In the days leading up to our departure for Guatemala, we actually had more food to eat in the fridge than I had originally anticipated. I had planned to make Burmese chicken curry for the Burmese chicken curry noodle dish called nan gyi thoke for dinner during the few days before we left, and I had already marinated and prepared the chicken. So I decided that I would still make the chicken curry and just freeze it so that when we got back, I would quickly defrost it overnight and have delayed nan gyi thoke for dinner once we returned. And it ended up being a great idea. Once I defrosted the curry, all I had to do was add some seasoning (red pepper flakes, fish sauce) and a thickener (Burmese curries are traditionally thickened with a toasted chickpea flour. I already had the chickpea flour, so I just had to toast it lightly over the stove until it turned toasty and brown. Then, I cooked the dried noodles in some boiling water, cut up some lime wedges, took out the fried shallots, and boiled eggs to top it. It was a very flavorful, satisfying dish to welcome us home.

So many different variations of curry exist around the world, but what makes Burmese curries unique is that a) they start with a base of lots and lots of deeply caramelized onions, b) they include coconut milk that is cooked down, c) they are thickened with a toasted chickpea flour. Once you have all this and add a protein like chicken, some seasonings like fish sauce and black pepper, as well as some home blended Madras curry powder (I almost went out and bought a blend, but I realized when I looked at all the spices that make up Madras curry powder that I had all of them already at home, so why not just toast and blend my own?!), it creates a really thick, luscious stew that has layers upon layers of flavor. It’s so good and rich that it almost makes you want to lick your bowl clean. This is definitely a curry that will be on repeat for us.

And although I did not originally plan to make chicken curry in advance as our return-home meals, I’m really happy it worked out this way and that we had a quick yet seemingly complex meal to come home to. I already have things in the freezer like frozen cubes of tomato-onion masala for quick Indian meals, but this would basically be like an easy freezer meal. You would just have to defrost, add seasoning and heat up, then add a carb like rice or noodles, and you’d be set. I will likely do this ahead of future trips we have. No one complains about ready-to-go chicken curry upon arriving home from anywhere!