The Shan people, sometimes called the Tai-Shan, are an ethnic group of southeast Asia whose food is a sprinkling of Thai, Cambodian and Chinese influences.
The Shan live mostly in southeast Burma but many can also be found in China, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. The Shan have been known to be wet-rice cultivators and are revered as artisans, masters as silversmiths and weavers.
There's a large Shan population the northern, Chiang-Mai, state of Thailand. They are distinguished sometimes by their clothing style, which has men wearing wide trousers and long-sleeved shirts with round collars. Women tend towards sarongs and embroidered tops, many often carry gub tai, a type of woven hat as well as woven shoulder bags.
They are Theravada Buddhists, the oldest school of Buddhism with 100 million adherents around the world. Therevada Buddhists do not believe in an all-powerful God, instead they believe in spirits which can cause good or evil in a person's life. Reincarnation is also a prime tenet of this school.
Food staples of the Shan are rice, veggies, meat, garlic and chili paste. A key ingredient in Shan cuisine is tua naw kep - round flat cakes, about six inches in diameter, made from dried, fermented soya beans.
Shan Specialities Include:
- Cold glutinous rice patties cooked with fish and tomato
- Soft tofu mixed with cabbage, coriander, green onion, crispy garlic, lime juice topped with chilies in oil
- Khauk – a flat rice noodle topped with stir-fried chicken in fermented bean paste garnished with green onion and crispy garlic and peanuts
- Khowsen – the popular Shan noodle dish has many variations. It includes rice noodles accompanied by garlic/ginger pork, fried garlic, sesame seeds, cilantro, limes, green onions and pork rinds.
- Khao Lam – a sweet made from rice cooked inside bamboo sticks
- Khao buk – steamed sticky rice pounded with sesame seeds
- Red Rice Parcels made by steaming stick rice and mixing with sugar cane, coconut and peanuts
- Mochinga – rice noodles topped with catfish in a soupy mixture of lemongrass, chilies, ginger, turmeric and eaten with duck eggs
The Shan make many sweet things with sticky rice such as khao tom glauy (steamed bananas and sticky rice). There's also suay tamin - composed of rice flour, cooked with coconut milk, butter or, that wonderful stinky king of fruit, durian.
NOTE: There is some dispute about kao soy, crispy fried noodles with a curry-flavored chicken sauce, garnished with shallots, pickled mustard greens, minced cilantro, green onion and roasted chiles in oil.
While it is believed to have originated from the Muslim community in northern Thailand, many believe this is Shan dish.
Whatever its heritage, it's delicious!
