A Day With a Burmese Street Vendor at NYC's Biggest Night Market | On The Line | Bon Appétit

I have been selling Burmese food since 1995 which is very rare to get in New York City be a sport a tent an opportunity to serve my food to the public definitely more difficult than having a restaurant you have to bring the whole kitchen over here pots and pans and plates one of the fun things about being a vendor is that you can expect all the unexpected I might be preparing between 500 to 700 plates tonight [Music] hi my name is welcome to Queens International Night Market since opening in 2015 the Queens International Market has represented over 100 countries I represent the country called Burma officially changed to Myanmar I've been here since day one and as far as I understand either I was the first or the second applicant that I've applied to the Queensland Market it opens at five o'clock there are going to be over 15 000 customers coming in tonight all right so it is 2 30 right now so we got to unload the van and start preparing the food [Music] I have my nephew on LinkedIn and my mother-in-law kenamu and my father-in-law David they are my hardcore crew over here I have all the best in laws all right this is where I keep my brought the oh no Causeway broad also known as coconut Ramen this is a generator it took me about like half an hour to load the van but of course it'll take me 15 minutes to unload the van I am friend with this 10 dead 10 over there over there over there the whole place is my friend at the end of the night I will go to Eastern and I will grab their food and exchange with my food and that's how I also taste the international food over here thank you so this is The Griddle on which I grill my palatas I had this griddle since the beginning and this has been my best friend since day one the main item that I'm selling for the past eight year is called palata palata is a flat bread it's made out of wheat flour dough you have to basically spread the dough it gets thinner and thinner and thinner until it cannot no longer stretch and after that I fold it and griddle it that will become flaky once it is done foreign [Music] messy right now because we just finished unloading we have three tables for where the customer will be ordering food where we will griddling the palazzos these are two rice cookers one is for the coconut Ramen broth and another one is for Udo noodle salad chicken I choose rice cookers because they maintain a better temperature throughout the day [Music] no we need to put this all the way up over there actually not over here all right this is definitely more difficult than having a restaurant we have been putting that design for over eight years and today we put a design in the wrong way so you tell me when I was a student I was never ready to take a test I was always falling behind right now I also feel like I'm rushing to the opening hour anyway [Music] so where is my propane okay okay so I'm gonna set up the burner to start cooking chicken curry for this one I can use 110 for two weeks for The Griddle I'm gonna need one propane gas every night pretty much I'm a handyman over here I do everything and also cleaned up at the end of the night [Music] it is 3 30 and I should be start cooking chicken curry and everything else I don't keep recipe anymore it's just pretty much by heart yeah depends on how I feel today chicken curry palata where there's a plain bladder with chicken curry dipping sauce on the side I have to put some water first I have to bring everything we use all types of peas but the yellow split pea is one of the most popular items they give the most Umami taste of all the peas this is very stubborn tea so I actually cooked it yesterday I pressure cook it for half an hour I put salt I put a little bit of sugar Burmese food has a little sweetness and a little bit of spiciness so I'm also gonna have to put the chili flakes chili flakes is one of the most important ingredients in Burmese food Burmese food is known for some kind of spice in there Burmese Curry is a little bit different than Indian curry because Indian Masala is usually on a Little Bit Stronger side the Burmese Masala is always on a smoother side a little bit toned down sized oh by the way this is going to fish sauce being next to Thailand and next to Cambodia we use a lot of fish sauce that gives a little bit more depth into the the dish than any other sauce all right let me taste it and see how things are over here nope I need a little bit more flavor and some more spice as well perfect the base is complete I'm happy with that I'm gonna add the chicken in and the potato in to finish up the dish the chicken is being cooked we braised it it is extremely important that we serve these customers as quick as possible so I have to prepare these things ahead of time oh now it's looking more like a curry and it looks a little bit delicious as well these potatoes are pre-fried actually by the time five o'clock it's gonna be ready so now I'm gonna start preparing the nanji cold sweat though it's also known as udon noodle salad and the onokhousewear also known as coconut Ramen nanji basically means it's a thick noodle so this is the meat sauce for nanji Causeway though it is pretty much minced chicken cooked in paprika wire the dish is this rice noodles I sprinkle a little bit of fish sauce I top roasted bean powder Burmese people use a lot of roasted bean powder one thing I understand is that it gives a very delicious Umami taste and on top of it I put the meat sauce and egg cilantro onion chili flakes and lime it is really delicious all right we're gonna move to the owner Causeway oh no mean coconut milk cow swimming noodles so basically it is noodle that goes with coconut milk so the broth the base is chicken we have to basically boil the chicken bone for a certain amount of hours and once again we put bean powder to thicken it up a little bit as well as minced chicken onion garlic you could say we use bean powder in quite a few dishes all right it is 4 30 so I should be start flipping the palata it's going to be half an hour before the people coming in [Music] the battery is dead the battery's dead yeah I left the battery on for like 45 minutes or an hour I guess and now the battery is dead and we got to move the car and I can move the car and people are trying to push it out and I don't know how we're gonna do that okay okay at least the car is moving now which is a good thing one of the fun things about being a vendor is that you can expect all the and expect it over here there is no such thing that you cannot solve it there's always a way to solve it and it's always fun at the end of the day this is a new experience The Show Must Go On all right let's start flipping the bladder the dough is very simple it is wheat flour water and salt that's it no yeast no nothing so palata half of it should be crispy half of it should be a little bit I say delightfully chewy this is a very popular dish in Myanmar right now in every street corner you're gonna see Paul understand first of all you've left send this out and make sure that the edges are a little bit thinner than the centerpiece and now one hand one pump down one pump up [Music] and you keep on doing it until it stretch out a little bit thinner and thinner and thinner and there you go foreign sorry it always happened when I'm trying to shoot off it is just vegetable wire a lot of people use ghee or butter but for me I will make sure that all the vegan customers could be able to consume as well back in Burma my father he is a person who loves to cook and one day he said that you know what with all the food that I know how to cook there's a one palata that I don't know how to make it so he hire a freelance palata maker and he made him make the Balada at home and after three times basically I learned how to make palada as well there's this plain Balada basically just plain flatbread nothing inside and now I'm about to make the keema palata which is a minced chicken onion egg and cilantro stuff inside today I'm making a little bit over 200 Kima palata so basically in a good night I was a little bit over 400 palata it is extremely important that we serve these customers as quick as possible so I have to prepare these things ahead of time get your set and Sub sub I've been doing this for like a few Dozen Years and I'm pretty much getting better every year so I'm still learning I guess so the challenging thing about making the palada in this kind of environment is the wind especially today it's a little bit windy day and you are flipping the kind of like fan like thingy and then it is extremely hard to get it perfect all right so this will be the last one that I'll be preparing because the door are about to be opening over here foreign [Music] thank you very much for following me the whole day I hope you have a sense of what it is to be Queen's night bucket vendor and I hope to see you back again soon go and try some other food over there bye good [Music] foreign

Channel: Bon Appétit

Views: 674,881

Keywords: bon app on the line, bon appetit, bon appetit on the line, bon appétit, burma, burma food, burmese chef, burmese food, food, on the line, queens night market, queens night market dining, queens night market flushing, queens night market food, queens night market restaurant, queens night market vendors

Id: N4s4DEVAWRM

Length: 10min 39sec (639 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 06 2023