Pè Byouk

the Burmese breakfast of boiled mung beans: whole beans simmered until soft but whole, dressed hot with peanut oil, salt, and a heap of crisp fried onion, and eaten with tea or over sticky rice

Origin: Myanmar

From the journey of Mung Bean.

Myanmar grows more mung beans than any other country on earth. The dry zone of the central Ayeyarwady basin suits the plant exactly, since it asks for little water and finishes in sixty days, and the great bulk of the harvest is exported to India and China whilst the country eats a very great deal of it besides. Pè byouk means, simply, boiled beans, and it is amongst the commonest breakfasts in Burma: whole mung beans cooked until tender but still holding their shape, dressed whilst hot with fragrant peanut oil and salt, and buried under crisp fried onions. It is sold from roadside stalls and from the tea shops that are the centre of Burmese social life, eaten on its own from a small dish, or heaped over htamin, sticky rice, or served alongside the flatbread nan bya in the Indian-influenced shops of Yangon. Burmese practice sits unusually between the two great mung traditions of the world, cooking the whole bean as a savoury pulse in the Indian manner whilst also using the sprout and the starch noodle in the Chinese manner, which is what one would expect of a country lying directly between them. The fried onion and its oil, kyet thun kyaw, is the foundation of Burmese cooking generally, made in large batches and kept in a jar.

Ingredients

Beans

  • 300 g whole green mung beans
  • 1.2 litre water
  • 0.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda (optional)
  • 1.5 tsp fine salt

Fried Onion

  • 4 whole shallots or 1 large onion, very thinly sliced
  • 150 ml peanut oil
  • 1 tsp turmeric (optional, for colour)

To Serve

  • 1 whole lime, cut into wedges, to serve
  • 1 pinch chilli flakes, to serve (optional)
  • 400 g cooked sticky rice, to serve (optional)

Method

  1. Rinse the mung beans, discarding any that float, and soak them in plenty of cold water for at least 6 hours or overnight. Drain.
  2. Put the beans in a pan with the water and the bicarbonate of soda if using. Bring to the boil, skim the foam, then simmer gently, uncovered, for 25 to 35 minutes.
  3. Test frequently from 25 minutes. The beans are ready when one crushes easily between finger and thumb but the great majority are still whole and unsplit. Drain immediately and toss gently with the salt.
  4. Meanwhile make the fried onion: put the sliced shallots into the cold peanut oil in a small pan, then bring it up to a medium heat. Fry, stirring often, for 10 to 15 minutes until they are golden and crisp, adding the turmeric for the last 30 seconds if using.
  5. Drain the fried shallots on kitchen paper, reserving the oil. Dress the warm beans with 3 to 4 tablespoons of the fragrant shallot oil, pile the crisp shallots on top, and serve warm with lime and, if you like, sticky rice.

Notes

The shallot oil, kyet thun kyaw, is worth making in a much larger batch than this, since it is the foundation of Burmese cooking and keeps for two weeks in a sealed jar in a cool place. Peanut oil is traditional and its flavour matters; a neutral oil will do but gives a plainer result. Pè byouk is eaten warm rather than hot, and it is entirely ordinary to make it the evening before and dress it in the morning. Serve it as a breakfast on its own with tea, spooned over sticky rice, or alongside nan bya flatbread. A closely related dish, pè byouk hin, cooks the beans down further with onion and turmeric into a soft savoury mash; and the split bean fried into thin crisp fritters, pè kyaw, is the standard crunchy garnish broken over a bowl of mohinga, the national breakfast noodle soup.

The Gastrographer

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