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
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.
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.
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.
