In 1995 I spent a month in Myanmar (nee Burma) and it was a revelation; a people, a landscape, a history, a spirituality and a cuisine unlike anything I had ever experienced. The food is as spectacular as you might imagine given the location: a 3-way mashup of Indian, Chinese and Thai, with all kinds of unique twists. Alas, Burmese food is all but absent from Toronto (there was a short-lived place on Bloor that is now gone), though it is starting to get a lot of attention in California, where a large ex-pat population has started sharing this wonderful food with an appreciative audience.

For tonight’s dinner I’m making Golden Egg Curry (Jet-u jhet): boiled eggs* are carefully peeled and then fried to give them a golden colour and unique texture that grabs the delicious tomato, ginger and shallot sauce. It’s served with one of Myanmar’s many unique salads, Gin Thoke (ginger salad) an amazing mix of tangy lemon-pickled ginger, crunchy fried split peas & lima beans, fresh cabbage, peanuts and sesame seeds in a spicy dressing, and some basmati rice.

* Just a quick note about our fantastic eggs: The Dep uses pastured organic eggs from Ontario’s Mennonite community; happy chickens that get to live outdoors on grass, and fed organic grain grown on the same farms.

$12 (tax-included)
vegetarian-ish (contains fish sauce) & gluten free

Len Senater is the founder and proprietor of The Depanneur, who happily cooks for his friends and neighbours every Tuesday night.

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