Malaysian Chicken Curry

I love a good curry, it mustn’t have too much chilli, but have loads of fragrant spices. We Malaysian grow up on curries. We have it for breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner and supper. Roti with a nice curry sauce is almost a national dish. This version of chicken curry is probably the Malaysian Chinese version.

Ingredients: 

1kg chicken pieces bone in (I used drumsticks)

4 large potatoes cut into 3cm cubes

1 large carrot cut into 2 cm rounds

125ml coconut cream

2 stalks of curry leaves

½ cup water

2 tbsp cooking oil

Salt

Spice paste

1 large onion (or use 3-4 shallots)

3 cloves garlic

2cm knob fresh ginger (or turmeric if available)

2 fresh red chillies

2 kaffir lime leaves

3 stalks of lemon grass (use white parts only)

Dry spices

2 tbsp coriander seeds

1 tbsp fennel seeds

1 tbsp cumin seeds

2 cardamon pods

3 cloves

1 star anise

Method:

1.          Toast the dry spices in a dry pan for 3-4 minutes.

2.          Blend into powder.

3.          Blend all the ingredients for the spice paste, add dry spices to it.

4.          Heat oil in a heavy based large pot and cook the spice paste on low heat until it separates.

5.          Add in the chicken and water.

6.          Cover and simmer on low heat for 15 minutes.

7.          Stir and rearrange the chicken so they can be evenly cooked. Add the carrots and potatoes, cover and simmer for another 15 minutes.

8.          Add the coconut milk and leave to simmer uncovered to thicken the sauce for about 5-10 minutes.

9.          Serve with rice or roti.