Burmese Chicken Curry with Yellow Lentils (Kalapei Kyetharhin)

For those that think this is bland, try it again with a few easy modifications and you won't be disappointed. First, prior to tossing the chicken in the dry spices, marinate the chicken in 1/8c fish sauce for 5-10 minutes. Once tossed in the spices, let it marinate an additional 15 minutes or so. Second, instead of chopping the onion, purée it with the garlic and some fresh ginger and then fry that paste in the oil before adding the chicken. Third, use good Hungarian sweet, or smoked, or hot paprika instead of the generic "paprika" in the stores. I used a combo of all three. Smoked paprika always adds a depth of flavor. Finally, chop up two tomatoes and fry those in with a little salt after browning the chicken. If you've got a bell pepper on hand, slice it up and toss that baby in while you are frying the tomato, too. These changes were the result of melding two similar recipes together and I found the result very flavorful and a neat balance of Indian and SE Asian flavors.

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Divisive recipe, eh? Like a lot of folks, I was really underwhelmed. There is a great Burmese place a few minutes away from where I've eaten for years. Some of the dishes are great and some do tend to be a tad bland. This is one Burmese recipe that is bland. Actually, earthy and mild might be the more complimentary way of phrasing it. At any rate, I used fresh rated nutmeg, cumin that I'd ground myself a few days earlier, and fresh turmeric. Yeah, the cloves may have been a bit old but they are frequently overwhelming anyway. So, recipe cooked properly, with noodles, using frsh spices, and at leats to my tatses, this was quite bland and one-dimensiional. Basically a semi-exotic chicken noodle soup. On the plus side, it's fairly cheap, easy, and makes a filling four servings.