BURMA

The cuisine of Burma, now known as Myanmar, is a delightful blending of Chinese and Indian. You may wonder, at first, how the spices of these very different foods will blend. Let me tell you...wonderfully! Bring on the ginger powder and masalas...there's a party in the kitchen! The special guest is beef and okra, Burmese style!

I began with some vegetable oil heating on medium heat. I chopped up a sweet onion and added this with a lot of minced garlic, some ginger powder, turmeric. hot Hungarian paprika, chili powder garam masala, sesame oil, cumin and chopped chives. Saute the spices until the neighbors pound on the front door, drooling like zombies to get in. Then, add a couple of cups of beef stock, some cubed beef and a cup of rice and trimmed okra. Bring to a boil. Then, simmer with the lid on the skillet. I let this simmer for about 20 minutes. Just long enough to board up the windows.

The result? Intestinal happiness! As usual feel free to experiment with how much spice you use. I tend to use a lot.