malyasian chicken curry

I first cooked this when I was cooking with the wonderful chef Norman Musa. The recipe is so delicious it blew my mind and I cooked it over and over again. I have adapted it as there are a few things that I have found hard to find over the years (like shrimp paste and galangal) so this should work for most people and the taste is still wonderful.

 

Ingredients

4 tablespoons of vegetable or sunflower oil

1 stalk lemongrass bent and bashed

¾ tsp Maldon salt

1 teaspoon brown sugar (I use muscovado)

400/ 500g skinless and boneless chicken thighs

150ml coconut milk

50g kerisik - block of creamed coconut (this comes in a hard block – not the stuff in a can)

1 teaspoon lime jiuce

5 kefir lime leaves (this is worth buying online from amazon and not getting the rubbish they sell you in the supermarlets. You can then keep the fresh leaves in your freezer)

 

Spice Mix

1 Tbsp coriander seeds

¼ tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp cumin seeds

¼ tsp fenugreek seeds

1 stick cinnamon

 

Paste

3 shallots

3 cloves garlic

1 tsp ground turmeric

3 cm ginger

2 dried chilled soaked (or ½ tsp dried chilli flakes) soaked in boiling water and water discarded

1 stalk lemongrass

½ tsp fish sauce

2 macidamia nuts

Dry toast the spices in a dry pan on a high heat until you can begin to smell them then transfer to a spice blender (or nutri bullet) and blend until fine.

Using a food processor or a hand blender, blitz together the paste ingredients with a dash of water until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and mix well with the ground spice mix.

In a small frying pan take the block of coconut fat and dry roast it for a few minutes until it turns a golden brown. Scrape this out of the pan and keep aside for later.

Heat the oil in a saucepan over a medium heat and saute the lemongrass for 1 minute to infuse the oil. 

Add the paste and spice mix and saute for 2 minutes, until the oil separates. Add the salt, sugar and chicken and cook for 2 minutes to seal.
Add the coconut milk together with 150ml of water (add more if preferred the curry slightly runny) and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 - 10 minutes, stirring once or twice until the chicken is cooked through.


Finally add the kerisik, lime leaves and lime juice and cook for 2 minutes, then serve - delicious with some fluffy white jasmin rice