INGREDIENTS
- Chicken - 1.6kg (3.5lb), chopped into pieces
- Coconut - 680g (1.5lb), grated and squeezed to extract 380ml (1.5cups) No.1 milk
- Cooking oil - 3 tbsp
- Kaffir lime leaves (daun limau purut) - 6
- Red chillies - 5, halved
- Green chillies - 5, halved
- Crisp-fried shallots - 1. Peel and slice shallots thinly and dip in salt water for a while. Rinse and drain well. 2. Scatter sliced shallots on absorbent paper to dry or roll up in a tea towel for 1/2 hour. Heat enough cooking oil for deep-frying until smoking hot. Add the sliced shallots and stir-fry over high heat until shallots turn light brown. 3. Reduce the heat and continue stirring until the shallots are light golden brown. Remove at once with a wire sieve to drain. Scatter on absorbent paper to cool. 4. Store in a clean, dry bottle immediately. The shallots keep crisp for months in an airtight bottle.
MARINADE
- Fish sauce - 2 tbsp
- Palm sugar - 1 tsp
- Salt - 1 tbsp
- MSG - 1 tsp, optional
Rempah
- Galangal - 6, peeled, or 1/2 tsp ground galangal
- Shallots - 115g (4oz), peeled
- Garlic - 2 slices, peeled
- Kaffir lime leaves (daun limau purut) - 5
- Shrimp paste (belacan) - 1 tsp
- Coriander stalks and roots - from 30g coriander (reserve leaves)
- Lemon grass - 30g (1oz), sliced
- Red chillies - 60g (2oz)
- Green chillies - 30g (1oz)
- Red bird's eye chillies - 8
Spice Mixture (combined)
- Water - 285ml (1 1/4 cups)
- Ground cumin - 1.5 tsp
- Ground pepper - 1 tsp
- Chilli powder - 1.5 tbsp
- Ground coriander - 2 level tsp
- Ground tumeric - 1.5 level tsp
Seasoning
- Salt - 1.5 tsp
- Sugar - 2 tsp
- Palm sugar (gula Melaka) - 1 tnsp
- MSG - 1 tsp, or 1 chicken stock cube
- Lemon or lime juice - 2 tbsp
- Fish sauce - 2 tbsp
METHOD
- Mix chicken pieces with marinade ingredients and leave aside for 1/2 hour
- Squeeze grated coconut for No.1 milk. Set aside
- Combine rempah ingredients in a mortar and pestle and pound to a fine paste. Set aside
- Heat cooking oil in a heavy saucepan or wok. When oil is hot, add kaffir lime leaves and fry for a moment, then add rempah paste. Stir-fry over moderately high heat for 2 minutes
- Pour in half of the coconut milk, and stir-fry until oil separates. Reduce heat and add some more coconut milk, a little at a time, until rempah is fragrant and oil bubbles through
- Add the spice mixture, seasoning and coriander leaves (reserved from stalks). Bring to the boil over moderate heat. Pour in remaining coconut milk, stir well and add in the marinated chicken
- Add red and green chillies, stir and let simmer, covered, for 20-25 minutes or until chicken is tender. Stir occasionally while cooking
- Remove from heat, garnish with crisp-fried shallots and serve
Note:
Remove seeds from chillies if you prefer it less spicy.
For a thicker sauce, simmer uncovered for the last 20-25 minutes