Lighter Malaysian Chicken Curry
Lighter chicken curry, Malaysian style. Packed with spices, this amazing curry is great with a bowl of rice or some bread.
Servings: 4 people
Ingredients
- ½ red onion , roughly cut
- 1 shallot , roughly cut
- 2 garlic cloves , cut
- ½ inch ginger
- 1 cup water (250 ml)
- olive oil
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 star anise
- 3 cloves
- 2 cardamom
- 1 shallot , thinly sliced
- 2 garlic cloves , thinly sliced
- 1 inches lemongrass , bruised and cut into 2 lengthwise
- 4 tablespoon curry powder
- 1 teaspoon chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- pinch of salt
- 4 chicken thighs , bone in and skinless
- 2 potatoes , cut into 4-6 each
- 2 cups water (500 ml)
- 2 teaspoon sugar
- 2 teaspoon tamarind juice
- 7 oz coconut milk (200 ml)
- ¼ cup fried shallots (around 4 tbsp)
Instructions
The paste
- Put ginger, garlic, red onion, shallot and water in a blender. Blend into a fine paste, set aside.
The curry
- Heat some olive oil on medium heat. Add in cinnamon stick, star anise, cloves and cardamon pods. Cook for a minute until they release their fragrances. Add in thinly sliced shallots, garlic and bruised lemon grass. Cook until the shallots turn golden brown.
- Add in previously blended paste, curry powder, chili powder, turmeric powder and a pinch of salt. Stir and mix well. Cook on low heat for 10 minutes until the paste thickens, stirring occasionally.
- Add in the chicken thighs. Coat them well with the paste and cook for 5 minutes or until they turn white, flipping them now and then. Add in potatoes, water, sugar, tamarind juice and give it a good mix. Cook on low medium heat for 15-20 minutes until the chicken and potatoes are fully cooked and tender. Stir now and then.
- Add in coconut milk, mix well and let it simmer for 2-3 minutes. Lastly add in fried shallots, stir them in and the chicken curry is ready.
Notes
Curry powder is the heart of this recipe, obviously. Different brands of curry powder have different strength of curry and slightly different taste. As it's difficult to always have my Malaysian brand of curry powder fully stocked in my kitchen, so I started to use the local brand which is Carmencita, which is in the reasonable price range compared to other brands here. I have to use more amount of Carmencita's curry powder because it is quite mild and the end result is delicious :)