Malaysian style chicken.

I’m back after a nice long break. I’ve had long service leave and we’ve been renovating our ensuite bathroom for the last couple of months and it is finally finished with all but the painting to go now 😃. The following recipe is from the UK version of delicious magazine and we had it for tea tonight. It is a very tasty dish that you could make as hot or mild as you like. Very easy to make as well and I followed the recipe to the letter first time around. I will make a couple of small changes next time I make it by using fresh grated ginger rather than ground ginger powder.

Ingredients.

Vegetable oil (I used rice bran oil)

8 free-range chicken thighs, skin on and bone in

1 onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves

4 medium-hot red chillies

1 lemongrass stalk, sliced finely, white part only

1 tablespoon ground ginger

Groundnut oil

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 cinnamon stick

2 star anise

5 kaffir lime leaves

400ml coconut milk

100ml chicken stock

2 teaspoons palm sugar , optional

Fish sauce

Wedges of lime to serve
Method

Heat a little vegetable oil in a frying pan and fry the chicken thighs, skin side down until the skin is crisp and golden. Remove the chicken and set aside.

  
  

Blend in a food processor the onions, garlic, chillies, lemongrass, ginger and a good glug of groundnut oil.

  
Fry this paste in the pan you partially cooked the chicken in over medium heat for a couple of minutes, add the turmeric, cinnamon stick, star anise and kaffir lime leaves, then fry for three minutes.

  
  
Stir in the coconut milk and chicken stock, sit the chicken thighs in the pan, skin side up, and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the chicken is just cooked and the sauce has reduced. Add the sugar and fish sauce. Serve with lime wedges go squeeze over.

  
  
  
Serve over white fluffy rice and enjoy!

  
Bon appetit! 

Krung Kaeng Masaman Curry Paste

I’ve been making a few curry pastes of late. I like the ones that are not too hot but are deliciously spicy non the less 😄. My husband Jason is my standard of approval for all my baking and him being a sufferer of Coeliac disease, I’m always on the lookout for tasty gluten free meals. This has quite a few ingredients but is such a lovely paste to make and the curry it makes is quite sublime.

First get your ingredients together.

  
2 teaspoons chilli powder

2 tablespoons ground coriander

1 teaspoon of ground cumin

1 teaspoon shredded lemon grass

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom 

1/2 teaspoon ground mace or nutmeg

2 tablespoons oil

2 medium sized onions, finely sliced

5 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced

1/2 teaspoon dried shrimp paste, roasted
Heat the oil in a frying pan and on a low heat fry the sliced onions and garlic till soft and golden brown, stirring occasionally. Add the dried shrimp paste and fry for a minute longer, crushing it in the oil. 

  
  
Put this fried mixture into a blender or small food processor with the lemon grass and the rest of the dry spices and blend to a paste. You can add a little water to help it along if needed. I didn’t need it 😄. 

  
Unfortunately, I didn’t take any photos of the curry it made but have included that recipe as well. It is so nice and tastes even better reheated the next day.

Kaeng Masaman curry.

1kg diced beef

4 cups of coconut milk

1 cup roasted, unsalted peanuts

2 tablespoons of fish sauce

5-8 whole uncrushed cardamom pods 

1 stick of cinnamon

1quantity of Masaman curry paste

3 tablespoons tamarind liquid

2 tablespoons of lime or lemon juice

1-2 tablespoons palm sugar
Put into large saucepan the meat, coconut milk, peanuts, fish sauce, cardamom pods and cinnamon quill. Bring slowly to simmering point, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon. Turn heat to low and allow to simmer, uncovered, until meat is tender, about an hour. Do not cover at any stage or the coconut milk will curdle.

When the meat is tender, lift it out into a clean bowl with a slotted spoon and simmer the coconut milk a little longer until it is reduced by about a third. If it has already reduced a lot during cooking, omit this part. Add the curry paste, tamarind liquid, lemon juice and palm sugar now. Add back the beef to the pan and continue simmering until the gravy has thickened slightly. Serve with rice.

Apologies for no photos here but I can assure you that this is one of our favourite curries. I found it strange to add the actual curry paste at the end but it all worked out well and the taste was lovely. 

Bon appetit!

Machchi Kari , Fish Curry.

This yummy recipe is my favourite curry. I found it in my huge old Charmaine Solomon Complete Asian cookbook. It takes roughly twenty minutes to make and probably five or ten to eat it’s that delicious 😄. It is also gluten free and lactose free for anybody like my husband who is allergic to both.
First get your ingredients to hand.

Ingredients,
500gm firm fish fillets
2 tablespoons oil
6-8 curry leaves (I could not get any this time so left them out)
1 medium onion, finely sliced
2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cummin
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2-1 teaspoon chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon ground fenugreek
2 cups coconut milk
1 1/2 teaspoons salt or to taste (I forgot to put this in and didn’t miss it 😄)
Lemon juice to taste.

Make sure your fish fillets are fairly uniform in size so they cook evenly. Heat oil in a wok or pan and fry curry leaves if using them till slightly brown. Beware, they spatter! Add the onion, ginger and garlic and fry until onion is soft and golden.

Add all the ground spices and fry, stirring until they smell aromatic. I fried mine for about a minute.

Add coconut milk and salt (if using) and bring to the boil, stirring.

Lower the heat and simmer uncovered for ten minutes, then put in the fish, ladle the liquid over it and simmer until the fish is cooked through.

Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice to taste. I forgot this step as well and found it didn’t matter for us. Serve on rice or even a nice potato mash if you like.

This is a very tasty and quick meal and well worth the effort.
Bon apetit!