burma

Jim Thompson and the Burmese Kalaga

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Jim Thompson was an American expat living in Thailand.  During World War II he worked for Office of Strategic Services (OSS).  He was a spy.  He arrived in Bangkok shortly after the end of the war to organize and open the OSS office there.  In Bangkok he worked with Kenneth Landon who was first a missionary in Thailand and then was hired to work for the OSS.  Kenneth’s wife, Margaret, lived with him in Thailand and wrote the book “Anna and the King of Siam” which was also made into the musical, “The King and I”.

By 1948, Jim Thompson had left the OSS and become interested in Thai silk.  He formed the Thai Silk Company and his goal was to revitalize the industry.  In 1951 designer Irene Sheraff was designing costumes for the Rogers and Hammerstein musical “The King and I” and decided to use silk from Thompson’s Thai Silk Company.  That was what he needed.  He was a success!  Jim Thompson’s company and the Thai silk industry is thriving to this day.

At one point he thought it would be a good idea to go into Burma and try to revitalize their silk industry as well.  He did not have much luck but there he discovered the royal Kalagas.  These were heavily embroidered tapestries made for the royal palaces of Burma.  The last King of Burma, Thibaw Min, was persuaded to abdicate by the British when they took over the country in 1885.  Some of the tapestries have been around for 150 years.

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Jim Thompson had several of the Kalagas copied and sold them in his shop.  During this time, the late 1950’s, my family was living in Burma and knew all about of Mr Thompson and his silk shop.  They purchased one of these tapestries and it hangs in my parents’ living room to this day.  It is beautiful.

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In 1967 Thompson took a trip to the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia on holiday and mysteriously disappeared.  There was an extensive search made but nothing was found.  Nobody knows what happened to him or why.  There is much speculation around him and his disappearance.

He left a house he had designed full of art and antiques from Southeast Asia.  It is now a museum open to the public.

Food Friday: Burmese Chicken Curry

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Back in March I wrote about a cookbook my mother had worked on when we lived in Burma in the post,  The Lady.  The Rangoon International Cook Book is dated 1954.

Aung San Suu Kyi is much in the news now as being the “unofficial” leader of her country.  She stood by her beliefs and suffered for many years under house arrest because she longed to see Burma free.  She comes by it naturally.  Her father was the founder of the Burmese army and negotiated independence from the British Empire.  Burma was the first country to leave the Empire.  He was assassinated the same year they gained independence.  Her mother, Daw Khin Kyi, became Chairman of the Social Planning Commission for the Union of Burma under the newly formed Burmese government and later was sent to India and Nepal as the Burmese ambassador.

Daw Khin Kyi also found time to donate some of her recipes to my mother’s cookbook.

Chicken Curry (Burmese)

2 chickens 65 ticals (2.5 lbs each)

0.5 cup vegetable oil

3 chillies

3 cloves garlic

3 small onions

1 tsp salt

1 tsp curry powder

1 tablespoon Chinese soy sauce

5 cups water

pinch of saffron powder

3 bay leaves

1 stick cinnamon

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Have chickens cleaned and drawn.  Cut into suitable sizes.  (I bought a cut up chicken.)

Mix saffron powder, curry powder, and Chinese sauce, and rub into the chicken.

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Grind chillies, garlic and onions till a paste  is formed.  (Use red chilies if you can find them. )

Fry in cooked oil till brown.  Add spiced meat and cook till it sizzles.

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Add 5 cups water.  Throw in 3 bay leaves and stick of cinnamon.  Simmer till tender, when the water should be reduced to half.

Serve with fruit and/or chutney.

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Food Friday: Dahl Soup

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I was little I lived in Burma and had an Indian nanny.  She was a Catholic and her name was Mary.  She spoiled me.  One of my favorite foods was dahl soup. I could eat it every day.  When the rest of the family was eating something I didn’t like, she make me dahl soup.  I have no idea what her recipe was but here is mine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dahl Soup

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, diced

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Put a tablespoon of oil into a pot and add onion and garlic

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cut up half a potato, skinned and add to the pot (or you can use a carrot)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once the onion is soft add

4 cups broth

1.5 cups dahl (lentils)

Add 1 tsp diced fresh ginger

2 tsp curry powder

1 tsp cumin

 

Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Allow to cool a bit and pour soup into a blender or use a hand blender until smooth

Return to the pot and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste

If it is too thick, add some water

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add some chicken if you like

Enjoy!

 

 

The Lady

“The Lady”, the movie, is to be released in the USA April 13, 2012. It is already out in other parts of the world. It is the story Aung San Suu Kyi and her husband Michael Aris.
I can hardly wait!!!

Aung San Suu Kyi spent over 20 years in house arrest off and on in a house on University Avenue Road overlooking Inya Lake in Rangoon, Burma. We lived on the same street just down the road. Much earlier, of course. When the coup came in 1962 and Burma was overtaken by military dictatorship we lived next door to the former president. His son was shot in a struggle during the coup. We heard the gunshots without knowing what was happening.

Burma has had hard times since that fateful evening. It went from being one of the richest nations in Asia to one of the poorest. Now the elections are in April, Suu is out of house arrest and up for election. Hilary Clinton, US Secretary of State, has been on an official visit – first time in 50 years such a thing has happened. Things are starting to look up. Let’s hope it continues and all of Suu’s sacrifices finally pay off!

I was born in Rangoon, Burma. That was before it was called Myanmar. My mother knew Aung San Suu Kyi’s mother when they worked together on an International Cookbook. Her mother donated her favorite entertaining menu and recipes.

“Burmese Meal for Guests
Mrs. Aung San has this Burmese menu for her company luncheons and dinners, because these are the dishes she has found her friends and guests like most. Like many distinguished women with very public careers, she finds delight in domestic arts and skills.

White Pumpkin Broth
Fish Lethoke salad
Prawn Curry
Balachuang
Chicken Curry
Mixed Vegetables
Fried White Gourd
Coconut Rice
Sago Sweet”

The cookbook was published in 1954 and has lots of fabulous ads in it.

Coconut Rice

Serves 8

Ingredients
5 cups rice
3 coconuts
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp sugar
1/3 tsp salt
2 onions

Grate the flesh of 3 coconuts. Pour some hot water and squeeze the milk through thin muslin. Repeat till all the milk is extracted. Wash rice thoroughly. Put rice into pot. Add this milk until it stands ¾ inch above the rice. Peel, quarter and wash the onions. Add to the rice, oil, sugar, salt and onions. Stir till well mixed. Cook till the milk is evaporated and the rice tender.

Today you could probably just buy coconut milk, eh?