Burmese Beef and Potato Curry... A recession journey to the Exotic!

Okay yall so for starters, lets just put the definition of a curry out there before you begin.

Curry (IPA: /ˈkʌri/) is a generic description used throughout European and American culture to describe a general variety of spiced dishes, best known in South Asian cuisines, especially Indian cuisine. Curry is a generic term and although there is no one specific attribute that marks a dish as "curry", some distinctive spices used in many curry dishes include turmeric, cumin, coriander, fenugreek, and red pepper. The word curry is an anglicised version of the Tamil word khari (கறி ),[1] which is usually understood to mean "gravy" or "sauce" rather than "spices" (Wikipedia)

All that to say: this curry is not what Americans are used to when they order a “curry” dish. Curries vary plenty and this one in particular is more like a brown gravy…. But it’s still loverly. Even if you find this one is not what you expected (or more work for what you got in the end) it’s got a little extra “something”, and you can still say you made a traditional Burmese Curry. Who gets to say that, huh? Once you do it you’ll know some of the general process/ingredients to make these dishes, and you’ll see that you can mix and match-- making it how you like it!

P.s. Did you know that traditional Thai Curry is NOT vegetarian, how else did you think they got it to taste so damn good? Why you ask? Shrimp or Fish paste! If you purchase some pre-packaged Thai Curry that says its Vegetarian, double check the package. If you have it at a restaurant ask your server if there is a veggie option…

Anyway, this comes to us from a cookbook that I was super excited about finding, but a little intimidated to use because many of the ingredients are foreign. BUT! That was the point. You know when you go out and find a cookbook with Asian recipes? You know how they are usually dumbed down for American consumption? Yeah. No thanks. I found a rather in depth cookbook, with tons of recipes AND! They are from many regions of Asia with explanations, definitions, preparation, equivalents, and substitutions. Countries including: India + Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia + Laos, Vietnam, The Philippines, China, Korea, and Japan. Awesome. It’s called, “The Complete Asian Cookbook” by Charmaine Solomon, first published in 1976, and in 1992 in the U.S. There are pictures too for many of the recipes so I say start simple and have no fear!

Here’s what you need (all spices can be found at the Dekalb Farmer’s Market for cheap):

1 ½ beef (preferably flank or if you’re looking for cheaper, sirloin. Usually if you see meat labeled as “stir fry” at the grocery, it’s some type of sirloin and is cheaper because it’s precut --loosing good juices, and tougher in general-- it’s good to tenderize it with your mallet just for general purposes, so just do it anyway k?)

2 medium sized potatoes (12 oz)

2 large Onions

5 large garlic cloves

2 tsp ginger

1 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp hot chili powder, or fresh chili depending on how hot you’d like it. (be careful, read the heat chart!)

8 tbsp light sesame oil or corn oil

½ tsp ground cumin

½ tsp ground coriander

1 ½ tsp salt or to taste

2 cups water

Food Processor

Large Heavy frying pan

Microplane Grater

Cooking Mallet

*Special notes: Generic Asian sesame oil you find in the grocery is usually the dark stuff. If you are using this trade every tsp of dark sesame for the other oil you’re using. Example 4 tsp dark sesame oil + 4 tsp veg or corn oil for this recipe.

Tenderize your meat with a mallet. If you’re ghetto, or gave it away because you couldn’t figure out what the hell “that thing” was, you can use a hammer (hahah). A tip for this would be to remember to take a little saran wrap to wrap it up in before you pound… keeps your kitchen from looking like a crime scene under black lights… ew.

If not already in strips or pieces cut up your steak and then rub in the coriander, and cumin, it can sit in the meantime.

On a separate or thoroughly washed board, take your onion and garlic, and rough chop for the food processor. Then process it into a paste.

Take a small nub or 2 of ginger peel it with a peeler to get rid of the skin and grate it with a microplane grater or if you don’t have one you’ll have to settle for a tiny chop. Add that to the food processor. You want the mixture to be mush. Now add in the turmeric and hot chili powder, just mix in with a spoon. (know that if you just get generic labeled “chili powder” its not going to be hot)

While doing the onion mix you can chop up your potatoes into cubes too..

The aromatic part!

Take your oil, and put it on high in a pan (you need it hot, but you want to be sure to get to it before it smokes or gets too rippley, or popping--- don’t start a fire---. Have a top ready as a shield just incase. Put in your Onion mixture, hold up the pan cover just incase- hopefully you’ll watch your oil closely and won’t have much too violent of a sizzle.

Turn the heat down a little after the initial rough sizzle, and watch it mixing frequently but covered to keep in as much moisture as possible. If it starts to stick or burn add water to just moisten and stir. Let this cook for at least 15 minutes. This is step one of the traditional Burmese Curry and according to the book is very important. This is how you get rid of some of the strength and mellow the flavor to the point of the right consistency. I’d say just be sure to watch it. The book mentions watching for the oil to collect around the edges, but I wasn’t too sure what I was looking for so I just made sure it didn’t burn and stayed moist without being soupy. By the end it was kinda like a thick moist paste.

The book says to fry down the meat with the mixture in the pan before adding 2 cups of water, but I decided it might be safer to remove the paste, fry the meat and then add it back since I wanted to be sure to get a crust on the beeves without worrying about the paste burning!

Good tips: Can’t figure out why your beef was giggly last time; OR what happened to the good brown crust and gravy??

Well here’s why… when you fry meat you need to use cooking oil aka a “fat” or a fat; (traditional Burmese says no animal fat, btw) so in this case oil—a “fat”! You also need to get rid of any excess water on the meat, so if it came in contact with water, blot it with a paper towel to remove excess liquid. This is what creates that loverly brown crust when combined with a high heat! So without splattering yourself add the meat before the oil pops but is “moving” nicely. Let it sit and when it is crusted it will unstuck itself! Bet you didn’t know that… obviously watch it so it doesn’t burn, duh. After you’ve gotten it to where you have a good crust to your liking, add back the onion mixture paste you removed earlier, pour in your water, and scrape up the good brown bits from the bottom of the pan.

Put in your chopped potatoes, and cover! Maybe about 15 minutes will do the trick. Your sauce will thicken and brown, and your potatoes will be soft soon so just check to be sure. I added a couple sliced white mushrooms just because I had them. Couldn’t hurt right. And as with many good Asian dishes, I made some jasmine rice to go with it. Berry Berry Good. Thank You for this intro the exotic Mrs. Charmaine!

Pps… I actually made some Mustard Greens to go with this. Kind of my own mixed up version of the Saravanna Bhavan entry. Maybe we’ll save that one for next time!