Kari Ayam: Malaysian Chicken Curry

One of the obvious perks of being married to a gorgeous Malaysian man is sharing delicious home-cooked meals from his childhood. I imagine he dined on this curry as a boy, surrounded by family at a busy kitchen table in the small town of Miri in Borneo.

Here, Byron shares his recipe for a mild, flavoursome traditional family chicken curry, Kari Ayam (aren't we lucky?!).

Kari Ayam
Serves 4

Olive oil
500g chicken thigh fillets, chunky diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
8 cm piece of ginger
1 long red chilli, seeds removed, finely sliced
3 star anise
6-8 cardamon pods, smack with the back of your knife to open
1 cinnamon scroll
2 Tbs ground turmeric
4 kaffir limes leaves
2 pandan leaves
1 cup chicken stock
1 Tbs hard palm sugar
2 large washed potatoes, large cubes
1 cup coconut milk
Coriander and fresh chilli to serve
Brown rice

In a large pan, heat roughly 1 tablespoon of olive oil, brown the chicken (high heat) and set aside. Reduce to low heat, add more oil, the crushed garlic, thinly sliced ginger, chilli, star anise, cardamon pods, cinnamon scroll and the turmeric. Stir constantly to prevent sticking to the pan and cook until the ingredients cook to a golden colour, approximately 5 minutes. Return the cooked chicken to the pan, add the kaffir lime leaves and pandan leaves, stir to coat with the spices and cook, stirring for 2 minutes.

Add the chicken stock and palm sugar and cover the pot, allowing a small space for steam to escape (Byron used a wooden spoon under the lid to allow a small gap). Simmer over low heat until the volume of the stock is reduced slightly. Add the potatoes and coconut milk and continue to slowly simmer until the potatoes are just soft (test with a fork).

Taste and season if needed.

Serve with fluffy brown rice, and sprinkled with sliced chilli and fresh coriander leaves. Usually we prepare our brown rice in a rice cooker with several slices of ginger and knotted pandan leaves tucked into the rice as it cooks. The flavour is subtly enhanced and the aroma is mouth-watering.

A handy tip: Remove the cardamon pods when you serve as they can have quite a surprising burst of flavour when you bite into them unexpectedly.

Eat surrounded by family or friends around your kitchen table. Talk, laugh, savour and enjoy.

Sangat Sedap!

Bella and Byron xx

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A Long Weekend and a Mild Chicken Curry

I don't know about others, but for me to have three days off work (in a ROW!!!) on the weekend to celebrate Easter, combined with the knowledge that I would have the luxury of time to cook more leisurely than usual, meant that I could relax and unwind.

This weekend saw the cooler mornings linger a little longer, leading me to believe that Summer has well and truly departed and Autumn has settled right in.

On Sunday afternoon, following an extended lazy few hours in bed, Byron and I pulled on our jeans and similar black t-shirts (How rock star... Wait! Is it just me or have we started to dress alike??) and drove to the market to purchase pumpkin and potatoes for dinner. I entrusted Byron with the meat purchase and to my excitement, he brought back a bag of gorgeous pink chicken thigh fillets. The sleepily churning cogs in my mind went into overdrive because it was at that moment that I realised what our delicious dinner was going to be..

Mild Chicken Curry

Serves 6

2 Tbs olive olive oil
1/2 large brown onion, diced
1 clove garlic, finely diced (or crushed if you're a rock star)
1 small chilli, deseeded and finely diced
1 Tbs cumin
1 Tbs turmeric
1 Tbs finely grated ginger
1/2 butternut pumpkin, peeled and cut into smallish chunks
3 chicken thigh fillets, cut into small pieces
3 cups chicken stock (use vegetable stock if omitting the chicken for a vegetarian dish)
1 can diced tomatoes (you can used whole peeled tomatoes if you prefer)
4 small washed potatoes, chopped into small pieces, skin on
1 small carrot, sliced
1 bunch of coriander, washed
1 can chickpeas
1-2 bay leaves
1 cup boiling water

Brown rice
1 Pandan leaf
4 slices fresh ginger
Thick natural or Greek yoghurt

In a large pot (I used my Chasseur, because it's perfect) heat one tablespoon of olive oil over low heat, add the onion, garlic and chilli and stir with a wooden spoon until soft. Add the cumin, turmeric, freshly grated ginger and pumpkin pieces and stir to coat evenly.

In a fry pan, heat one tablespoon of olive oil over medium to high heat. Seal the chicken, then add it to the pot. Pour in the stock, and canned tomatoes then increase the heat to bring the stock to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer.

When the pumpkin has slightly lost it's firmness, add the potato and carrot. Cut the stems from the coriander and chop into small pieces, add the coriander stems, bay leaves and chick peas, and simmer the curry for about 20-30 minutes. If required, you can add a cup of boiling water.

Your kitchen will fill with the beautiful aromas of the spices as they bubble away on your stove. Our entire apartment filled with the deliciously fragrant curry. It was enough to rouse Byron from his dreamy state on the lounge and being to murmur things such as, 'Mmmm smells good', and 'When can we eat it?'

Stir in the coriander leaves briefly, then serve the curry on brown rice. Brown rice really is ideal with this dish, however we had white rice on hand and it worked a treat. Byron cooked the rice with pandan leaves and slices of fresh ginger, which were removed just prior to serving.

I love how some of the pumpkin pieces become slightly mushy as it makes the curry thick and the coriander adds a distinct asian flavour to the dish, it's divine.

Best served with a dollop of thick natural yoghurt and fresh, bright green coriander leaves.

The absolute best thing about curry is that it's flavours further develop over night so that you end up with a more complex and delicious meal the following day and with ample to share, it's wonderful to reheat for friends who might happen to be enjoying an Easter long weekend too.

What did you you do for Easter?

Bella xx

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