The Story Behind Thami Letto: 40 Years of Burmese Cooking in a Jar

Our Story ✦ Burmawala Kitchen

Thami Letto did not start as a product. It started as dinner. The same dinner, made the same way, in the same kitchen, for over 40 years. This is how it ended up in a jar.

The recipe came from my grandmother, who was born in Burma. Htamin Let Thok was the food of markets and morning kitchens there, of communal tables and quick meals made with care. My mother Aamna was born here in the UK and grew up eating it at home. Nothing was ever written down. She learned it by watching and tasting, then spent decades refining it into the version that goes into the jar today.

For decades it was family food. A meal s he made when she wanted something real, something that tasted of home. Guests ate it and asked for the recipe. Friends asked if she could make extra. For years the answer was simply, come round and I will make it for you.

Why We Decided to Bottle It

The honest answer is that it was too good to keep to ourselves. Every time Aamna made a batch the response was the same. Eyes closing, spoons scraping the bowl, requests for more. The kind of reaction that eventually makes you think, other people should be able to eat this.

Husain had spent over a decade building businesses, learning how to take something with real quality and find the people who would appreciate it. The conversation about Thami Letto as a proper product had been circling for years. Eventually it stopped circling and became a plan.

We spent months working on the recipe for production. Not changing it, because the recipe did not need changing. Working out how to make it consistently, in larger quantities, in a way that preserved everything that made it special. The crunch. The depth. The balance of the spices. The way the oil carries the flavour into every grain of rice.

The Two Versions

We make a fish version and a vegan version. The fish version is the original. Sardines, fish sauce, roasted peanuts, sesame seeds, gram flour, fried onions, sunflower oil, lime juice and Burmese spices. It is the version closest to what Aamna has been making for 40 years and the one that first made people ask if they could buy a jar.

The vegan version came from listening to our customers. A significant number of people who loved the idea of Thami Letto could not eat the fish version. We did not want to make a compromised substitute. We went back into the kitchen and built a vegan version that stood completely on its own terms, doubling the peanut and sesame base to compensate for the depth the fish ingredients provide. The result is bolder and nuttier than the original. Some people prefer it.

Who We Are

Where We Are Going

We are a small, independent business making everything by hand in Hackney. Every jar is made in small batches. We check every batch. We do not cut corners on ingredients because we eat this ourselves and we know what it is supposed to taste like.

Our ambition is simple. We want Thami Letto to become as familiar in British kitchens as chilli crisp. We want people who have never heard of Burmese food to fall in love with it through a jar. I want my mother's recipe, her own mother's version refined over more than 40 years of cooking, to find its way into as many kitchens as possible.

• The Beginning

  The recipe comes from my grandmother, born in Burma. My mother Aamna, born in the UK, learns it at home and refines it over decades in her kitchen in Hackney.

• The Idea

  After years of guests asking if they can buy a jar, the conversation about making Thami Letto a real product becomes a plan.

• The Product

  Months of kitchen work to perfect production. The fish version launches first, followed by the vegan version built from scratch to stand on its own terms.

• Right Now

  22 five star reviews. Two versions. Still made by hand in Hackney. Still the same recipe. Still every bit as good as it was the first time Aamna made it.

We are proud of what is in the jar. We are prouder still of where it came from. A mother and son business, built with their own hands, and 40 years of cooking in every single one.