Spiced pork with green mango (wettha thayet thi chet)

Appearing widely in our research for this dish, the following rhyme is a neat summary of Burmese cookery: ‘Of all the fruit, the mango is best; of all the meat, pork is best; and of all the leaves, lahpet’s (fermented tea leaf) the best.’ Mango is used in this pork curry to add flavour and to help tenderise the meat, while shredded green mango also makes a piquant accompaniment as a salad. Often flavoured with ground dried shrimp, shrimp paste and fish sauce, it provides a wonderfully salty-sour counterpoint to the rich pork.