Burmese Chicken

Burmese chicken

“Owing to the geographic location of Myanmar, Burmese cuisine has been influenced by Chinese cuisine, Indian cuisine and Thai cuisine…”

Stop. Right. There.

Say no more. Mission accomplished. I, for one, am sold.

It has to be noted that we were probably predisposed towards liking Burmese cuisine by virtue of having a Burmese cat, a beautiful, chocolate coloured feline lunatic named Buster.

The divine smell of this dish, no doubt aided and abetted by the various contented, slurping noises we were making, proved too much of a temptation for the little chap.

Using the kind of stealth and agility normally only wielded by seasoned Ninja assassins, he actually managed to help himself to a sauce-soaked serving of chicken skin.

Now, unless his breed has been secretly engineered to withstand the rigours of spicy food, and I strongly suspect it hasn’t, then this wee act of banditry is probably something he’s going to regret during the course of today.

Burmese chicken – great for humans, not so great for wikkle puddy-tats.

Even Burmese ones….

• Servings: 4
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Ingredients

• 1.5kg chicken pieces
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• a 2 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• 5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• ½ tsp ground cardamom
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 2 sticks of cinnamon
• 2 stalks of lemon grass, cut into thirds and lightly bruised
• 4 small bay leaves
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• coconut oil

Method

• Place the ground turmeric, extra hot chilli powder, ground cardamom, ground cumin, ground coriander, ground ginger, and salt and black pepper in a small bowl. Add just enough water to produce a thin paste. Stir well, and set aside.
• Heat 4 tbsp of coconut oil over medium heat in a large non-stick pan. Stir fry the onion until it starts to soften, about 5 minutes or so.
• Add the fresh ginger and garlic, and continue to stir fry for a further 3 minutes.
• Add the water and spice mixture, and stir fry for 1 minute. Add the lemon grass, cinnamon stick, and bay leaves, stir well, and continue to stir fry for a further 2 minutes.
• Add the chicken pieces to the pan. Stir well to coat the chicken with the vegetables, herbs, and spices. Add just enough water to cover the chicken.
• Stir well, and bring the contents of the pan up to a low simmer. Cook, uncovered, for about 50 minutes, or until the chicken is tender, turning the chicken once during cooking.
• Serve, together with a side of cauliflower rice.