Chet-tha Hsi-byan

Burmese Chicken Curry

This curry has quickly become one of my favorites. The recipe is from The Encyclopedia of Asian cooking.

Ingredients

1 chicken weighing 3-3.5 lbs( 1.5kg ) chopped into pieces
2 tbls soy sauce
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
3 medium onions
4 garlic cloves
1 inch (2.5 cm) piece of fresh ginger
1-2 tsp chili powder
5 tbls vegetable oil
3 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick

Method

Put the chicken in a bowl with the soy sauce, salt and turmeric and mix well.

Pound 1 onion and 3 garlic cloves (I used my food processor) mix with the ginger (pealed and pounded) and chili powder, then rub into chicken.

Slice the remaining onions and garlic thinly. Heat the oil in a large pan, add the onions and garlic and fry gently for 5-10 minutes. Add the chicken and any of the remaining pounded mixture. Brown the chicken on medium high heat.

Add the bay leaves, cinnamon and enough water (I used chicken stock ) to just cover the chicken. Increase the heat and bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 35 minutes until the oil has risen to the surface, leaving a thick curry sauce underneath. Serve hot with rice.