top of page
< Back

Malaysian Chicken Curry

Malaysian Chicken Curry

Malaysian Chicken Curry

This version is with chicken but the mildness of the dish would also compliment fish. Apparently Ling is a good substitute for catfish. Must try it sometime. Either way the wonderful colours of the curry reminded me of a journey that I have only taken in my mind to the Xandrian Quarters.

Ingredients

Curry paste -

  • 4 shallots

  • 4 cloves garlic

  • 1 inch piece of ginger

  • 2 inch piece of turmeric ( see observations)

  • two fresh chillies

  • 1 tbsp curry powder

  • 2 tsp galangal paste (see observations)

  • 1 tbsp oil


The curry itself -

ree

  • 500g chicken breast

  • 8 small waxy potatoes

  • 1 small cauliflower head

  • 400 m l coconut milk

  • 250 ml chicken stock

  • 1 cinnamon stick

  • 5 cloves (see method)

  • 5 cardamom pods

  • half a lime

  • 2 star anise

  • salt to taste

Method

Prepare the curry paste ingredients for the hand blender by cutting, peeling, chopping etc as appropriate. I didnt have lemongrass available and so left it out of the recipe. Equally I only had a jar of galangal rather than the fresh item. I added a tsp of powdered turmeric as well as the root. Blend with a little oil until smoothish and set aside.


ree

In a pan, heat the oil and add the cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and star anise and gently fry for about 2 minutes. I used more cloves than recipes but I removed the round head of the seed and used only that.

ree

Add the curry paste and fry for about 8 minutes until the oil separates. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking or burning


Meanwhile cut the chicken into bite sized chunks if not already done.


Cut the potatoes in half unless very small already.



ree

Cut the cauliflower floret up into medium sized pieces.


Add the chicken to the pan and stir to obtain coverage of the meat by the paste. The fry for a few minutes until the meat is cooking on all sides.


Add the potatoes , the coconut milk and the chicken stock and stir to mix in. Bring to boil and simmer with a lid on the pot for about 15 minutes until the potatoes are nearly cooked.


Add the florets of the cauliflower and lid for a further 10 or 15 minutes until cooked.

ree

Squeeze in the juice of half a lime. Serve with boiled rice.

Observations

I could get neither lemongrass nor galangal fresh in Dartmouth so I had to use a jar of galangal and had to omit the lemongrass which was a pity as it would have added to the dish. That being said I felt that the curry was very tasty and vibrant with colour. I actually added a tsp of cayenne pepper to the mix to bring up the heat a bit but it wasnt really necessary.


On a quick visit to the market for some fish I have just managed to find some lemongrass and so I will be able to revisit the curry this evening using monkfish (no ling available). Also acquired samphire to go with it instead of rice.


I think that the chicken was good but I feel that a fish version will be a little more flavoursome.

bottom of page