Ludu Daw Amar on tea salad (3)

This post contains page 194 of a short piece of writing by Ludu Daw Amar titled "Fried Onion Work" from her 2002 book ၁၂ ပွဲဈေးသည်နှင့် ကျွန်မအညာ [12 Market Sellers and My Upper Burma]. "Fried Onion Work" runs from page 192 to 199 of the book. A complete PDF of this piece can be downloaded from the non-fiction section of this blog's library here.

Vocabulary:

ရေဦး ။ early rain water flowing down rivers and streams; the first rise and fall of a flood or tide
ပိုးကောင် ။ silkworm
တွင်းပိုး ။ beetle larva
လွန်ဆန် ။ [something like almonds]
ကြက်ခြေ ။ cross mark
အရီး ။ paternal aunt
တောင်း ။ short
အကန့် ။ partition

Translation:

[Mostly these items] are not included. Just a little bit of tea tenderised with oil and salt is chewed slowly with relish.

In this way, while chewing slowly with relish to relieve the sour taste in the mouth, tea by itself mixed with water is liked the most. Therefore, if [tea] is to be sent via water [for?] entrees of tea by itself, then Zayan Tea that is made in Zayan-Gyi Village is selected and sent off. In all regions, the tea that is liked the best is mixed with water.

As for the tea that is eaten by people from cities, it is no longer eaten to relieve the sour taste in their mouths. It is one food that is served to entertain [guests] at auspicious donation [ceremonies]. Therefore, [when] serving guests, one bowl of tea, one bowl of fried onions, one bowl of sesame seeds, one bowl of peanuts and one bowl of chickpeas is beautifully set out on a plate and served.

As for Mandalay, a tea entree is serve and entertained [with] as much as can be done to elaborate and make [it] grandiose. Therefore, [the following is] set out with a tea entree and prepared with a very big plate:

1) fried onions
2) roasted beans
3) sesame seeds
4) fried peanuts
5) ginger
6) teas other than (tender Zayan)
7) almonds
8) pumpkin seeds
9) fried silkworm (beetle larva)
10) dried shrimp
11) fried coconut
12) red cross tea salad (sour-salty-spicy)

[These] 12 kinds of food are included. If Aunt တောင်း [short?] takes responsibility for the tea, then her tea is not prepared on a plate. It is prepared and served with a lacquer box that has 12 partitions. That is the tea box with 12 kinds [of condiments] that is served.