Burmese Fish Curry #FishFridayFoodies

Burmese Fish Curry begins with an aromatic cayenne spiked curry paste made onions, garlic and ginger. Lemongrass stalks are added while the sauce slowly simmers. Finally, the fish joins the pot, cooking slowly in the fragrant sauce.

Burmese curry does not use spices, just a paste made of onions, garlic and ginger, cooked until fragrant and then reddened with cayenne and paprika or annato. For chicken curry, you add cinnamon sticks when cooking. For fish curry, you can add fish sauce, tomatoes and lightly crushed lemon grass stalks.

Burmese Fish Curry 

I learned this recipe from my Burmese friend and excellent cook, Ma Toe. I was blessed to get to know her when we lived across the street from each other in Brazil. I never wrote it down way back then but have cooked it from memory for years. This is the first time I've put the recipe down.

Ingredients
For the paste (enough for 3 pots of curry -makes 3 1/2 cups or 825g- freeze the balance):
4 large onions
2-3 normal heads of garlic or 4-5 small ones
About 5-6 inches of fresh ginger
1/2 cup or 120ml canola or other light cooking oil plus a little for the pot
1-2 teaspoons cayenne
2-3 teaspoons paprika or ground annato

Find instructions for the paste here: https://www.foodlustpeoplelove.com/2018/09/burmese-curry-paste.html

For the fish curry:
2 lbs or 900g fish (or substitute shelled shrimp or prawns)
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
Black pepper
2 good serving spoons Burmese curry paste (1/3 of recipe above or about 275g)
4-5 medium tomatoes (about 1 3/4 lbs or 800g)
2 stalks lemon grass
Good handful cilantro or fresh coriander

Optional for serving: steamed white rice and lime slices

Tip: You can use boneless fish, cut into chunks, if you prefer but fish with bones will add more flavor.

Method
Make your curry paste according to the instructions in this post. It makes enough for three pots of curry - chicken, seafood or vegetable - so you'll freeze the balance.

Season your fish with the fish sauce, black pepper and turmeric. (This can even be done earlier, while your paste is cooking, if you are making it fresh that day. In that case, refrigerate the fish until you are ready to add it in.)

Put one third of your Burmese curry paste into a large pan and warm it through. Chop the tomatoes and add them to the pot.

Give the bottom of the lemon grass stalks a good bash with a hammer or your pestle. You want to bruise and crush them a little so they can release their flavor but you want them all in one piece so they can be removed later.

Add the lemon grass stalks and about 2 cups or 480ml water to the pot.

Cook, covered, for about 20-30 minutes over a low fire. Stir the curry sauce occasionally. After the 20-30 minutes is up, add in the pieces of fish, working them under the sauce.

Cook, covered, until the fish is done, stirring occasionally, perhaps another 20-25 minutes.

Meanwhile, chop your cilantro.

Once the fish is cooked through, check the seasoning and add more fish sauce or a little salt, if necessary. Remove the lemongrass stalks and discard. Top the Burmese fish curry with the chopped cilantro.

 Serve with steamed white rice and slices of lime, if desired.

We also add in more pepper in the form of my homemade pepper sauce. Enjoy!

This month my Fish Friday Foodies are cooking up seafood stews at the behest of our talented host Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla. Check out the great recipes everyone is sharing:

An InLinkz Link-up

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Burmese Curry Paste

This Burmese curry paste recipe is the spicy base for all chicken, fish or vegetable curries, according to my Burmese friend, Ma Toe, an excellent cook. It makes enough for three pots of curry so you make it once and freeze the balance. A brilliantly efficient way of cooking.

Burmese curry does not use spices, just a paste made of onions, garlic and ginger, cooked until fragrant and then reddened with cayenne and paprika or annato. For chicken curry, you add cinnamon sticks when cooking. For fish curry, you add tomatoes and lightly crushed lemon grass stalks.

Burmese Curry Paste

I love using this curry paste for a hybrid Indian/Burmese potato curry as well. The sauce is the best!

Ingredients
4 large onions
2-3 normal heads of garlic or 4-5 small ones
About 5-6 inches of fresh ginger
1/2 cup or 120ml canola or other light cooking oil plus a little for the pot
1-2 teaspoons cayenne
2-3 teaspoons of paprika or ground annato

Method
Peel your garlic or buy fresh already peeled. Do not use garlic paste or chopped garlic in a jar. They have other ingredients to keep the garlic from discoloring which add a weird flavor. I spread newspaper on my coffee table and watch TV while I peel. Goes quick.

Peel your ginger and chop it finely.

Peel your onions and chop them into quarters or eighths.

Put the whole lot into a blender with the canola and 1 cup or 240ml of water. Here Ma Toe would use just oil so don't tell her about my substitution with water. Her paste is richer and her curry gets a dark red slick of oil on top when it is cooked. Divine but not as healthy. Shh. (Feel free to use all oil if calories are not an issue for you. Seriously, much richer!)

It may not all fit at once so put what you can and blend for minute or two then add in the rest. Blend until you have a smooth paste, turning the blender off and pushing the bits down occasionally.

Heat up a little more canola oil in your pot and then pour in the paste.

Cook and cook and cook, stirring occasionally. It turns green as you cook it which is pretty cool, since you put nothing green in there. I don’t know why that always fascinates me. Like magic.

Once I asked Ma Toe how to know it was ready and she said, “When it doesn’t smell like onions anymore.” I’d say about 20-30 minutes will do it.

Now add the cayenne and paprika (or annato.) Cook a little longer and stir thoroughly until the color changes.

Now we are looking more like curry! If you like spicy, you can add even more cayenne.

This is going to be enough paste for three pots of curry so let it cool a little. Save it divided in three bags and pop it in your freezer.

Check out my Burmese Chicken Curry recipe here!

And last Friday, I posted my Burmese Fish Curry recipe too. So good!

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Spicy Beef Curry Calzones #BakingBloggers

Spicy Beef Curry Calzones feature a thick rich beef curry inside and a soft naan bread outside. They are like eating your curry by scooping it up with naan, but in a less messy, more portable way.

This month our theme for Baking Bloggers is, you might have guessed, calzones. If I can be honest, I was sorely tempted to call these guys Spicy Beef Curry Naan-zones. But I was afraid no one would know what I meant.

Sure, I could have made a calzone with a more traditional Italian filling, as some of my fellow bloggers have done - and they all sound delicious! Make sure to scroll to the bottom of this post to see the list. But everything you see on this blog is made in my kitchen and consumed by my family or friends. (And occasionally the folks at my husband’s office.) And I really, really felt like eating curry!

Spicy Beef Curry Calzones or Naan-zones

Nothing fancy about the spicy beef curry, except the addition of carrots and peas because I love the pops of color in the deep red sauce. (And we should all eat more peas.) The outer bread itself is made by adapting my favorite naan bread recipe so this is a traditional combo, just put together in a non-traditional way, probably offending both Italian and Indian mamas. I'm sorry (not sorry) they are so good!

Ingredients - for 8 calzones
For the beef curry:
4 oz or 120ml all butter ghee or sub a light oil like canola
1 lb or 450g tender beef, cut in 1 in or 2cm cubes
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
3 cardamom pods
1 short stick cinnamon (3 in or 8cm) or 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 medium onion, peeled and minced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 14oz /400g can chopped tomatoes
1 medium carrot, peeled and cut in pea sized cubes
1 medium potato, peeled and cubed
1/2 cup or 60g frozen peas, thawed
salt
pinch sugar

For the naan dough:
1  (.25 ounce or 7g) package active dry yeast
1 3/4 cups or 415ml warm water
1/8 cup or 25g sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 1/2 - 5 cups or 560-625g flour
1/4 cup or 60g butter or ghee, melted

Method
Heat a lidded frying pan over a medium heat and add the ghee or oil. Fry the meat cubes in batched until lightly browned on all sides, then remove from the pan with a slotted spoon, cover and set aside.

Add the spices and fry for 1 minute making sure you just toast them. Don't let them burn! Add the onion and garlic to the pan and cook over a low heat until soft.

Return the beef to the pan, add the can of tomatoes and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down and simmer, covered, for about 1 hour, or until the meat is tender.

Add the potato and carrot about halfway through the cooking time. Right at the end, add the peas. Season with salt and sugar to taste when done.  Set aside to cool. Once cool, fish through the curry and remove the cinnamon stick, if using, and cardamom pods. No one wants to bite into them in the middle of a lovely calzone.

Meanwhile, get on with making the naan dough.

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water with one teaspoon of the sugar. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy. (If it doesn't foam up, your yeast is dead. Buy some more and start again.)

Stir in the rest of the sugar, milk, egg, salt, and enough flour to make a soft dough. You may not use all of the flour.

Knead for 6 to 8 minutes on a lightly floured surface, or until smooth. Place dough in a well-oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise.

Let it rise 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in volume. Punch down dough. Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces. Roll them into balls, and place on a floured tray or plate.

Sprinkle lightly with flour. Cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.

Near the end of the second rising, preheat your oven to 375°F or 190°C and line your baking pans with baking parchment or silicone liners.

Roll one ball of dough out into a thin circle about 8 1/2 in or 22cm across. Dampen the edges of the circle with water using your clean hands or a pastry brush. Put about 1/2 cup or 125g of cooled spicy beef curry on one side of the circle.

Gently lift the other side up and over, pressing the air out as you stick the edges of the two halves together.

Starting on one side of the semi circle, crimp the edges to seal the calzones. Continue until all of the calzones have been filled and formed.

Transfer the calzones to your baking trays, leaving enough room between them so that they can rise while baking. (I was overly cautious and put two to a pan but truly, three would have fit.) Brush the tops lightly with melted ghee or butter.

Bake in your preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown and puffed.

Enjoy!

Many thanks to this month's host (and organizer) of Baking Bloggers, Sue of Palatable Pastime. Check out all the lovely calzones we are sharing this month.

• 100% Whole Wheat Veggie Calzone by Sneha's Recipe
• All Mixed Up Calzone by Sid's Sea Palm Cooking
• Calzoni Quattro Stagioni by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Classic Ham and Ricotta Calzone by Palatable Pastime
• Loaded Vegetable Calzone by Hardly A Goddess
• Mushroom Spinach and Goat Cheese Calzone by Our Good Life
• Spicy Beef Curry Calzones by Food Lust People Love
• Spinach, Ricotta, and Three-Meat Calzone by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Toddler Friendly Calzones by A Day in the Life on the Farm

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