Ludu Daw Amar on tea salad (7)

This post contains page 198 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:

စင် be free from ; be clean; be pure
အစေး gum; latex; resin
ဖော be plentiful; be in abundance
တောင် to be hard; be stiff
ရွ crisp; crunchy
အခွံ peel; skin; bark; rind; pod; shell; husk; crust; hull
မှုတ် ။ မဟုတ်
ရယ် particle suffixed to a noun to denote inclusion
အရီးတောင်း ။ a kind of tea salad
ချဲ့ထွင် to expand (land, territory, business); exaggerate; extend (business)
တွင်းပိုး ။ larva
ချွတ်ယွင်း to be wrong; be in disrepair; be not in good order
ကျွမ်း be burnt up
သက် (of taste) slightly bitter
ဖို ။ oven

Translation:

... then they will not all cook the same. Therefore if the garlic is sliced, then it is best when it is sliced and fried so that the thickness and thinness is even.

The second most important thing is, after slicing, it must be possible to clean the garlic so that the water is pure. If the resin is not all gone, then the fried [garlic] will be black. Therefore, it must be washed with a plentiful amount of water. If it is possible to continue, then in order for it to be clean of resin, after cleaning place it into fresh water. After a long time check the water and if it will be fried, then it will be hard and crispy. If washing with water, it must be done in order for the skin to become clean.

After the resin has been cleaned [off], the last most important thing [for] frying garlic is to fry it with good oil. The price of oil at the present time is very expensive. Is that not the case? Since it is expensive, in the frying oil [people] want to use cheap oil. Some [people] add and fry with edible coconut oil. Some [people] mix in and fry with bamboo seed oil. If it is fried with cheap oil​ there is, of course, more [profit] remaining. However, the food different.

There are still fried peanuts, roasted sesame seeds and fried chick peas as food that is included together with tea. In the present era the [content of] tea salad has been expanded to include fried pumpkin seeds, fried almonds [and] fried larva grub [shaped beans], and dried shrimp. All of these foods can be eaten without tea. And if they are eaten, they are all items which can be eaten. However, if there is no tea, fried garlic cannot be eaten [alone]. It can only be [eaten] together with tea. And when it is together [with tea], there is no food that can catch it. The flavour that is very bound up in it and tea comes out. In this way, only when fried garlic is fried well can the sweet and aromatic flavour be full. If the frying is not done well, all of the flavour that can be gotten will be negative. If it is burnt, then other than not being sweet it will carry a bitter taste.

In Mandalay at the present time grub [shaped garlic] is not fried. In the past in Mandalay there was an oven where grub [shaped garlic] was baked. That oven fried grub [shaped garlic] not like regular grub [shaped garlic] but like little grubs. The person who sliced and fried the grub [shaped garlic] to put into the tea bowl in the donation ceremony of the children and grandchildren of the Ayidaung [tea company]...