Burmese Chicken Curry (Gaeng Gai Bama)

SUBMITTED BY: Michelle Chen PHOTO BY: yummy4mytummy

"This is actually a northern Thai dish with a definite Burmese influence. I first ate it in a Burmese restaurant in Melbourne, Australia. I asked for the recipe and of course I didn't get it. I later experimented with some Thai recipes and came up with this final result. We really love this with steamed jasmine rice. It's quite a hot and spicy dish, so if you want it a bit mild, check the curry paste you use first. You can replace coconut milk with evaporated milk, but traditionally, coconut milk is a must."

PREP TIME	20 Min
COOK TIME	30 Min
READY IN	50 Min

SERVINGS & SCALING

Original recipe yield: 4 servings

USMETRIC

About scaling and conversions

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup vegetable oil
8 shallots, thinly sliced
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken meat, cut into large pieces
2 tablespoons red curry paste
1 tablespoon curry powder
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup pureed tomato
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon palm sugar
2 medium tomatoes, cut into wedges
1 bunch cilantro, chopped

READ REVIEWS (40)

DIRECTIONS

Heat the vegetable oil in a medium skillet over low heat, and stir fry the shallots until browned and tender. Drain, reserving the oil, and set aside.
Place the chicken in the skillet with the reserved oil, and stir in the curry paste and curry powder to evenly coat. Pour in enough water to cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover skillet, and simmer until the chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.
Stir the coconut milk, tomato puree, fish sauce, palm sugar, and 1/2 the tomato wedges into the skillet. Cook and stir over low heat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Mix in the remaining tomatoes, and continue cooking until tender. Top with cilantro and the fried shallots to serve.

ADVERTISE WITH US

REVIEWS

MORE MEMBER REVIEWS

Reviewed on Jan. 25, 2004 by LURK922

This is really good, though quite spicy. It all depends on the red curry paste you get, though. When I made it, my roommates and I had to eat slowly, drink water, and use a lot of rice. :0) In any case, definitely a good recipe. I replaced the palm sugar with brown sugar, the fish sauce with salt, and used a can of diced tomatoes for all the tomatoes in the recipe. Truthfully, the Shallots and Cilantro are garnish. If on a tight budget, eliminate them.

31 users found this review helpful

Reviewed on Apr. 1, 2005 by NEVADA753

I really like this recipe, it has a great balance of flavors the fried shallots really adds to it but if you dont have enough you can fry up crispy, some paper thin sliced onions. I have made this a few times with chicken and just tried it with baked firm tofu (30 min at 400 degrees) marinated with 6 tblsp. of soy sauce, 2 tsp of both honey and balsamic vinegar and a few cloves of garlic. My family especially my husband likes finely minced fresh jalapeno peppers in the dish. I dont use palm sugar, just reg. sugar. Thank you M. Chen for submitting this recipe which is now served frequently in my home.

6 users found this review helpful

Reviewed on Jan. 25, 2004 by DEBMCE4

I made mistakes with this one. Used small pieces of chicken, so I shouldn't have used so much water. Had to let the water boil off. I ended up adding more about another 1/2 cup of coconut milk (lite) and stirred the cilantro into the sauce. This was a bit salty, I would probably use a little less fish sauce next time. Still tasted great. Thanks for the recipe.

6 users found this review helpful

MORE MEMBER REVIEWS