in my studio | authentic

Posts Tagged With 'authentic'

Nov
19
2011

curry laksa version 2

curry laksa

Yet another laksa post from me because I am a fanatic laksa fan. Here is the original post, I posted a few months ago when I first learnt how to make it from scratch-no bottle paste anymore yee-ha! This time, I made a few extra changes.

If you love cooking malaysian food, you most probably have all these ingredients sitting at home in your pantry/fridge. All you have to do is get the fresh stuff like boy choy, bean sprouts etc. The only downside is probably having to toast the belacan (shrimp) which is super smelly-makes-you-want-to-gag, but because I’m all-things-malaysian, I absolutely love the smell! Though, hubby’s orders: please toast them outside. And yes, please do. You do not want your house smelling like off shrimps ;)

RECIPE FOR MALAYSIAN CHICKEN CURRY LAKSA
Adapted from Almost Bourdain, with slight modifications

Serves: 6
Prep time: 30 mins
Cook time: 50 mins

Ingredients

For the paste:
20 Asian shallots
10 cloves garlic
10 dried chillies, soaked in warm water for 30mins
3 tsp toasted belacan
3 tbsp dried shrimps, soaked in warm water for 5 mins
6 candlenuts (buah keras)

Other ingredients:
3 tbsp curry powder (I used Baba’s Meat)
1 kg egg noodles (hokkien noodles), blanched
24 shelled prawns, deveined
2 chicken breast, cooked and sliced
2 big bunch of choy sum, cut
3 stalks lemon grass, bruised
2 sprig curry leaves
3 cups chicken stock
3/4 can coconut milk
200 g tofu puffs, halved
300 g bean sprouts, blanched and tail removed
3 hard boiled eggs, halved
1 packet fried fish cakes, sliced thinly
5 tbsp oil
salt to taste
Fried shallots, for garnishing
Spring onions, for garnishing

Method

1. To make the paste: Mix ingredients and pound into a paste using a blender.

2. Heat up oil in a medium sized pot, and stir the prawns for 5 mins until cooked evenly. Remove prawns and set aside.

3. Saute the blended paste, lemon grass, curry powder and curry leaves until the oil separates and is fragrant. This should take about 7 – 10 mins.

3. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil.

4. Reduce heat and leave to simmer for about 20 minutes.

5. Add the coconut cream/milk and bring to a boil again, stirring constantly to prevent it from curdling.

6. Turn of the stove and add tofu puffs, fish cake, choy sum and some salt to taste then give it a final stir to coat all the ingredients.

To serve: Divide noodles into individual bowls. Pour the hot curry laksa evenly ontop of the noodles into each bowl and then spread the prawns, chicken, eggs and the garnishes. Serve immediately.

Click ‘Read More’ below to print out the recipe and leave a comment.

3 lovely comments
Category: asian, chicken, halal, in my kitchen, noodles, seafood

Oct
22
2011

30 minute chicken curry

Making a traditional and authentic chicken curry would simply mean staying in the kitchen for hours, pounding fresh ingredients and so forth. These days, you’ll easily find a lot of the supermarkets selling curry powder and curry paste. But I wouldn’t recommend buying curry powder from your local western supermarket though. Try to get them from any Asian grocery or even at your Indian grocer. There are many types but I only prefer one. Baba’s Meat Curry Powder, made in Malaysia.

When I first got married to my Lebanese husband, my mother in law made a pot of chicken curry (bought locally). The taste? Well, it didn’t come close to a curry. But then again, I can’t blame her. She’s not familiar with Asian cuisine so she and the rest of the family enjoyed it thoroughly. I just ate in silence. One day, I introduced my version of chicken curry using Baba’s and she fell in love. The look on her face was priceless, it was as though she had not tasted good chicken curry in her life.

There are many types of chicken curry; dry, wet, yellow, red, brown etc. The different variety of curries made by Malay, Indian, Chinese, Indo also slightly differ from one another. This curry here, I would say its a mix between Malay and Indian. Its so yummy and literally done in 30 minutes (if you use small cuts of chicken). I usually make a big pot so I have leftovers. Serve it with some rice, prata (roti) or yellow glutinous rice and there you go, a meal for the next 3 nights.

RECIPE FOR EASY MALAYSIAN CHICKEN CURRY

Serves: 3
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 30 mins

Ingredients

1/2 kilo chicken, cut into small pieces (with bones)
1 medium onion, finely sliced
1 cinnamon stick
2 cardamom pods
2 cloves
1 medium tomato, quartered (optional)
1/3 cup coconut milk
2-3 tbsp Baba’s curry powder (I like mine really hot so I use 5 tbsp)
2 cups water
1 tsp sugar
salt to taste
4 tbsp oil

Method

1. Heat oil and sautee onions in a medium size pot. Add all the spices and tomato and fry until fragrant for about 5 mins.

2. Add the curry powder, chicken and water and cook on a medium heat for 15 mins.

3. Pour in the coconut milk and stir until well combined.

4. Season well with sugar and salt then simmer for another 10 minutes or so.

5. Serve with rice or pratha(roti/bread).

Click ‘Read More’ below to print the recipe and leave a comment.

8 lovely comments
Category: chicken, halal, in my kitchen

Sep
15
2011

chicken curry laksa

I love noodles. I could eat them everyday. Stir fried or soup based noodles. Both are Yum! Curry laksa is one of my all time favourite meal. Whenever I dine out in a Malaysian restaurant, this is what I’d order. There were times where I have been so dissapointed and times where I’d go back again just to eat laksa. My family knows I’m a crazy laksa girl. Sometimes they would stop me from ordering it and tell me to try something else. I should write a post about these laksa joints, where to get yummy laksa and where not to order not-so-yummy laksa.

In Malaysia, there are so many kinds of laksa. Curry laksa (uses curry powder), Asam Laksa (uses fish), Johor Laksa (uses fish too but very dense and has coconut milk) and so on. Just do a google search and you’ll find heaps of variants. My sister made laksa using this recipe and I loved it. So I tried it at home for some lovely guests we had coming from Sydney and they loved it too. Once you try this recipe (from scratch) you’ll never want to buy the laksa paste at the supermarket again. This tastes no where near that bottled stuff.

RECIPE FOR MALAYSIAN CHICKEN CURRY LAKSA
Adapted from Almost Bourdain, with slight modifications

Serves: 6
Prep time: 30 mins
Cook time: 50 mins

Ingredients

For the paste:
20 Asian shallots
10 cloves garlic
10 dried chillies, soaked in warm water for 30mins
3 tsp toasted belacan
3 tbsp dried shrimps, soaked in warm water for 5 mins
6 candlenuts (buah keras)

Other ingredients:
2-3 tbsp curry powder (I used Baba’s Meat)
1 kg egg noodles (hokkien noodles), blanched
24 shelled prawns, deveined
2 chicken thigh fillet, cooked and sliced
2 big bunch of choy sum, cut
3 stalks lemon grass, bruised
1 sprig curry leaves
3 cups chicken stock
1 can coconut cream (use coconut milk for a lighter version)
200 g tofu puffs, halved
300 g bean sprouts, blanched and tail removed
3 hard boiled eggs, halved
1 packet fried fish cakes, sliced thinly
5 tbsp oil
salt to taste
Fried shallots, for garnishing
Spring onions, for garnishing

Method

1. To make the paste: Mix all ingredients and pound into a paste using a blender.

2. Heat up oil in a medium sized pot, and stir the prawns for 5 mins until cooked evenly. Remove prawns and set aside.

3. Saute the blended paste, lemon grass and curry leaves until the oil separates and is fragrant. This should take about 7 – 10 mins.

3. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil.

4. Reduce heat and leave to simmer for about 20 minutes.

5. Add the coconut cream/milk and bring to a boil again, stirring constantly to prevent it from curdling.

6. Turn of the stove and add tofu puffs, fish cake, choy sum and some salt to taste then give it a final stir to coat all the ingredients.

To serve: Divide noodles into individual bowls. Pour the hot curry laksa evenly ontop of the noodles into each bowl and then spread the prawns, chicken, eggs and the garnishes. Serve immediately.

Click ‘Read More’ below to print out the recipe and leave a comment.

Serves: 4
Prep time: 30 mins
Cook time: 1-2 hours

1 lovely comment
Category: asian, chicken, in my kitchen, noodles

Aug
30
2011

raya madness // malaysian chicken curry rendang

‘Rendang?, Errr..’ That’s what I would say a couple of years back had you told me to make it. It never crossed my mind to even have a go at making rendang. Then one day, after picking my sister up at the airport (her trip back from Malaysia), she casually mentioned that she had written down a rendang recipe from our cousin’s grandma, Tok Ye, whilst she was staying with them. My reaction; “what? where? pleaseee give it to me!”. We all know she’s a good excellent cook. I tried it straight away. Kinda failed the first time. Tried again. Getting better. Third time, ‘wow nice’, forth attempt, ‘I have mastered this dish’ *insert proud face*. You’re probably wondering why it took me a few go’s before perfecting it? It aint easy! No two rendangs taste the same. Once you make this, you’ll never want to eat from a packet again. An original, from scratch, this rendang is truly authentic. And please don’t take any shortcuts or leave out any ingredient. Rendang is a sensitive dish. Have I scared you off?

This aromatic-absolutely-delicious-mouth-watering-jam-packed-full-of-flavour dish originated from Malaysia/ Indonesia. The usual rendang is made with tender juicy beef, but since I was cooking for mum and she doesn’t like beef, I made it with chicken instead. It taste just as good if you’re into chicken. Who isn’t :p

CHICKEN RENDANG
Adapted from Tok Ye, with slight modifications

Serves: 4
Prep time: 30 mins
Cook time: 1-2 hours

Ingredients

Part A (Blend till it forms a fine paste)
12 small shallots
7 cloves garlic
1 knob ginger, 4 cm
1 knob galangal, 4cm
3 lemongrass, end part only and sliced thinly

Part B (Dry fry the first 3 ingredients untill fragrant, and then blend all together)
2 tbsp ketumber (coriander seeds)
1 tsp jintan manis (cummin seeds)
1 tsp jintan putih (fennel seeds)
15 dried chilli, soaked in hot water for 30 mins

The rest of the ingredients are:
1 kilo chicken curry pieces, with bones
2 tsp ginger paste (to marinate the chicken)
2 tsp garlic paste (to marinate the chicken)
2 tsp salt
2 tsp palm sugar (or brown sugar)
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp tamarind paste
1 tsp black pepper
1.5 tbsp curry powder (brand:baba’s meat curry powder)
3-4 kaffir lime leaves
100g kerisik (dry fry shredded coconut untill golden brown)
1 can coconut cream
1/2 cup oil
1 cup water

Method

1. Marinate chicken with a bit of salt and the ginger & garlic paste. Stand for an hour.

2. Put oil and add the ingredients from Part B, fry until fragrant and you see the oil separates. Should take about 7-10 mins.

3. Add part A, turmeric, tamarind and curry powder then fry again until oil separates. Another 7 mins.

4. Put the chicken and water in then cook covered for an hour on low heat. Stir regularly to make sure it doesn’t burn.

5. Add the kaffir lime leaves, coconut cream, kerisik (shredded coconut) and season generously with salt, pepper and sugar.

6. Cook for another half hour or so until it dries out and the colour has darkened.

7. It is usually served with any type of rice- rice cubes, steam rice, sticky rice.

Click ‘Read More’ below to view my tips on how to concoct a wonderful pot of rendang.

4 lovely comments
Category: asian, chicken, in my kitchen

Posts Tagged With 'authentic'

curry laksa version 2

30 minute chicken curry

chicken curry laksa

raya madness // malaysian chicken curry rendang

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