Nasi Lemak (Rice with Coconut Milk) and Curry Chicken

OK, back to cooking posts now.

It is July 4th weekend, we have 3 days off. There is no more reason for me to be lazy and find all kind of excuses not to cook.. :-p

It is not fair to Tom too, he has been eating too much of my lazy meals recently, fried rice, noodle soup, koey teow soup, beehoon soup, mee suah soup, fried noodle, pizza...etc. I feel a bit guilty...lol

We have a small pot luck party on this weekend, they ordered curry chicken from me, I decided to cook some additional ingredients for nasi lemak (coconut rice)just for ourselves and some of my friends I recently met here - they are from Singapore and Malaysia.

Recipe for Curry Chicken

Please keep in mind that this recipe is for 5lbs of chicken, adjust the amount of the ingredients if you cook for smaller portion.
It is impossible for me to find the fresh ground spices over here in Arizona. Hence I have invented my own version of curry chicken, I don't really like the typical Chinese curry chicken that with a lot of coconut milk gravy. I like curry Kapitan but it is too dry for me, so, I mix with a pack of curry rendang paste in order to produce more gravy to mix with the rice. Here's my version of curry chicken.


1. 1.5 pack (110g) of Hup Long curry Kapitan powder (see picture at the end of the post), it is available at local oriental supermarket (Lee Lee), I normally buy it from Penang (Carrefour or Tesco).

2. 1 pack (200G) of Mak Nyonya Rendang paste (see picture at the end of the post)
I brought this from Penang too, you can substitute it with any brand that is available at your local oriental supermarket)

3. 5lbs chicken, marinade with 0.5pack(35g) of curry Kapitan powder with 1/2tsp of salt for 1 hour.

4. 500g purple shallot - ground or blended
5. 4 stalks lemon grass - crushed
6. 8~10 curry leaf
7. 1000~1200ml water
8. 3~4 tbsp thick coconut milk
9. 2~3 tsp lime juice
10. 2pcs of lime peel (about 2" size) - optional
11. Salt to taste
12. 2~3 potato, cook until soft, peel and cut to chunks.

Note :
*** If I cook 1 whole chicken - approx. 3.5lbs, I will just reduce the Kapitan curry powder to 1 pack usage, reduce the water and coconut milk, I will keep the same amount of ground shallot.***



Steps :

1. Heat the pot, add in sufficient oil.
2. Quick fry marinated chicken
- Not to well cooked. About 2 minutes for a whole drum stick, less than 1 minute for the rest of cuts. I know this step may not sound healthy, but it prevents the meat from becoming mushy. And it makes the meat coat better with the curry gravy too. Split to few fries if you want to save the oil.

3. After quick frying the chicken, discharge excessive oil. Leave about 3tbsp of oil in the pot.
4. Fragrance ground shallot for about 5 minutes (adjust the heat if necessary), add in lemon grass, curry Kapitan powder (pre-mixed with some water), rendang paste and curry leaf.
5. Stir and fragrance for another 5~8 minutes.
6. Add some water water (I added 800ml first, then followed by small portion until it reached my desired texture, if you like thicker gravy, reduce the amount of water)
7. Bring to boil, add in pre-fried chicken, pre-cooked potato chunks. Simmer about about 10~15 minutes or until the chicken is tender.
8. Add in coconut milk, lime juice, salt to taste.
9. Bring to boil again then remove from heat immediately.
10. Add in lime peel - optional (I like it this way as it brings some tangy aroma to my curry chicken, the lime peel shouldn't be cooked, or it will bring bitter flavor to your curry gravy ).
11. Skim excessive oil if necessary.



Sambal chili- I made this 1 day ahead and forgot to record the volume of my ingredients. I believe a lot of Malaysians have their own homemade recipe. I made it simple just a combination of fresh ground chili, roasted prawn paste (belacan) and key lime juice.




Sambal Ikan Bilis (Sambal Anchovies and Peanut)- only mix the sauce with anchovies and peanut when serving to avoid soggy texture.

I make this for small portion only just for ourselves and my friends from Malaysia and Singapore)

1. 100g anchovies - rinsed then dried with paper towel, bake in the oven for 25~30 minutes at 300f. Juggling the baking sheet every 10 minutes to prevent burning. I avoid to deep fry it for health reasons (try to avoid too much frying now..lol)

2. 150 peanuts - saute without oil until golden brown (again, avoid frying it)

Sauce for ikan bilis

1. 1tbsp oil
2. 100g onion slices
3. 2tbsp homemade sambal chili
4. 2 tbsp sweet chili sauce
5. 1 tsp oyster sauce
6. 70ml water
7. 1~2 tbsp tamarind juice
8. 1/2~1 tsp dark soy sauce
9. 1/2 tsp sugar
10. Some corn starch liquid for thickening
****no need to season with salt because anchovies are salty enough****



Steps:
1. Fragrance onion slices with oil.
2. Add in sambal chili, stir and switch to medium heat.
3. Add sweet chili sauce, oyster sauce and dark soy sauce.
4. Stir for few second then add in water, tamarind juice and sugar.
5. Bring to boil then thicken the sauce with corn starch liquid.
6. Remove from heat immediately.

Lastly...coconut rice, just grab all the ingredients below into a rice cooker then press start. :-)

1. 3 cup jasmine rice - washed and rinsed.
2. 2.75~3 cup water (depends on which brand of the rice you use)
3. 5~6 tbsp thick coconut milk
4. 1/4 tsp salt
5. 1 inch of fresh ginger chunk
6. 6~8 pandan leaf (screw pine leaf) - I like it more-- :-)

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Curry Kapitan powder - it is also available at oriental supermarket here - Lee Lee Supermarket.











Brought it back from Penang, I found it tastes better. The one sold at Lee Lee is the brand from Singapore.

Curry Potato with Paruppu and Roti Canai (short cut version)

Isn't that nice to live in a food paradise? I didn't have to think about cooking prawn noodle, laksa, roti canai (Indian paratha) on my own in Penang - I could easily get it everywhere, and they simply tasted good!

Paruppu curry (Dhal) is usually served along with roti canai in Malaysia. I always asked the boss to give me more curry gravy, and I'd eat a spoonful of the curry with every bite of my roti canai. Yummeh!!!!

I found a frozen roti canai in Asian supermarket here, and guess what?? It is made in Malaysia - Penang, Gelutong (Yay!!!), it is "Memori" brand, I strongly recommend this brand to those living out of Malaysia. It tasted the best among from other brands. Crispy and not oily.


Crispy layers of "Memori" brand roti canai.

Now I got the roti canai, but it wouldn't taste right without paruppu. The instant dhal I got from the store is the thicken version, I like a bit runny one better. So, what did I do?? It is time consuming to tenderize the dhal (the yellow split peas). So I invented a short cut version! LOL!!!

Tahdaaaah..... I cook a pot of curry potato, then mix with a pack of dhal, the gravy tasted exactly the same like the one sold at mamak stall! yay me!! yay me!!! hahahah

Here's my recipe for the curry, I cook this to serve homeless people too while I was volunteering at Tzu Chi, it is meatless meal.

1. 1tbsp garam masala (optional) - I added it for spicier and stronger taste.
2. 4 tbsp curry powder
3. 1 tbsp turmeric powder
4. 2~3 tbsp corn/vegetable oil
5. 1 large onion - squared or sliced
6. 1 stalk lemon grass (editor's note: This stuff, along with pumpkins, yam leaf plants, and winter mellons, are taking over the back yard!)
7. 8~10 curry leaves or as needed
8. 2 medium size potato (approx. 350g) - chunked
9. 1 large carrot (approx. 120g) - chunked
10. 3~4 tomatoes (approx 200g) - chunked ** add some tomato puree/sauce if you like it sour**
11. 450~500ml water
12. 1 pack of instant Dhal (Dal)
13. 30 ml coconut milk
14. Some sugar to taste
15 Some salt to taste.

Steps.
1. Mix ingredient # 1~#3 with 1/2 cup of water.
2. Grease a heated non-stick pot with oil.
3. Fragrant the onion (about 2~3 minutes)
4. Add in curry mixture # 1, lemon grass and curry leaves, stir and fragrant for about 3~5 minutes.
5. Add tomato, carrot and potato chunks, stir fry for about 3 minutes, sprinkle water if necessary.
6. Pour in water just enough to cover 90% of the potato, carrot and tomato chunks.
7. Bring to boil, simmer at low medium heat for 20 minutes.
8. Add instant dhal, tomato puree/sauce (if you like it sour) stir to mix well, simmer for another 10 minutes.
9. Add coconut milk, sugar and salt to taste. Bring to boil and remove from heat.
10. Serve with rice, noodle or roti canai.

The instant dhal (dal)


"Memori" brand roti canai, made in Penang, Malaysia. Highly reconmended

Banana Leaf Pan Fried Curry Tilapia with Mint Pepper Salsa

After I finished the the Sweet and Sour Chili Crab, here comes the fish.

If I were in Penang, I would make this with Kembong fish or stingray. It is impossible to get kembong here, and stingray is frozen, so it wouldn't taste nice if you compare it with the fresh fish available in Malaysia.



I got 2 tilapia fillets from Albertson's, since they were on sale. I should have bought more - two were not enough for both of us.



I pan fried the fish with banana leaf in between the pan and fish, it helps to keep the juice of the fish. I served it with the refreshing mint pepper salsa, it was like having a ikan bakar in Penang. :-p

Ingredients & Steps :

A ) Fish
1. 2 tilapia fillets - rub with 2tsp of curry powder and 1/8tsp salt. Marinate at least 3 hours or overnight for better flavor.
2. 2 sheets of banana leaves (about 8" x8")
3. 1 tbsp cooking oil

B) Mint Pepper salsa
1. 10 mint leaves or as needed
2. 5~6 pearl onions - sliced
3. 3 chili padi (chopped) or 1 habanero
4. 1/2 tsp fresh lime juice or as needed
5. Pinch of sugar and salt to taste

- Mix all ingredients B and refrigerate at least 1 hour before serve.

To cook the fish :

1. Heat up a large skillet, grease with a table spoon of oil.
2. Place a sheet of banana leaf on the skillet, then lay the fish fillets on top of it.
3. Cook for 3~3.5 minutes for each side with the cover on.
4. Turn and change the banana once.
5. Serve with mint pepper salsa B as above.

Prok Ribs Curry

Curry Pork Ribs

Curry is very popular in Malaysia. There are 3 major races in the country. You can find a variety of curries served in our daily meals. Indian style, Malay, Chinese or Nyonya, each of them has their own specialty of taste and flavor. I love curry very much. I used to cook seafood curry while I was in Malaysia because the seafood ingredients are fresh and not expensive.

The choices of the fresh seafood in Arizona are limited and expensive. So, most of the time, I would just cook curry chicken or pork rib to serve with Nasi Lemak (coconut rice).


Curry Pork Ribs

Besides the Pandan Layer Cake, I have also made some curry pork ribs for the Pot Luck Party on last Saturday. As some of the guests are vegetarian, I split the curry gravy to cook with some vegetarian mutton so that everyone had the chance to taste it. I made my curry with a less intense flavor because most of them are Taiwanese, they might not used to the strong and spicy curry that I usually cook.


Curry Vegetarian Mutton

In following ingredients, you will find I used 2 types of curry powder/paste. The Kapitan curry powder has stronger and spicy taste, usually done in just little gravy, mixing with Rendang curry paste is my own version of curry that everyone likes. You may try it.

Ingredients :

A)
1. 2kg Pork ribs - marinate with 2 tbsp Kapitan curry powder and 1/4 tsp salt.
2. 3pcs potato - cook seprately with until tender, peel and cut to 1.5" chunks

B)
1. 1 pack (75g) Kapitan curry powder - mix 2tbsp of powder with 1/4 tsp salt - rub with the pork ribs for evenly coated. Mix the rest of the powder in a bowl of 20ml water.
2. 1 pack (50g) Rendang curry paste.
3. 500g shallot - blended
4. 10g fresh turmeric - blended with shallot
5. 1 stalk of lemon grass - cut to 2 or 3 pieces 2.5" length, cracked.
6. 6~8 curry leaves
7. 1 tsp lime juice
8. 2~3 kaffir lime leaves
9. 60ml coconut milk
10. salt to taste
11. Some water (adjust according to your preferred curry gravy)



Steps :

1. Quick fry the pork ribs for 1 minutes each side. Set aside.
2. Cook the onion and turmeric mixture in 2~3 tbsp red-hot cooking oil for 4~5 minutes or until fragrant.
3. Add in Kapitan curry mixture and Rendang curry paste, lemon grass and curry leaves. Stir and fry for 5 minutes. Add in some more oil and adjust the heat to prevent burning.
4. Add in quick prefried pork ribs. Stir and cook for another 5 minutes. Adjust the heat to prevent burning.
5. Add water, bring to boil, add the precooked potato chunks. Simmer covered until the meat reach your preferred tenderness.
6. Add in coconut milk, lemon juice and salt to taste.
7. Turn off the heat, and immediately add in the kaffir lime leaves. Don't cook the leaves, it will make your curry bitter.
8. Skim the extra oil on the top the curry gravy.