Where My Heart Lies

Passport & Plate - Nut Butter Kari Ayam

Indonesia | Friday, March 6, 2015 | 5 photos

Ingredients
50g medium–hot red chillies, deseeded
100 g red Asian shallots, roughly chopped
25 g garlic cloves
40 g fresh turmeric, sliced
15 g ginger, sliced
2 lemongrass stalks, crushed and finely chopped
25 g galangal, roughly chopped
500ml coconut milk
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp grated nutmeg
2tbsp almond nut butter
15 g shrimp paste
2 tsp sea salt (add more to taste at the end if needed)
700g chicken thigh fillets, cut into bite-sized pieces
One cup water
Fresh coriander to serve

 

How to prepare this recipe
In to a blender (or pestle and mortar) blend the chilli, shallots, garlic, turmeric, ginger and 2 tablespoons of olive oil in to a smooth paste.
Heat a little more olive oil in a deep set wok and fry the paste until it browns / turns golden. Add in the lemongrass, galangal, cinnamon and grated nutmeg and fry off for a further 2-3 minutes. Now add in the chicken, shrimp paste, salt and a dash of water.
Fry off until the chicken is sealed on all sides.
Now add in the nut butter plus the coconut milk and one cup water.
Bring to a boil then turn to simmer and allow to cook on very low heat for at least 30 minutes- the longer you leave it the more the flavours will infuse! Add more water if the mixture starts to stick.

Serve with turmeric and coconut rice and fresh coriander.

 

The story behind this recipe
In 2013 we decided one cold and rainy January afternoon in London to book a two week trip to somewhere we had never been. We got out a map closed our eyes and moved the mouse a few times before opening them again. It had fallen on the island of Lombok, Indonesia, a place neither of us had ever been to or heard of.
A 13 hr flight to Singapore, a 2 hr internal flight to Lombok followed by a 2.5hr car journey over a volcano, through a monkey crazed jungle and then down the other side to the turquoise ocean, we arrived at our very own paradise, Tugu. Tugu Hotel is a haven of peace, calm and happiness. It is where there is no other option but to relax. It was where my husband proposed, I accepted and then exactly a year to the day later in April 2014 we got married in front of 35 of our closest friends and family.
Other than the people and general paradisiacal ambience, the food was one of the main reasons we chose to get married there. The head chef Agus created traditional Indonesian dishes with a twist. Everything was made at the hotel and they have their own small holding and garden where they grow their own fruits and vegetables. I told him one afternoon about my love of curry and nut butters and the next thing I knew he had created a traditional Kari Ayam (Indonesian chicken curry) with almond nut butter. The exotic Asian flavours of the lemongrass and galangal combined with the creaminess of the coconut milk and nut butter was a marriage made in heaven. On our last day before we left he showed me how to make it in a traditional outside kitchen. No electricity, just a pestle and mortar, traditional cooking implements and gas stove.
Back in London it is a dish I have created so many times over the last year that I have lost count. Every time I make it it evokes so many different feelings of happiness, nostalgia and calm. It transports me back to the humidity, the warmth, the sound of the sea and the distant calls to prayer.