Burmese Curry: How It Differs From Indian Curry

A Burmese curry looks familiar if you know Indian food, but it cooks differently. It starts with onion, garlic and ginger, uses fewer ground spices, and is simmered until the oil rises and sits on top. Here is what makes a curry Burmese, and the three Aamna cooks at home.

Burmese curry at a glance

The base is a paste of onion, garlic, ginger and chilli, often blended
Turmeric and paprika or chilli give colour, with a lighter hand on ground spices than most Indian curries
Curries are cooked until the water has gone and the oil separates, a style called hsibyan, meaning the oil returns
Fish sauce, salt or fermented fish paste do the seasoning
A curry is eaten with rice, a soup and a salad on the side

How a Burmese curry is made

Most Burmese curries follow the same steps. Onions, garlic, ginger and chilli are pounded or blended into a paste and fried in oil. The meat or fish goes in with turmeric and paprika or chilli, plus a little water. Then it simmers until the liquid has cooked away and the oil comes back to the surface.

That layer of oil on top is the point, not a mistake. It carries the flavour, and it is the thing people notice first. The name for this style, hsibyan, means the oil returns.

When ground spices are used, they tend to be the warm ones: cinnamon or cassia, cardamom, cloves and black pepper. Seasoning comes from fish sauce, salt or ngapi, a fermented fish or shrimp paste. Many Burmese curries skip coconut milk altogether and rely on the oil for richness.

How Burmese curry differs from Indian and Thai curry

	Burmese	Indian	Thai
Base	Onion, garlic, ginger and chilli paste	Onion and tomato masala with ground spices	Fresh herb and chilli paste
Spices	Turmeric, paprika, a few warm spices	Wide range of whole and ground spices	Mostly fresh herbs
Richness	Oil that separates on top	Ghee, oil, cream or yoghurt	Usually coconut milk
Seasoning	Fish sauce, salt or fish paste	Salt	Fish sauce

Burma has a long established Indian community, so the line between the two is blurry in real kitchens. Aamna is of Burmese-Indian heritage, and her curries sit between the two. Some use curry leaves and a tadka, and all of them are eaten the Burmese way, with rice and something crunchy on the side.

Burmese curries to make at home

Burmese

3 Jul 2024 3 min read

Burmese Braised Beef Curry (Amè Hnat)

Amè hnat, a traditional Burmese braised beef curry: marinated beef cooked slowly until meltingly tender.

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Burmese

19 Jun 2024 2 min read

Burmese Fish Curry with Brown Buttered Rice

A spiced Burmese coley fish curry served with brown buttered rice. Comforting and full of flavour.

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Burmese

30 May 2024 1 min read

Sweet & Spicy Pumpkin Curry

Pumpkin cooked with jaggery and warm spices for a curry that is sweet and spicy at the same time.

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Amè hnat: Burmese beef curry

Aamna’s Burmese beef curry is the most visited Burmese recipe on the site. Beef is coated in paprika, chilli, turmeric, coriander, garlic and ginger, fried for a few minutes, then cooked with a blended paste of tomatoes, onions, spring onions, green chillies, coriander, curry leaves and unpeeled ginger. It simmers on low for about 2 hours, then the heat goes up to cook the liquid down into a thick gravy. Chuck or brisket both work well.

Burmese fish curry with brown buttered rice

Coley is marinated in turmeric, Kashmiri chilli and black pepper, then simmered gently in an onion and tomato sauce so it holds together. It comes with rice cooked in butter with fried onion, cinnamon, star anise and cardamom, which turns golden brown. The fish curry takes about 45 minutes, and cod or haddock work if you can’t find coley.

Sweet and spicy pumpkin curry

A vegetarian curry from the Indo-Burmese side of the family. Pumpkin is cooked with onions, tomatoes, Kashmiri chilli and warm spices, sweetened with jaggery, then finished with a sizzling tadka of mustard, fennel, cumin and nigella seeds, curry leaves and dried chillies. Try the pumpkin curry with plain rice.

Tips for a good Burmese curry

Blend the base. A smooth paste of onion, garlic and ginger cooks down evenly and thickens the sauce.
Fry the spices with the meat first. A few minutes in hot oil wakes them up before any liquid goes in.
Cook it low and slow. Beef needs about 2 hours to become tender.
Let the oil come back. Keep cooking until the sauce is thick and the oil sits on top.
Serve it with contrast. Rice, a sharp salad like lahpet and some crunch make it a Burmese meal.

What to serve with Burmese curry

Plain rice is the base. Add a salad, such as tea leaf salad or a Burmese thoke, and a light soup if you have time. A spoonful of Thami Letto over the rice gives the crunch without extra frying.