Burmese Cooking with Grandma Alvina

Published on Wednesday, January 28, 2009, by Meredith Arthur, Eric Slatkin, and Blake Smith / Edit Post

Cooking with Grandma Alvina

By Meredith Arthur, Eric Slatkin, and Blake Smith

Welcome to the first installment of CHOW’s new video series, Cooking with Grandma, a nostalgic trip down memory lane that records a special family recipe. Here, Alvina Mangrai shows her granddaughter Alyssa how to make her prawn curry and coconut rice. Thanks to Pat Tanumihardja, whose blog, The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook, helped us find Alvina and Alyssa!

You know her by many names: YaYa, Nana, Bubbe, Gangy, Grandma. Cooking with Grandma celebrates family traditions. If you would like to nominate a San Francisco–based grandma for our series, please email Meredith Arthur with your contact information.

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POST A COMMENT |27 Comments

COMMENT

  • I love how grandma cautions her not to cut herself and the grandaughter stifles a laugh, that's exactly how it is. And the glass of water seemed an important cooking step then grandma drinks it and explains, "my throat is itchy." Fantastic!

  • I got to 1min 12, another ad came on and no continuation

  • Hi again Ben, this video has been fixed. Sorry for the inconvenience!

    Deborah from CHOW

  • Hi Ben, thank you for alerting us to a problem with this video. The CHOW offices are closed for the week (happy holidays!) but hopefully we can get this video back up for you very soon.

    Deborah from CHOW

  • I usually enjoy watching these videos. Lately all I get from these videos is 4 seconds of video and then it goes black and says "the video you have requested is unavailable or may have expired".

    I'm fine with this video being expired but could we at least update the links in the newsletter?

    Reagards,
    Ben

  • Hi rebrites. Here's a link to the recipe:

    http://www.chow.com/recipes/14355-burmese-prawn-curry

    Deborah from CHOW

  • I wish there was a written recipe, so I could try making this myself.

  • Very enjoyable. I love Grandma's!

  • i love this idea. cooking with grandmas are the best!

  • Is a beauty, How sweet !!!
    lovely music.

  • What is the music they used in this video? The other three videos credited the music at the end but it was omitted here.

  • ladyk138, in the blurb of text beneath the video player, there are links to the recipes for Alvina's prawn curry http://www.chow.com/recipes/14355 and coconut rice http://www.chow.com/recipes/14538

    Hope that helps. Best,

    Deborah from CHOW

  • It was a good video. The only thing is that there were a few steps where ingredients were added and they didnt say what they were. For example...what was the red stuff they put in after the ginger that the granddaughter spooned out? Then there was more red stuff that the grandma shook on. Any particular type of rice to use? What kind of oil did they cook the onions in? There was another...+READ

    It was a good video. The only thing is that there were a few steps where ingredients were added and they didnt say what they were. For example...what was the red stuff they put in after the ginger that the granddaughter spooned out? Then there was more red stuff that the grandma shook on. Any particular type of rice to use? What kind of oil did they cook the onions in? There was another ingredient not mentioned after the tumeric. I would like to try the dish and so to avoid messing it up Id want to have all the proper materiels.-COLLAPSE

  • Grandma Alvina seems very sweet, funny, and her food looks excellent! I will definitely try the prawns and coconut rice.

  • Am I the only one who stops visiting websites that start to play something when you visit them?

  • again the music, and how sweet she is with her grand daughter...

  • If that lady says that's how you make Burmese Prawn Curry then that's how you make it, because I'm certainly not going to argue. I have vacancies in the Grandma department, so I plan to adopt her.

  • Oops, I just noticed the recipes are highlighted in blue above. My error!

  • Would it be possible to include the recipes posted below each video? If it doesn't create too much work, it would be lovely to make the dishes, family's pass on to each other.

  • Any chance we could have some more Grandma Alvina videos?

  • Great video, third kudo on the music. It made me miss my grandmother, too. *sniff*. I am so grateful for the time I got to spend in her kitchen.

  • What a gracious classy ladie. Second kudo on the backround music!

  • I love the music!!

  • Great series, great video! It got me crying again over the loss of my own grandma. Fortunately, I had the time to cook with her too. An extremely precious memory.

  • Hi Pumakat, There's a little line of print under the video that says that if you're based in San Francisco, just email me at Meredith.Arthur@chow.com (the link is in blue to my address) and we can talk about doing a video!

    Meredith of CHOW

  • this is sweet. I would love to be on this with my grandma! how do I apply?

  • Lovely idea for a video series.