How Burmese food in India stays true to its roots

The story of Burmese food in India goes beyond the delicious khauk swe, to reveal culinary delights that remain unexplored

Bhadra Shah remembers it clearly as day. A man carrying a sigdi would arrive outside her home and set up shop. On the sigdi went coconut curry. Once hot, he ladled the curry into bowls, over crisp chana dal vadas, and topped it with condiments. “That pyajo was absolutely delicious. I would eat bowls of it,” she says. Now a grandmother living in Mumbai, that streetside pyajo is one of her fondest memories of Burmese food. 

‘Pyajo’ or ‘pyazo’ is a vibrant yellow curry of coconut milk or yoghurt, thickened with besan, cooked with potatoes or seasonal vegetables, and served with vadas. It’s a dish that marries textures, flavours and even culinary influences—a dish that is emblematic of Burmese food. 

Located in South East Asia, Myanmar (Burma till 1989) rarely features on food itineraries or lists. It’s a pity because the cuisine of this country is a tribute to its multi-cultural history, migrant culture, trade with neighbours, religious makeup, traditional cooking methods, and agricultural practices. Indians have lived in Burma for centuries, though many communities migrated in the 19th century after the British occupation of India. Anti-India riots in the 1930s, the Japanese invasion of Burma, and internal unrest saw the forced migration of thousands of these Indians. Today, these repatriates exist in parts of India, holding onto some fond memories of their lives in Burma and its cuisine. 

Urmila Gupta was born in Burma and lived in a large joint family where Burmese food was cooked thrice a week. Back in India, in Mumbai, she would cook lavish Burmese meals, introducing many others to the delicious cuisine. Today, she has a separate pantry for her Burmese meals, and some of her recipes grace the menu of her son Ankit Gupta’s restaurant chain, Burma Burma.  

Burma Burma is dedicated to Burmese food, albeit vegetarian, with outposts in Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru and Kolkata. In Goa, Bomras by chef Bawmra Jap has some dedicated Burmese dishes. Chennai has Burma Bazaar where Tamil repatriates started stalls selling atho (salad) and mohinga (fish and noodle stew). Delhi has the restaurant, Mohinga: The Taste of Myanmar, while Burmese snacks and homecooked meals are available in the Chin refugee settlement in Bodella, Vikaspuri. In Moreh on the India-Myanmar border, thriving markets offer a taste of both countries’ cuisines. In Kolkata, former teacher Chanda Dutt runs a takeaway, Chanda’s Khaukswey – Taste of Myanmar.

“Burmese cuisine is highly underrated. People who know about it will go anywhere to find it,” says Dutt. “It still needs a lot of exposure.”

A Burmese-cuisine spread by Bomras, a restaurant in Goa selling Burmese food. Image: BomrasSelling a cuisine 

Luckily, Burmese cuisine in India has its guardians. 

Dutt is a familiar figure for those seeking khauk swe, fish fry, red-and-gold pork curry, tofu salad, tofu fry, and mohinga in Kolkata. Born in Burma, she lived there until she was 12, developing a keen interest in the cuisine. As a schoolteacher, her tiffins containing Burmese food were always a hit among her colleagues. Upon her retirement in 2013, they suggested she start selling her food. Dutt’s Khaukswey opened as a restaurant, and now functions as a takeaway spot. 

It was Burmese food that got corporate lawyer Sanhita Dasgupta Sensarma interested in a journey of food anthropology and ethnography. During her stay in the United States, she encountered Burmese herbs in a suburb in California, and ate a tomato salad similar to what was prepared at her home in a Burmese restaurant in Massachusetts. “For a homesick person, finding these similarities in foods across the globe changed me,” she says. It became a catalyst for her to learn to cook and delve into the history of food; some of these learnings are shared on her Instagram account. During the pandemic, Sensarma started a lockdown kitchen that featured some Burmese dishes. She now consults with restaurants and soon hopes to start a Burmese kitchen to offer others a taste of the food she loves.

It’s a similar sentiment that prompted Bawmra to open Bomras 20 years ago in Goa. “I wanted to highlight the things I like to eat. It’s the best way to advocate the cuisine and get it to a wider audience,” he says. He grows many of the vegetables and herbs that go in his food and makes the condiments in-house. Bawmra’s pickled tea leaf salad and tomato salad are his signature dishes; he also serves khauk swe, tamarind pork, and banana leaf-wrapped fish. 

Meanwhile, Ankit Gupta founded Burma Burma—with childhood friend Chirag Chhajer—to offer people a taste of the food he grew up eating. “My friends and family members would crave my mother’s cooking. It made me think about selling Burmese food, because it wasn’t available,” he says. Burma Burma first opened in 2014 in Mumbai and now has branches in Bengaluru, Kolkata, Gurgaon, Noida and New Delhi. Gupta frequently visits Myanmar to learn about new dishes, techniques and ingredients to add to the menu. After all, it’s a cuisine he wants to popularise. “I definitely want to see more restaurants serving Burmese food,” he says. And not just khauk swe. 

More than just curried noodles  

If there’s one Burmese dish that has been accepted, experimented and adapted upon across India, it is khauk swe (often incorrectly spelled as ‘khao suey’). The mild, coconut curry-based dish with rice noodles, topped with condiments, is sometimes the token ‘Asian’ dish in restaurants and a staple at eateries specialising in South East Asian food. ‘Khaukswe…is a non-conformist bitch’ writes Sensarma on Instagram. ‘Just like maacher jhol, I know at least 50 different ways of making khaukswe.’ It’s because every family has its own version of the dish, and recipes vary according to ingredients and regions. Among other popular dishes in India, especially in the streets of Chennai, there’s atho, or noodles mixed with fresh vegetables.

“Rice, fish and coconut milk are a part of everyday life in Burma,” says Sensarma. “So is thoke, made with seasonal vegetables like raw banana, raw papaya, banana stem, or eggplants, tomatoes, and mangoes. Meat plays a big role but the cuisine is not dependent on it”. Salads are eaten daily, found everywhere on the streets in Myanmar, and typically mixed by hand. Of these, laphet thoke is the most popular, made with fermented tea leaves. 

There’s also mohinga, a delicate catfish broth of rice noodles, considered the ‘national dish of Myanmar’. “Mohinga is easily available and an accessible meal, eaten as a snack, breakfast or lunch. Khauk swe is not the most common noodle dish in Burma,” says advertising professional Manjula Dasgupta, who grew up in Burma and developed a love for the cuisine because of her Burmese caretaker. Her love for the cuisine continued post her move to India for her studies, and remains to this day. Besides mohinga, she cooks khauk swe, seebiyan (curries made with meat or fish that highlight the fat in it), and fermented bamboo shoots with pork. One day, she hopes to start a takeaway selling Burmese food. 

Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of Burmese cuisine is its similarity with Indian ingredients, dishes, and preparations. The cuisine is heavy on rice and curries; chickpeas are common, though powdered and used as a condiment or turned into tofu; tamarind adds sourness; banana leaves are used to steam fish; coconut milk is used in curries; and coconut in sweetmeats. Burmese sweets are typically made with coconut, palm jaggery, semolina, and sometimes agar agar. “They love their tea too, though they have it with condensed milk. Green tea is part of every meal,” says Ankit. 

Ankit’s frequent visits to the country have armed him with information about the cuisine. His passion for Burmese food is evident in the way he shares stories about learning to make khauk swe at a pagoda, and visiting a village known for making 17 types of tofu. “Once you eat Burmese food, you want to have it again and again.” After all, it’s food that’s so good, he makes you say it twice.

Also Read: Why does Korean food hold sway over Indian palates?

Also Read: For Syrian Christians in India, Easter revolves around faith and food

Also Read: The food of the Himalayan belt and North East India goes way beyond the momo