It is my birthday today. I am 38. To celebrate the fact that I am not yet 40 I am happy to share with you my favourite recipe. My wife is cooking it for me tonight. This recipe is, btw, the reason why I married my wife.
At first glance it may seem daunting - the recipe, not marriage - but isn't all that difficult, nor time consuming. It's also low fat provided you remove the chicken skin. The only risk is from over consumption.
Step 1 - The curry powder.
------------------------------- You can either buy a packet of malaysian curry powder - we always use Yeos brand which we buy from our local oriental supermarket - or make your own using the following recipe kidly given to me by the uk time's wonderful cookery wriiter Jill Dupleix
To keep the curry powder fresh, store it in a small plastic container in the freezer.
3 tbsp coriander seed 1 tbsp cumin seed 1 tbsp fennel seed 1 tbsp dried red chillies 1 tbsp black peppercorns 1 cinnamon stick 1 tsp cardamom 1 tsp whole cloves 1 tbsp ground turmeric
Toast the coriander, cumin and fennel seeds in a dry fry pan until fragrant. Discard any stalks on the dried red chillies, and break up the cinnamon stick. Combine the toasted spices, chillies, cinnamon, peppercorns, cardamom and cloves, and grind in an electric coffee grinder or spice grinder until fine. Combine the ground spices with the ground turmeric.
You can play around with the recipe a little if you please.
Step 2 - Malaysian Chicken Curry recipe ----------------------------------------------
1. Chop 1 large onion into big dice
2. Grate 1.5 inches of Ginger.
3. Chop a good quality chicken into smallish pieces with the bone in, then set aside. The better the chicken, the better the meal. It tastes far nicer with the bone in too.
I use a good quality cooks knife to remove the backbone first before chopping off each leg, wing, breats, thigh, and then choppong them each in half/third. The only bits we don't use are the offal, the skin, and the big chunks of fat often hidden inside the cavity.
4. Fry onion in oil. When soft add ginger. Fry 1 minute more.
5. Add 1 packet or self-made mix of Curry powder and mix. Add a half glass of water (to prevent powder from burning). Fry for 1 minute.
6. Add all of the chicken pieces.
7. Add some salt.
8. Brown chicken. i.e. Fry for 2-3 minutes
9. Add tin of tomatoes or 4-6 fresh tomatoes
10. Add water to cover all the chicken
11. Bring to boil. Add a bundlle of new potatoes & a little more salt.
12. Simmer until cooked. About 20 minutes.
13. Add coconut milk (from tin, solid block, or other) and lime juice to taste.
3 -Serve and eat.
--------------------- We eat this with basmati rice (because it tastes good and is low GI but any rice will do) We also serve with bean sprouts which have been drowned in boiling water for 20 seconds, drained and seasoned with fresh chopped corriander (cilantro) and spring oniopns, along with a good shake of white peper and oyster sause.
This is especially good with a geuertstramener (wine I can't spell) or with a white beer. It does get messy to eat if you are not ultra careful ... But it is delicious.
.oOo. Sent from my BlackBerry www.ClarkeChing.com +44(0)7920114893
