Burmese curry facts for kids
A traditional meal featuring several Burmese curries.
|
|
| Type | Curry |
|---|---|
| Course | Entree |
| Place of origin | Myanmar (Burma) |
| Associated national cuisine | Burmese cuisine |
| Serving temperature | Hot or room temperature |
| Main ingredients | Curry base (onions, garlic, chilis, ginger, and turmeric), meat, seafood, vegetables |
| Variations | Many; see list below |
Burmese curry is a type of dish from Myanmar (also known as Burma). It's made with meat or vegetables cooked in a flavorful sauce. These curries are a bit different from other curries you might know, like Thai curry. They often use dried spices along with fresh herbs, and they are usually milder in taste.
You can find Burmese curries in many restaurants across Myanmar. People usually eat them with rice and lots of side dishes. These sides can include soups and special Burmese salads called athoke. Sometimes, people also enjoy Burmese curries with flatbreads like nanbya (similar to naan), palata (like Paratha), or aloo puri.
Contents
What's in a Burmese Curry?
Most Burmese curries start with a special base. This base is made from fresh ingredients like onions, shallots, garlic, chili peppers, ginger, and turmeric powder.
They also use dried spices such as paprika and chili powder. Sometimes, they add spice mixes like garam masala, which Burmese people just call masala. This masala mix often has ground cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and black pepper.
How They Cook It
The curry base and dried spices are often fried in hot oil. This cooking step is called hsi that, which means "to kill the oil." It helps the flavors blend and become milder.
Some Burmese curries also use fresh herbs. These can include lemongrass, curry leaves, and fresh tamarind paste. People from the Shan and Kachin regions use even more fresh herbs like galangal.
Burmese curries are usually seasoned with fish sauce, salt, or ngapi. Ngapi is a paste made from fermented shrimp or fish. Traditionally, these curries are cooked in a mix of peanut oil and sesame oil.
Curry Names and Styles
The Burmese language doesn't have one word for "curry." Instead, they use the word hin (ဟင်း) for dishes with meat or protein eaten with rice. Burmese curries are often named by how they are cooked or what ingredients are used.
One very common type is called sibyan (ဆီပြန်). This name means "oil returns." It's called this because, during cooking, a layer of oil separates from the sauce and meat. This happens when the water boils away, leaving the oil on top. This method helps the strong curry paste flavors mix well and become softer.
Another common type is hnat (နှပ်), which means "tenderized." This style is used for meats that need to cook slowly, like goat. Other Burmese curries often have -hin or -chet at the end of their names.
List of Burmese Curries
There are many different kinds of Burmese curries. Here are some popular ones:
Pork Curries
- Pork sibyan (ဝက်သားဆီပြန်): A classic Burmese curry made with fatty cuts of pork.
- Pork hnat (ဝက်သားနှပ်): A sweet pork curry cooked slowly with vinegar and soy sauce.
- Pork and pickled mango curry (ဝက်သားသရက်သီးသနပ်ချက်): A mix of sour and sweet flavors with pork and pickled mangoes.
- Pork and bamboo shoot curry (ဝက်သားမျှစ်ချဉ်): A sour curry with pork and pickled bamboo shoots.
Chicken Curries
- Chicken sibyan (ကြက်သားဆီပြန်): The most famous Burmese chicken curry, with a thick, flavorful sauce.
- Kachin-style chicken curry (ကြက်ကချင်ချက်): An herbal chicken curry from the Kachin region, made with basil and other herbs.
- Chicken and potato curry (ကြက်သားဟင်း): A curry inspired by Indian flavors, with chicken and potatoes cooked in a spice mix.
Beef and Goat Curries
- Beef hnat (အမဲနှပ်): A slow-cooked beef curry, similar to a dish called rendang from Indonesia.
- Goat hnat (ဆိတ်သားနှပ်): A slow-cooked goat curry spiced with masala, cinnamon, and cloves.
Fish and Seafood Curries
- Fried fish curry (ငါးကြော်ချက်): A curry made with deep-fried fish pieces and tomatoes.
- Prawn sibyan (ပုစွန်ဆီပြန်): A curry with whole prawns cooked in a rich sibyan sauce.
- Eel sibyan (ငါးရှဉ့်ဆီပြန်): A curry made with eel.
Other Curries
- Egg curry (ဘဲဥချဥ်ရည်ဟင်း): A sour curry made with hardboiled duck or chicken eggs, cooked in tamarind paste and mashed tomatoes.
- Eggplant curry (ခရမ်းသီးချက်): A curry of slow-cooked eggplants and tomatoes.
- Roselle curry (ချဉ်ပေါင်ချက်): A sour curry made with roselle leaves, bamboo shoots, and dried shrimp.
- Tofu curry (တိုဟူးချက်): Sliced Burmese tofu cooked with fresh tomatoes, onions, and garlic.
Noodle Curries
Some special curries are used as the base for delicious Burmese noodle dishes:
- Ohn no khauk swe (အုန်းနို့ခေါက်ဆွဲ): A creamy coconut milk noodle soup with chicken curry.
- Nangyi thoke (နန်းကြီးသုပ်): A salad of thick rice noodles mixed with chicken curry and gravy.
- Panthay khauk swe (ပန်းသေးခေါက်ဆွဲ): A fried noodle dish with chicken curry, often spiced with cardamom and cloves.
