Lahpet Thoke

Name: Lahpet Thoke
Prep time: 20 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Myanmar
Ingredients: 150g fermented tea leaves (lahpet); 3 tbsp fried garlic; 3 tbsp fried yellow split peas; 2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds; 2 tbsp roasted peanuts; 2 tomatoes, sliced; 2 green chilies, sliced; 3 tbsp vegetable oil; 1 tbsp fish sauce; 1 lime, juiced

4 servings20 min prep0 min cookEasy Myanmar

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The Story Behind It

The Tale of Lahpet Thoke

Story updated September 17, 2026

Lahpet thoke, a salad of fermented tea leaves, is a distinctly Burmese dish with no direct parallel elsewhere; Myanmar is one of the few places in the world where tea is eaten rather than only drunk, a tradition believed to stretch back centuries along regional trade routes into Yunnan.

Ingredients

Scale:· 4 servings

150g fermented tea leaves (lahpet)
3 tbsp fried garlic
3 tbsp fried yellow split peas
2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
2 tbsp roasted peanuts
2 tomatoes, sliced
2 green chilies, sliced
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 lime, juiced

Instructions

1Rinse the fermented tea leaves if very salty, then squeeze out excess liquid.
2Mix the tea leaves with a little oil, fish sauce and lime juice in a large bowl.
3Add the fried garlic, fried split peas, toasted sesame seeds and roasted peanuts.
4Toss in the sliced tomatoes and green chilies.
5Mix everything together thoroughly by hand or with a spoon, tasting and adjusting salt, sourness and heat as needed.
6Arrange on a plate, keeping some of the crunchy toppings visible on top for texture.
7Serve immediately as a starter or side salad.

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