Kari Ayam (Chicken Curry)

Kate Pankhurst, this is for you. I know you requested this way back in September, we only managed to do this about two weeks ago. And the editing took a bit of time as well so yeah... here it is, finally.

Mum and I had fun doing this one. It was one of those afternoons where everyone from my sister to my uncle and their family turned up at my mums house. So mum quickly made this so that there is food on the table. Everything was quite impromptu. Fortunately I was there too and got to record this for Kate.

This is our basic curry method. So it applies to beef and lamb as well. So try it out and enjoy it.

The Ingredients

• 6 to 8 pieces of chicken (ayam).
• About 2 inches of ginger (halia), sliced into thin strips.
• 10 shallots (bawang merah). Sliced thinly.
• 5 garlic (bawang putih). Sliced thinly.
• 2 inches of cinnamon (kayu manis).
• 2 to 3 star anise (bunga lawang).
• 4 to 5 cardamon (buah pelaga).
• 3 stems of curry leaves (daun kari). This is optional but I think you can get dried ones from your local oriental shop or Chinatown.
• 2 to 3 tablespoons of meat curry powder (rempah kari daging).
• 1 teaspoon of coarse salt (garam kasar).
• 3 to 4 tablespoons of dried chili paste (cili boh).
• Coconut milk. Prepare two types of thickness. One very creamy and one very watery. You can use fresh milk instead of coconut milk.
• 1 potato (kentang) skinned and cut into 4 to 6 pieces.

The Method
• Heat up oil in a wok on medium flame.
• Once the oil is hot, add the star anise, cardamon, cinnamon and curry leaves. Leave for a few seconds and add the shallots, garlic and ginger. Stir well till slightly yellow.
• Add the dried chili paste and the curry powder and mix well.
• Put in the chicken and mix till all the chicken is covered with the mix. Let it cook slightly for a few minutes so the curry flavour is well marinated into the chicken.
• Prepare the diluted coconut milk and add to the chicken. Leave to boil while stirring it occasionally so it doesn't burn at the bottom of the wok and the chicken cooks evenly.
• Once it starts boiling add the potato.
• Leave for about 10 minutes and check whether the potato is soft and cooked.
• At this point if the gravy is not thick enough start adding the creamy coconut milk and leave to simmer on low to medium flame.
• Once the gravy is thick enough, check to see the potato is soft and the chicken cooked.
• When that is done turn the flame off and leave to cool.
• Now its ready to be served. ;-)

Here is the video. Had fun on this one. Mum cracks me up.

So... masak lah dengan kasih sayang. Memang lagi sedap. Enjoy!