Burmese curry refers to a diverse array of dishes in
Burmese cuisine that consist of protein or vegetables simmered or stewed in an aromatic curry base.[1] Burmese curries generally differ from other Southeast Asian
curries (e.g.,
Thai curry) in that Burmese curries make use of dried
spices in addition to fresh herbs and aromatics, and are often milder.[2] Burmese curries are readily available in curry houses throughout the country. They are traditionally accompanied with rice and a variety of side dishes, soups, and
Burmese salads called athoke. Burmese curries may also be paired with
Indian breads like
nanbya,
palata,
aloo puri, and
toshay.
The curry base and dried spices are then fried in heated oil, in a process called hsi that (ဆီသတ်,
lit.'to kill the oil'). Some Burmese curries also require the use of fresh herbs, such as
lemongrass,
curry leaf, pyindawthein, and fresh
tamarind paste.
Shan and
Kachin curries make more liberal use of fresh herbs such as
galangal and
sawtooth coriander,[1] while Mon curries often use
marian plum as a souring agent. Burmese curries are generally seasoned with
fish sauce, salt, and/or ngapi (fermented shrimp or fish paste), and are traditionally cooked in a blend of
peanut oil and
sesame oil.[3]
Terminology
The
Burmese language does not have a single word for "curry;" the closest approximation is the word hin (ဟင်း), which is used to describe most protein-based dishes eaten with rice.[5] Burmese curries can be generally categorized by cooking technique, incorporated ingredients, or region.
The most common variety is called hsibyan (ဆီပြန်;
lit.'oil returns'), which is typified by a layer of oil that separates from the gravy and meat after cooked.[6] The name itself refers to the cooking technique that is used. In hsibyan, the curry ingredients are simmered in a combination of water and oil until the water has completely boiled off, leaving a layer of oil that separates and rises to the top, which enables the raw and potent curry paste ingredients to properly blend and become milder in taste.[6][3] Another common variety of curries is called hnat (နှပ်;
lit.'tenderized'), in which gamier proteins like goat are braised or slowly simmered. The names of other Burmese curries are typically suffixed with –hin (–ဟင်း) or –chet (–ချက်).
List of Burmese curries
The repertoire of Burmese curries has not been codified. Common variations of Burmese curries are listed below.
Pork
Pork sibyan (ဝက်သားဆီပြန်) – classic Burmese curry with fatty cuts of pork[7]
Pork hnat (ဝက်သားနှပ်) – a sweetened pork curry braised with vinegar and soy sauce[8]
Pork and pickled mango curry (ဝက်သားသရက်သီးသနပ်ချက်) – a sour and sweet pork curry cooked with pickled mangoes
Pork tripe sibyan (ဝက်ကလီစာဆီပြန်) – a curry of pork intestines and viscera (kaliza)
Red braised pork curry (ဝက်သားနီချက်) – a sweet braised curry of caramelized pork belly and soy sauce[9] similar to Chinese
red braised pork belly
Fermented bean paste pork curry (ဝက်ပုန်းရည်ကြီး) – a curry of pork cooked with pon ye gyi (fermented bean paste)
Pork and bamboo shoot curry (ဝက်သားမျှစ်ချဉ်) – a sour curry of pork and pickled bamboo shoots[10]
Pork meatball sibyan (ဝက်သားလုံးဆီပြန်) – a curry of fried pork meatballs cooked in gravy
Fermented tea leaf pork hnat (ဝက်သားလက်ဖက်နှပ်) – a sour and spicy curry of pork braised with lahpet (pickled tea leaves)[11][12]
Poultry
Chicken sibyan (ကြက်သားဆီပြန်) – the classic Burmese curry, served with a thick gravy of aromatics[13][8]
Bachelor's chicken curry (ကြက်ကာလသားချက်) – a red and watery chicken curry cooked with
calabash[14][13]
Kachin-style chicken curry (ကြက်ကချင်ချက်) – an herbal curry of chicken cooked with basil, sawtooth coriander,
Vietnamese coriander, and dried metlin bark[15]
Mon-style chicken curry (ကြက်မွန်ချက်) – a watery chicken curry, cooked with dried
marian plum, lemongrass stalks and sawtooth coriander[16]
Chicken and potato curry (ကြက်သားဟင်း) – an Indian-inspired curry of chicken and potatoes cooked with a masala spice mix[17][8]
Chicken and chickpea curry (ကြက်သားကုလားပဲချက်)
Duck sibyan (ဘဲသားဆီပြန်) – a curry of duck cooked with dried spices (e.g., star anise or cumin), and served with a thick gravy of aromatics[18]
Goat and beef
Beef hnat (အမဲနှပ်) – a braised beef curry similar to Indonesian
rendang[8]
Goat hnat (ဆိတ်သားနှပ်) – a braised goat curry spiced with masala, cinnamon sticks, bay leaf, and cloves[19]
Khayan thi ngachauk chet (ခရမ်းသီးငါးခြောက်ချက်) –
aubergine cooked lightly with a small amount of oil, with dried fish and chilli
Kima palata (ကီးမားပလာတာ) – a paratha stuffed with curried
ground meat (keema)
Pyay palata (ပြည်ပလာတာ) – a salad of paratha, chicken and potato curry, and raw onions[25]
Tofu curry (တိုဟူးချက်) – Sliced
Burmese tofu curried with fresh tomatoes, onions and garlic, cooked in peanut oil and
fish sauce, and garnished with coriander and green chilli
Noodle curries
Specially prepared curries also form the base for several Burmese noodle dishes, including:
Ohn no khauk swe (အုန်းနို့ခေါက်ဆွဲ) – a coconut milk noodle soup, served in a broth of chicken curry
Shwedaung khauk swe (ရွှေတောင်ခေါက်ဆွဲ) – a dry noodle dish of egg noodles, served with chicken curry and coconut milk[13]
Nangyi thoke (နန်းကြီးသုပ်) – a salad of thick rice noodles, mixed with chicken curry and gravy
Panthay khauk swe (ပန်းသေးခေါက်ဆွဲ) – a fried noodle dish of Chinese Muslim origin, served with a chicken curry cooked in a blend of spices including
cardamom,
cloves,
star anise, and
bay leaf[26]
References
^
abcDuguid, Naomi (2012-11-27). Burma: Rivers of Flavor. Random House of Canada.
ISBN978-0-307-36217-9.