Kari Ayam 咖喱雞 Malaysian Chicken Curry

serves 6 as part of a Malaysian meal

for the curry paste you'll need;

10 shallots, chopped

12 dried chilies, soaked in hot water for 5 minutes and chopped

5 red chilies, chopped

10 cloves of garlic, chopped

a knob of ginger, chopped

a knob of galangal, chopped

a knob of turmeric, chopped

10 candle nuts or brazil nut, chopped

1 lemongrass, chopped (white part only)

small piece of shrimp paste, toasted

4 tbs of Malaysian meat curry paste (I used Burung Nuri brand) made

into a paste with some water

Blend everything into a course paste (except the curry paste)

you'll also need;

1 x 1.5kg organic chicken, cut into 16 pieces

4 potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

1 large tomato, cut into chunks

12 curry leaves

2 star anise

400 ml of coconut milk

salt and pepper to taste

potatoes are cut into chunks, set aside.

Fry wet spices till soften then add the curry paste and continue to fry til

oil separate. Add chicken and fry chicken in the curry paste for about 5

minutes, add curry leaves and star anise.

Add coconut milk and simmer for 20 minutes, potatoes can be added

after that and continue to simmer for a further 20 minutes.

Chuck in the cut tomatoes and continue to simmer for 5 minutes, check

for seasoning.

Serve hot with plenty of hot rice or just plain old white bread or

some roti chanai!! Sometimes I even make roti jala to go with this.

Geong Chung Har Kok 薑蔥蝦角 Ginger, Spring Onion And Prawn Dumplings － Yum Cha Special 1

At last we had a relatively low key Sunday for a change. I spent a better part of the day

catching up with my reading and  composing new posts for the blog. When it was time

to plan for dinner, Tummy suggested a yum cha favourite of ours that we always order

at yum cha.

If you are a big yum cha fan like we are, the chances are you might be familiar with this

delicious dish too. Steaming with a light sauce after deep frying the dumplings might

sound weird to some but such a process creates the most agreeable texture and

mouthfeel so prized in Chinese cooking.

I will share with you our other yum cha favourites in the near future, hopefully you'll be

able to have a cosy yum cha lunch at the comfort of your own home soon.

P.S Another of my lovely reader turned up the the restaurant last night. It was a very

nice surprise indeed, thank you again!

makes 12

you'll need;

500 g of prawns, shelled and roughly chopped

6 water chestnuts, roughly chopped

2 spring onions (white parts only), minced

2 cm piece of ginger, grated

dash of Chinese cooking wine

1 tbs of light soy

1 tbs of oyster sauce

1tsp of sesame oil

1/2 tsp of white pepper

1 tbs of corn flour

12 wonton wanton wrappers

oil for frying

2 spring onions, julienned 

3 slices of ginger, julienned

for the sauce;

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 cup of chicken stock

1 tbs of light soy

a dash of Chinese cooking wine

corn flour solution

Peel the prawns, reserving the heads and shells for curry laksaor prawn noodles.

Roughly chop the shelled prawns.

Place chopped prawns, water chestnuts, minced spring onion, grated ginger, seasonings

and corn flour in a bowl and mix well.

Place ~ 1.5 tbs of the prawn filling in the middle of the wonton wrapper, gather all

edges to form a plum dumpling. Repeat with the rest of the wrappers.

Fry dumplings in batches until golden.

To make the sauce - saute garlic with a little oil, add stock and soy and allow to come to

a simmer, thicken with a little corn flour solution.

Place dumplings in a bowl that fit nicely in a steamer, pour the sauce over, top with

julienned spring onion and ginger and steam over high heat for 5 minutes.

I served the dumplings as an appetizer with some Cantonese chili oil on the side.