Jin Thoke, also known as Burmese Ginger Salad is a traditional dish from Myanmar.
Authentic recipes are prepared with thinly sliced pickled ginger, roasted peanuts, sesame seeds, and a variety of other ingredients to create a flavourful and crunchy salad.
Pickled Ginger Salad is commonly served as a side dish or appetizer and is often paired with other Burmese dishes like curries and noodles.
This easy Burmese Pickled Ginger Salad recipe features a truly unique dressing flavoured with zesty lime juice, funky fish sauce, and tangy pickled ginger juice.
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What Is Burmese Pickled Ginger Salad?
Burmese Ginger Salad, also known as Jin Thoke, is one of the most popular salad recipes indigenous to Myanmar.
Many Burmese dishes carry the flavours and scents of neighbouring India and China. In this salad, the funky fish sauce of Yunnan, the part of China that borders Myanmar, mingles with crispy fried garlic, tangy lime and crunchy roasted peanuts for a delightful contrast and crunch.
Jin Thoke has been a signature dish in Myanmar for centuries, and its popularity has spread to neighbouring countries like Thailand and Laos.
The crunchy and funky salad is typically made with pickled ginger, which has been used in traditional Burmese medicine for its health benefits for hundreds of years. Burmese pickled ginger is marinated in vinegar and sugar for several hours, giving it a tangy and slightly sweet flavour.
The dish is also commonly served during the Burmese New Year as a symbol of good luck and prosperity.
Travel To Myanmar By Making Jin Thoke at Home
I love traveling through Asia.
My first visit had me living in South Korea for a year as a teacher and it’s where I was first introduced to fermented vegetables like kimchi.
After my contract ended in Seoul I travelled throughout southeast Asia for 6 months, visiting Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos.
I spent a month traveling to the ancient temples of Bagan, floating communities of Inle Lake, and exploring the capital Yangon while visiting luxury hotels like The Savoy and Sule Shangri-La.
What I found most fascinating is Myanmar’s distinct regional food cultures. Much like the regional cuisines found in Germany, Italy or Spain, each town in Myanmar had its own local speciality.
The one dish that really wowed me on my tour of Myanmar was Burmese Ginger Salad. I had never had a Pickled Ginger Salad before and in Burma the dish is available all over the country, it’s that popular!
I first ordered the salad at a fancy restaurant in Yangon and immediately fell in love with the funky fish sauce and fried garlic flavours. I’d go on to order the dish almost every day as I continued exploring Myanmar in Bagan and Inle Lake.
You May Also Enjoy Reading These Burmese Travel Stories…
- 15 Must Try Tastes in Myanmar
- Biking Through the Ancient Temples of Bagan
- Things To Do on Myanmar’s Inle Lake
- Things to Do in Yangon
- The Savoy Hotel Offers an Oasis in the Heart of Yangon
- Sule Shangri-La Hotel in Yangon
Where To Eat Pickled Ginger Salad
If you live in a large city in Canada or America you’ll likely have access to a local Southeast Asian restaurant that serves traditional Burmese Ginger Salad.
Haven’t traveled to Myanmar before? It may be helpful to first sample authentic Jin Thoke at a local restaurant to better understand how the dish is served. You can assess how funky you want to flavour the dressing with fish sauce, what crunchy ingredients to add to the salad and the best complimentary side dishes to serve at the table.
In Toronto and Ottawa, popular restaurants that may serve their own unique Pickled Ginger Salad recipe include Popa and Rangoon Restaurant.
Pickled Ginger Salad Recipe Cooking Tips
This homemade Burmese Ginger Salad recipe is quick and easy to make at home.
- We like to finely slice Romaine lettuce in this salad but you can use head lettuce if you prefer as it is also crunchy.
- We’ve used shredded green cabbage in this recipe but you can use Napa cabbage if you prefer.
- You can make homemade pickled ginger or purchase The Ginger People Pickled Ginger.
- You can make homemade garlic chips or purchase them online.
- Our recipe features fried yellow spit pease but you can substitute for fried chickpeas or lentils if you prefer.
- We’ve used a Jalapeno pepper in this recipe but you can substitute with a Thai long chili or Bird’s Eye Chili if you prefer.
- If you’re looking to purchase Chickpea Flour FYI it is also called Gram Flour.
- We’ve used canola oil in the salad dressing but you can substitute for another flavourless vegetable oil like avocado oil instead.
- Pickled Ginger Juice is a key ingredient in this salad. You simply measure the brine liquid in the pickled ginger jar and add it to the dressing.
- We’ve used fresh lime juice in this recipe but you can substitute with lemon juice.
Recipe Health Benefits
Our Pickled Ginger Salad recipe is packed full of healthy ingredients!
Lettuce is one of the most widely consumed vegetables worldwide, but its nutritional value has been underestimated. Lettuce is low in calories, fat and sodium. It is a good source of fibre, iron, folate, and vitamin C. Lettuce is also a good source of various other health-beneficial bioactive compounds.
An excellent source of vitamins K and C, cabbage helps keep your bones, blood, and immune system healthy.
Ginger contains at least 14 phytochemicals, many of which have impressive antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. It also has a good source of copper, which supports your bones, blood and nervous system.
It is only recently that scientists have begun to identify the components responsible for garlic’s myriad health benefits. Rich in phytochemicals and potassium, garlic helps boost your immune system, fight cancer and protect your heart.
Peas are loaded with A, B-1, B-6, C, and a supersized serving of osteoporosis-fighting K. One cup of boiled green peas has 46% of your RDA of vitamin K-1, known for maintaining bone health and helping blood to clot to prevent bleeding. Peas are high in fibre and low in fat and contain no cholesterol.
A good source of bone-strengthening vitamin K, cilantro is also rich in antioxidants that help protect the eyes from damage by free radicals.
Peanuts are rich in protein, fat, and fibre. While peanuts may have a large amount of fat, most of the fats they contain are known as “good fats.”
Peppers have been proven to help reduce the duration of sickness, prevent heart disease, and promote weight loss.
A useful source of copper, calcium, manganese, and phosphorus, sesame seeds help support circulatory, digestive and skeletal health.
A rich source of phytochemicals and vitamin C, limes help boost your immune system and neutralize free radicals that cause disease and skin aging. Lemons also protect against heart disease and help improve blood flow to the brain.
What To Serve with Burmese Salad
Burmese Ginger Salad is typically enjoyed as an appetizer or side dish at a traditional lunch or dinner in Myanmar.
Burmese salads are collectively referred to as athoke. Beyond the crunchy explosion of flavours and textures found in the ubiquitous Jin Thoke, other popular recipes include Burmese Tomato Salad and Burmese Tea Leaf Salad.
If you’re planning the menu for an authentic Burmese feast you may also like to serve Shan Noodles, Chickpea Tofu, Mohinga, Creamy Coconut Burmese Chicken Curry, Burmese Khow Suey Pork Coconut Noodle Soup, and Gaeng Hung Lay Burmese Pork Belly Curry.
If you’re hosting a large Southeast Asian-inspired dinner party, we suggest serving some of these yummy homemade recipes:
- Laos Papaya Salad Tum Mak Hoong
- Bun Cha Vietnamese Noodle Bowl
- Vietnamese Grilled Pork “Bun Thit Nuong”
- Vietnamese Crepe Bánh Xèo
- Crispy Thai Prawn Omelette
- Thai Glass Noodle Stir Fry Pad Woon Sen
- Stir-Fried Garlic Basil Thai Eggplant
- Yum Woon Sen Thai Glass Noodle Salad
- Khao Pad Sapparod Thai Pineapple Shrimp Fried Rice
- Thai Pork Rib Soup with Vermicelli Noodles
- Egg Tofu Soup with Pork Meatballs
- Gai Pad Med Mamuang Thai Cashew Chicken
- Nam Tok Authentic Thai “Waterfall Beef” Salad
Jin Thoke keeps well in the fridge for 1 or 2 days so store it in an airtight container and eat leftover the following day.
You May Also Enjoy These Salad Recipes…
- Asinan Sayur Indonesian Coleslaw Cabbage Salad
- Balila Healthy Vegan Lebanese Chickpea Salad
- Pancar Salatasi Turkish Beet Yogurt Salad
- Ensalada de Gambas Spanish Grapefruit Fennel Shrimp Salad
- Erdapfelsalat Viennese Warm Austrian Potato Salad
- Arugula Fig Burrata and Prosciutto Salad
- Vegetarian Indian Paneer Tikka Salad
- Mexican Vegan Cucumber Radish Salad with Chipotle Peanuts
- Warm Indian Vegan Sprouted Mung Bean Salad
- Scallion Dill Beetroot Salad with Yogurt
- Sangchu Geotjeori Sweet and Sour Korean Lettuce Salad
- Yum Woon Sen Thai Glass Noodle Salad
- Vegan Lebanese Cabbage Malfouf Salad
- Toasted Pecan Parmesan Pear and Rocket Salad
How To Make Burmese Pickled Ginger Salad (RECIPE VIDEO)
Burmese Pickled Ginger Salad
Equipment
- measuring cups
- measuring spoons
- French knife
- Salad Bowl
Ingredients
- 4 cups Romaine Lettuce thinly sliced
- 2 cups Green Cabbage shredded
- 3 tbsp Pickled Ginger chopped
- 2 tbsp Fried Garlic Chips
- 3 tbsp Fried Yellow Split Peas
- 3 tbsp Cilantro chopped
- 2 tbsp Sunflower Seeds
- 2 tbsp Roasted Peanuts chopped
- 1 Jalapeno Pepper minced
- 1 tbsp Toasted Sesame Seeds
- 1.5 tbsp Toasted Chickpea Flour
- 1.5 tbsp Canola Oil
- 2 tbsp Pickled Ginger Juice
- 2 tsp Fish Sauce
- 1/4 tsp Kosher Salt
- 1 Lime cut into wedges
Instructions
- In a salad bowl, combine the lettuce, cabbage, pickled ginger, fried garlic, split peas, cilantro, sunflower seeds, peanuts, jalapenos, and sesame seeds. Sprinkle chickpea flour over the top and drizzle with oil and pickling liquid. Add the fish sauce and salt.
- Squeeze lime wedges over top. Using your hands, mix well and serve.
Nutrition
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