Garlic; Asian Garlic

The garlic used in Burma, where it’s called kyetthen hpyu, generally has much smaller cloves than those in North American garlic. Many cooks don’t bother peeling individual cloves but just smash them with the flat side of a cleaver, or with a pestle, then add them to hot oil. The skins eventually float off and can be discarded. When the garlic is to be sliced—for making fried garlic, for example—it is peeled first.

The garlic available in the winter and spring in North America is often very dried out and thus intense and harsh-tasting. If you are using dried winter garlic, and if the recipe calls for uncooked garlic, I suggest that you dry-roast it in a skillet or over a flame to soften its strong edge before using it. In Burma, unlike in Thailand, shallots rather than garlic are the primary aromatic used to flavor oil at the start of cooking. But garlic does play a role, and so does garlic oil. Remember that chopped or cooked garlic does not keep well, for it is an inviting home for bacteria; refrigerate cooked garlic (such as the garlic used to flavor Garlic Oil) and keep for no longer than five days.