Sour Banyan and King of Lions

A friend brought back this incredible English-language cookbook from a recent visit to Myanmar. The book was first published in 1975 by Mi Mi Khaing, who had quite a distinguished career writing about Burmese life. 

It's hard to resist the recipes. Unfortunately, many require Burmese staples - special tea leaves, pressed fish, soybean powder  -that are hard to find unless you live in a city with a good Burmese market. And how many American cities have those?

But I did find this delicious recipe for pork. (Shrimp paste can be found at any Chinese or Southeast Asian grocery store. )

Unless you happen to be in the backwoods of Burma, I doubt you'll find any of the ingredients below. Still, just reading these names makes me happy.