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Burmese Chicken Mango
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Burmese Mango Chicken

A curry sauce made of onions, garlic, ginger, mango and coconut milk is the base for the delicious Burmese chicken dish.
Course Main Course, Poultry
Cuisine Burmese
Servings 4

Ingredients

  • 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into bite-sized chunks
  • grapeseed oil (or vegetable oil of your choice)
  • 1 medium yellow onion, chopped (about 1-1/2 cups)
  • 4 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 4 tablespoons peeled, minced fresh ginger
  • 2 tablespoons curry powder (see Kitchen Notes)
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
  • 1 14-ounce can coconut milk
  • 3 cups frozen mango chunks, thawed (or three fresh mangos, peeled and chopped)
  • 1 teaspoon salt plus more as needed
  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper plus more
  • 1 pound potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks (about 3 medium—we used Yukon gold)
  • 1 tablespoon fish sauce (see Kitchen Notes)
  • cooked white rice for serving

Instructions

  • Lightly season the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large sauté pan or skillet over medium-high flame. Briefly sauté the chicken, stirring frequently. You don’t want to brown it, just cook off the pinkness (and honestly, flavor the pan with chicken). Chicken won’t be cooked through and that’s okay. Transfer to a bowl and reserve.
  • Reduce heat to medium and add onion, drizzling in more oil as needed. Cook, stirring frequently, until onion is translucent, 3 minutes or so.
  • Add garlic, ginger, curry powder and cumin, stirring to combine with onion. Cook for about 1 minute, stirring frequently and, again, drizzling in more oil if needed.
  • Transfer to a blender. Add coconut milk, 2 cups of the mango and 1 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Blend until smooth, creating the mango curry sauce.
  • Return sauce to skillet. Add potatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, covered for about 15 minutes. If sauce gets too thick (which it may do on the bottom), stir in 1/2 cup water.
  • Stir in fish sauce and return chicken to pan. Cook for another 5 minute or so, until chicken is cooked through, adding a little more water if sauce gets too thick.
  • Stir in remaining cup of mango and remove from heat. Spoon alongside rice and serve.

Kitchen Notes

Curry powder? No, it’s not an authentic Asian spice blend, but it’s a shortcut way to get a good blend of spices. Use your favorite variety or create your own spice mix.
Yes, you need the fish sauce. Despite its name, this condiment used in numerous Asian cuisines doesn’t taste fishy. It just imparts a wonderful, savory umami to food. We cooked this dish both without and with the fish sauce; adding it turned a good recipe into something much more complex and delicious. If you don’t have it, or won’t use it, use soy sauce instead. Or Worcestershire sauce (which, by the way, has anchovies in it—just saying).