It’s a great week for the United States and the world: Adults are back in control of the federal government! Now, let’s move on to cooking delicious food.
This is an unusual and delicious curry-like dish from Singapore Cooking, by Terry Tan and Christopher Tan. It’s one of many from the book that I’ll be trying over the upcoming weeks. Hope you like SE Asian food!
The dish is a bit unusual to me because of the spices used—it almost seems more like an Indian-based recipe than something from Malaysia. I guess, though, that there was, and is, a lot of intermingling of different flavors of that wide-ranging region.
There’s no real trick to this. It’s easy easy easy. Just make it as written, then enjoy!
What you’ll need for the spice paste:
- 1 small onion (or the equivalent amount of shallots)
- 3 cloves garlic
- 5 slices galangal root (found at your local asian store)
- 2T ground coriander
- 1T ground cumin
- 1t ground fennel
- 0.5t white pepper
What you’ll need for the chicken:
- 2 lbs chicken (thighs are best, or you can cut up a whole chicken)
- 1t salt
- 4T oil (this seems too much—I used 2T to good effect)
- 2.5 cups coconut milk
- 100 ml water (about 0.33 cups + about a tablespoon or so)
- 2 stalks lemongrass, outer layers removed (I didn’t have any, so I used a couple of lime leaves)
- 1T fish sauce
- Juice of 1 lime (about 2T from a bottle)
What to do:
If using a whole chicken, cut it into 8 pieces and rub them all over with salt.
Grind all the spice paste ingredients together with a mortar and pestle or food processor.
Bruise the lemongrass and tie it into a knot, then set aside.
Heat the oil in a wok (or large, high-sided frypan) over medium heat and fry the spice paste until thick and fragrant—stirring the entire time. Add 2T of the coconut milk and stir fry for a couple of more minutes.
Add the remaining coconut milk, water, lemongrass and fish sauce, then bring it to a low boil. Add the chicken, then simmer until the chicken is cooked through and tender—about 30-45 minutes.
Stir in the lime juice before serving over Asian noodles or rice.
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