Burmese Tomato Fish Curry

To learn to make a Burmese tomato fish curry, the full recipe details with exact ingredient amounts are in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post. But first, let me highlight a few things about it for clarification purposes. As with all traditional foods, there’s no one right way to do things and you can make choices based on your personal preferences and what ingredients you can access.

Step 1. Marinate the fish.

Catfish is typically used in Burma but feel free to use another meaty white fish like cod, hake, haddock or snapper. I used pollock in this recipe.
Cut your fish filet into chunks and marinate them in turmeric and fish sauce. Set it aside.

Step 2. Make a rough curry paste

You’ll need one stalk of lemongrass, galangal or ginger, one to three red bird’s eye chiles, garlic and shallots. You’ll find all of these in Asian markets and even in some health food stores. The only exception is galangal but it’s fine to use ginger instead.

 To prepare the lemongrass, cut the stalk in half and discard the upper half (or save it for soup broths such as a Thai bone broth). Chop off the hard knobby end of the bottom half and then peel off a few of the outer rough layers. You can easily seem those layers pictured here…

Once removed, dice the stalk into small pieces and then dice the other ingredients too. You don’t have to dice it too fine because you’ll be adding it to the food processor.

A quick word about using bird’s eye chiles. They are fiery hot! Careful. Burmese cuisine isn’t quite as liberal in their use of chiles as Thai cuisine. I used just one red chile for the recipe below which will give it a mild level of heat and spice. Use two for a moderate level and three or more if you like it super hot and spicy.
Blend everything in a food processor…

That’s good enough! It doesn’t need to be super smooth like a Thai curry paste.

Step 3. Saute the curry paste in coconut oil and add shrimp paste.

Don’t freak out about the shrimp paste! It’s totally optional. Shrimp paste (or fish paste) is a fermented condiment that adds a bold, salty and slightly fishy flavor to a lot of southeast Asian curries and other dishes. It’s called “ngapi” in Burma and is a prominent ingredient in many dishes. Here’s a good shrimp paste you can find on Amazon…


You only want to use a little! It has both an intense flavor and aroma. If you don’t want to use it you can add a little extra fish sauce later on when you’re seasoning the soup.

Step 4. Add your tomatoes

Again, FRESH in-season tomatoes should be your first choice (remove the skin and seeds, if you have time). If not, substitute good quality organic canned tomatoes.
Simmer everything to infuse all the flavors for about ten to fifteen minutes…

Step 5. Add fish broth

If you don’t have a homemade fish broth, Bar Harbor fish broth is a good product. You can also use just water instead though fish broth is a better choice.

Step 6. Add some chickpea flour.

It’s also called “garbanzo bean” or “fava” flour and you’ll find it in health food stores. Bob’s Red Mill chickpea flour is a good choice. This is also optional and not a typical addition in a more authentic Burmese tomato fish curry. But my instincts told me to add it. I love the way it slightly thickens mohinga and I thought it worked wonderfully here too.
To prevent clumping, remove some of the curry (try to scoop up more of the liquid portion) to a separate bowl, add the chickpea flour and mix it well to dissolve it and then add it back to the main pot and stir it in thoroughly.
The rest of the recipe comes together quite easily! Simply follow the full recipe below.

For fish

• 1 pound firm white fish - cod, pollock, haddock, snapper, etc
• 2 teaspoons turmeric
• 2 TBSPs fish sauce

For curry paste

• 1 stalk lemongrass top half removed, outer leaves removed, diced
• 1 inch piece galangal or ginger peeled and chopped
• 2 large shallots or 1 onion chopped
• 3-4 cloves garlic chopped
• 1 - 3 Bird's eye chiles de-seeded and chopped, see notes below

For soup

• 1 TBSP coconut oil or peanut oil
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon shrimp paste, optional see notes
• 3 TBSPs chickpea flour, optional see notes
• 2 pounds tomatoes skinned and de-seeded (optional), and chopped
• 2 cups fish broth or water
• 2 cups steamed jasmine rice served on the side

Seasonings, to taste

• 1 - 2 TBSPs fish sauce
• 1 TBSP lime juice optional
• 1 - 2 TBSPs coconut sugar optional
• 2 - 4 TBSPs cilantro chopped

Garnishes, to taste

• Fish sauce
• Fresh cilantro chopped
• Chile powder
• Lime juice

Instructions

1. Chop fish into bite sized chunks. Combine turmeric and fish sauce and mix with fish. Let marinate and set aside.
2. Chop all the ingredients for the curry paste, add to a food processor, blend into a rough mixture and set aside. It doesn't have to be super smooth like a Thai curry. A chunkier texture is more common in Burmese cooking.
3. Add oil over medium-low heat in a stockpot and add the curry paste. Saute for about 5 minutes until fragrant, stirring frequently, being careful not to burn. Add more oil if paste becomes too dry and starts to stick.
4. Add optional shrimp paste and mix well for about one minute. Add turmeric and paprika and cook for another 30 seconds, stirring frequently.
5. Add tomatoes, turn up heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring on occasion.
6. Prepare rice while tomatoes are simmering.
7. Add fish broth (or water) and simmer another 5 minutes.
8. Scoop out a few cups of the broth into a separate mixing bowl and add the chickpea flour, stirring well until there are no lumps. Add it back to the soup and mix well to slightly thicken the soup.
9. Add seasonings, to taste. Start with 1 TBSP fish sauce and add more, if needed. Determine if you'd prefer a little sweetness and/or sour flavor and add coconut palm sugar and/or lime juice. Add at least 2 TBSPs chopped cilantro, up to 4 TBSPs. You can reserve some of the cilantro garnishing individual bowls.
10. Add fish chunks into soup and simmer gently for a few minutes. Turn off heat, cover and let the fish cook for about another 5 minutes.
11. Ladle soup into individual bowls and add garnishes, to taste.
12. Serve with steamed rice on the side.

Reference: https://fearlesseating.net/burmese-tomato-fish-curry/

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About Pyae Phyo Thaw

-Bachelor of Science with Honours in Computer Science

-Final Year

-FYP Project (Myanmar Cuisine Recipe Android App)