Mustard Greens; Pickled Mustard Greens

Like gailan and broccoli and cabbage, mustard is a Brassica, a member of the cabbage family. In Burmese it is mohn nyin ywet. It is used as a vegetable in stir-fries but gets even wider play in pickled form. Pickled mustard greens are available in Chinese groceries. They are made by mashing the greens a little to crush them, letting them dry in the sun, then pickling them with salt. This is a classic Chinese method of pickling, but in Burma there are often other flavors added too, such as ginger and turmeric. Pak som and pakkat som are the Shan and Thai terms, respectively, for pickled greens, usually made by letting the greens dry in the sun or air, then packing them with salt in a sealed container. They give off their liquid and keep indefinitely. They’re used as a table condiment, a useful vegetable when there are none around. In the Shan hills near Hsipaw I came upon a Shan household that prepared preserved greens in a related way. They mashed them with salt, shaped them into small nest-like coils, and put them on a rack in the sun to dry out for a day or two. The dry nests that result are then available to be tossed into soup.