Ever since pregnancy, my tolerance for spicy food has really hit the roof! I need to have my daily dose of spice so I tend to add sambal or chilli in a lot of the food I eat. One of many Malaysian spicy dishes I absolutely love is ayam lemak cili padi or in english, spicy chicken in coconut and turmeric. The smell and flavour really compliments one another and is quite addictive. I learnt this recipe from my step mum, who by the way, is a fantastic cook mashallah. She said the key to make an excellent ayam lemak cili padi is to make sure you fry the chicken first then the rest of the ingredients follow…

AYAM LEMAK CILI PADI/SPICY CHILLI CHICKEN IN COCONUT TURMERIC GRAVY
Adapted from my step mum

Serves: 4
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 1 hour

Ingredients

1 kg chicken thigh, cut into curry pieces (with bones)
2 tsp turmeric powder (to marinate chicken)
1 tsp ginger paste (to marinate chicken)
1 tsp garlic paste (to marinate chicken)
1 tsp salt (to marinate chicken)
1 cup veg oil (for deep frying chicken)
3 kaffir lime leaves
1/2 tin coconut milk (200ml)
1 tsp of shrimp paste (belacan)
2 medium potatoes, quartered
2 cups chicken stock
1 tsp salt

To blend until  a fine paste:

2 tbsp dried small prawns
5 candlenuts
1  red onion
4 cloves garlic
2 tsp turmeric powder or 3cm fresh turmeric
3cm ginger
3-5 cili padi (birds eye chilli -warning: they are very spicy)

 

Method

1. Marinate chicken pieces with ginger, garlic, turmeric and salt for at least 30 minutes.

2. Heat up 1 cup veg oil and fry the marinated chicken. Only fry till it is 3/4 cook and leave aside to cool.

3. Remove  half of the oil and fry the blended ingredients till aromatic. This should take about 5-7 minutes.

4. Add the kaffir lime leaves, turmeric powder and cook for a few minutes until the oil separates.

5. Add the fried chicken, potatoes and chicken stock and bring to a boil.

6. Simmer on a low heat and add the coconut milk, stirring occasionally for 30 minutes.

7. Season well with salt and serve with rice.