sliced
  • 4 tbsp neutral oil, for frying the onions
  • 3 tbsp roasted peanuts, coarsely crushed

Method

  1. Drain the soaked glutinous rice. Steam it in a lined steamer over boiling water for 25 to 30 minutes until tender and translucent, turning it once halfway through for even cooking.
  2. Meanwhile, fry the onions: heat the neutral oil in a small pan over medium heat and fry the sliced onion, stirring, until evenly golden and crisp. Lift out onto kitchen paper with a slotted spoon and reserve both the crisp onions and the fragrant onion oil.
  3. Warm the sesame oil gently in a small pan with the turmeric until fragrant and evenly coloured, about a minute over low heat. Do not let it smoke.
  4. Tip the hot steamed rice into a wide bowl. Pour over the warm turmeric sesame oil and add the salt and sugar. Using a spatula or moistened hand, turn and fold the rice firmly until every grain is glossy, golden, and evenly seasoned.
  5. Press the rice firmly into a flat round on a plate or in a shallow tin, packing it down well, then turn out or cut directly into wedges.
  6. Scatter the wedges generously with toasted sesame seeds, the crisp fried onions, and the crushed peanuts, and drizzle with a little of the reserved onion oil. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Notes

Use a fragrant, light cold-pressed sesame oil here, the everyday Burmese cooking oil, rather than the dark toasted sesame oil of Chinese and Japanese cooking, which is far too strong to use in this quantity. Some Mandalay versions add a little cooked split-pea or chickpea seasoning, or serve the rice with htamin jaw (fried rice) accompaniments; others keep it plain but for the three toppings. The same steamed sticky rice, dressed instead with only ground toasted sesame and salt, is the simple Upper Burma breakfast known as sticky rice with sesame.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

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