Rendang Chicken!

I just love most foods that originates from Malaysia, Thailand and the likes. My neighbor "K" is a malaysian and our conversations have been aroundfood since Diwali (with me it is all the time). She had mentioned that it is their family tradition to make rendang chicken for Diwali and I could not taste as hers as I was not in town that day :(

I asked K and our friend Sarah from Immigrant in Canada. They both readily gave me the recipe and it was a super hit with R. The flavors of lemon grass, galangal and fresh turmeric just bursts in your mouth. Try this recipe and you would say the same things. Thanks a ton to you Sarah and K.

Ingredients

Chicken (boneless) - 1.5lbs

Coconut milk - 1 can

Star Anise - 1

Cinnamon - small stick

Coriander powder - 1/4 tsp

Tamarind paste - 1 tsp

Kaffir lime leaves - A couple ( I did not have any and so used 2 regular lime leaves and a teaspoon of lime zest)

To make into a paste

Red Chillies - 10 to 12

Galangal - 1 inch piece thinly sliced

Fresh turmeric - 1 inch piece thinly sliced

Shallots - 4 to 5 chopped

Garlic - 2 pods

Lemon grass - 2 pieces

Method

• In a thick bottomed vessel with oil, add the star anise and cinnamon.
• Add the ground paste ( the paste should be ground with little water as possible)
• Saute this for about 5 to 7 minutes until the raw smell goes away (now you kitchen will smell fragrant with the lemon grass)
• In the meanwhile have the chicken diced into cubes.
• Add the chicken and saute until it looks a little cooked.
• Top the chicken with coriander powder and the tamarind paste ( I dilued the tamarind paste in a little water.
• Add the coconut milk ( I reserved about 1/3 of a cup)

Let this simmer on medium low. K told me let it cook on medium low for an hour atleast until the coconut milk reduces and you get a thick gravy. When she called me while I was cooking, she asked me to add a handful of ground peanuts for the texture and was kind of enough to drop some off to me as I did not have any. So I pounded a fistful and added it to the curry.

I kept stirring the curry as I browsed through blogs. Since I had some more groundnuts left I sauted them with salt and chilli powder and a little bit of oil.

I cooked the rice along with the some coconut milk, a small piece of lemon grass. The smell of rice was fragrant.