Passport & Plate - Malaysian-style Chicken Curry
Malaysia | Thursday, March 5, 2015 | 4 photos
Ingredients
Curry Paste:
3 shallots, roughly chopped
1 lemongrass, discard the green stalk and roughly chop the rest
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 galangal, roughly chopped
1-2 chillies depending on how hot you like it, remove stalk and roughly chop
1 tablespoon shrimp paste
1 teaspoon fish sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon turmeric powder
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Everything else:
1 tablespoon olive oil
200ml coconut milk
200ml chicken stock
2 chicken legs, separate the thighs and drumsticks
2 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped into 6 pieces
Salt to taste
Rice or roti
Steamed greens
How to prepare this recipePut it altogether:
1- Put all the ingredients for the curry paste into a food processor and blend well.
2- Heat the oil in a large pot (with lid), add the curry paste and fry for 1-2 minutes on a medium heat.
3- Add the coconut milk and chicken stock, simmer for 1-2 minutes.
4- Add the chicken pieces, continue to simmer for 5 minutes.
5- Add the potatoes and cover the pot with the lid, reduce to a low heat.
6- Leave the curry to simmer gently for 40-45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
7- Have a taste, you may want to add another chilli to spice things up or give it a bit more richness with an extra dash of turmeric and curry powder. Finally, add a pinch of salt to taste.
8- Serve with white rice or roti and steamed greens.
The story behind this recipeLike any other typical Kiwi kid, I ate cereal or toast for breakfast and packed lunches of ham sandwiches and bacon rolls. My lunch box with its piece of fruit and packet of ready salted chips could have belonged to any of my classmates. But unlike most kids I grew up with, my dinners consisted of rich beef rendangs or hot wok charred mee gorengs. We regularly ate stir fried greens bought from the local farmer’s markets and known to us only by their Chinese names. My mum also insisted we had soul-warming broths of pork bones, lotus roots or goji berries long before it all became trendy. Some of it was weird, but mostly it was wonderful. So why were my dinners worlds apart from my lunches? Because while I’m a Kiwi, I’m also Malaysian.
For years I kept these food worlds separate because as a kid it wasn’t cool to have noodles for lunch or a slice of green pandan cake for morning tea and I just wanted to fit in. But as I got older I appreciated more and more my Malaysian heritage and its rich food culture. I was grateful for parents who exposed me to vibrant flavours and weren’t scared to put on the table food which might be considered unusual in my friends’ houses; I would’t be the adventurous eater I am today without them.
This simple chicken curry with its bold flavours and punch of heat is everything I love about Malaysian food- the combination of fresh, everyday ingredients transformed into a dish that comforts yet excites at the same time. However, it was only until I moved to the other side of the world, with my mum talking me through the recipe from our family home while I was frantically jotting down the ingredients in my London flat that I realised this recipe is actually about family. It’s about the home cooked meals we shared together while talking about our days and my parents’ effort to always make sure we ate fresh and ate well. It’s about holding onto a piece of your heritage no matter where you are, it’s about having the best of both worlds.
