Burmese Food Bazaar

It's not often that the tofu brightens up the salad.

To raise funds for victims of Cyclone Nargis, which made landfall in Myanmar in May 2008, this food bazaar presented many authentic, home-cooked flavors little known outside the local Burmese community. (Other food bazaars may follow in the coming months; you can also make a donation through the Moegyo Humanitarian Foundation, which organized the bazaar, and many other organizations.)

Shan tofu, a very firm bean curd popular with that Burmese ethnic group, is made from chickpeas or yellow split peas rather than soybeans; this version ($3) picked up faint citrus notes from thin slices of lime leaf. Also shown below: cold, glutinous rice Shan noodles ($3) topped with meat sauce; sour and spicy fried sorrel leaves ($4); tilapia ($5) wrapped in slightly bitter, waxy noni leaves; a few of the many other enticing dishes I didn't find room for that day; and a pancake with coconut and sliced almond ($2) for the road.

Burmese Food Bazaar
In the cafeteria of P.S. 150, 40-01 43rd Ave., Sunnyside, Queens
June 2008