Traditional Burmese Pork Curry

Is it still called Burmese Food?  Or the Food Formally Known as Burmese Food?  Myanmar Food?

Whatever it's called, it's totally different from the other curries I usually make.  There's no cumin in this one.  From all the Googling I did, it seemed like the crucial elements of a Burmese Curry were tumeric, paprika, soy sauce and fish sauce.  So substitute some good old coconut aminos for soy sauce, and this dish was easy enough to paleo-ify and crockpot-icize.

Will and I both loved this, and Will asked if I can add it to the regular rotation of curries.  There's so much ginger and garlic and good spices in here, this is a perfect meal for the winter time, when the flu and other related yuckies are going around.

Serves 5-6.

The Tools:

6 qt. crockpot

4 cloves garlic, minced
1 T fish sauce
1 T coconut aminos (or gluten free soy sauce)
1 T ground tumeric
2 t ground paprika
1 1/2 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
2 lbs. boneless pork chops (about 5 large chops)
2 medium onions, chopped
1 lb. winter squash, cut into cubes

The Process:

First you plop your pork chops down in the crockpot.  I used 5 pork chops, or around 2 lbs. of meat.  It's more than okay to use pork that's been cut up, seared, or even just a 2 lb. pork loin or roast.  If I was really following directions, I would have chopped up the pork into bite-sized pieces before placing them in the crockpot.

But in my world, my crockpot means I do less work, not more work, so I didn't bother and just used the whole boneless pork chops.  I'm a rebel.  And sort of lazy at 6 AM when I'm making dinner.

Then you need to make your curry paste.  Combine garlic, fish sauce, coconut aminos, tumeric, paprika and ginger together in a small bowl.  Using a spoon, spread the paste over your pork chops in the crock.

Taking a decent picture of raw meat with a weird yellow paste on it at 6 AM with no natural light is just setting yourself up for epic photography failure.  Sorry.

Chop up your onions and spread them over the top of the paste.

Now you need to tackle your winter squash.  I used an acorn squash, and peeling and chopping it into cubes isn't so straightforward.  It's got those little bumps all over it, so you'd easily shave off a knuckle or two if you tried to do it with a vegetable peeler old-school.  So here's whatcha do...

First, cut it in half and scoop out the guts like normal. Then cut the squash like you would a cantaloupe, cutting exactly on the lines.

Now you can take your vegetable peeler and carefully peel the skin off.

And now you can cut the squash into pieces.

And then spread the squash pieces over the top of the onions.

You don't want to mix this dish together, you want the squash and onions to steam on top so they don't get too mushy.

Cook on LOW for 7-8 hours, or on HIGH for 3-4 hours.  Always check your meat to be sure it's done before serving.

Enjoy!  Stay well this flu season!

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