Curry Briyani

One fine afternoon my elder son returned and excited announced that he just had very sumptous home-made curry briyani at his colleague's Hari Raya open house. Knowing my family's appetite for flavourful and spicy cuisine, I urged my son to ask his colleague for the recipe. However I did not hold high hopes as he said that his colleague's wife had gotten the recipe from a paid cooking course.

A few days later, a nicely printed recipe was placed on my kitchen table. Finally! I grabbed the ingredients and blended them into a yummy, thick and aromatic curry.

My family tasted it and commented it was alright, but lacking the distinctive 'oomph' of a Asian curry. It was good enough, though, and we similarly devoured the curry with lots of steaming white rice. As the portion was quite large, half of it was kept and saved for the next day. Eureka! We discovered the secret to enhanced curry flavour was to keep it overnight. Here you go, a mean dish of spicy, relishing and mesmerizing Indian-styled briyani.

Recipe:

Ingredients A:-  All to be blended/ground
1 kg meat (mutton/beef/chicken) - if use chicken, need to fry half cook.
4 red shallots
5 green chillies
5 red chillies
5 cm ginger
5 cloves garlic
 
Ingredients B:-
1 small can tomato puree (the smallest can)
1 cup tomato sos
1 tablespoon curry spices (for meat)
2 tablespoon briyani spices
2 tablespoon kurma spices (optional)

Method: Mix ingredients A and B together.

Ingredients C:-
1/2 cup yogurt, fresh milk or evaporated milk
10 almonds (optional)
10 cashew nuts (optional)

Method:- blend ingredients B together (if you are using almonds and cashew nuts).

Ingredients  D:-
2 red small onions (slice/cut)
1 stalk of mint (pudina) leaves
3 stalk of coriander leave
1 stalk lemon grass
4 fresh tomatoes (cut each tomato into 4 halves)
some cooking oil
salt
potato and carrot (optional)

Method to cook curry:
1)  Cut meat into small pieces,
2)  Heat up ghee or cooking oil, add in lemon grass,sliced onions and fry till fragrance.
3)  Pour  in ingredients A and B, stir-fry till spices are well cooked.
4) Add in the meat, corinader leaves, mint leaves, fresh tomatoes and salt.
5)  When meat is half cooked, add in ingredients C, also add in potato and carrot if you like.
6)  Cook till meat is tender and gravy has thickened (stir-occasionally  to avoid being burnt).
       Served hot with rice.

Mi Laksa Goreng Ala Thai (2) - (Fried noodle laksa with Tom Yum paste )

Came back from my USA and Canada tour just a few days ago. After 2 weeks of western cuisine, you have no idea how much I have been craving for spicy food.
Still feeling the effects of time jag, I felt rather lazy so I decided to cook this tom yam paste noodles with prawns since I have some prawns freezing in the fridge and also it is very easy to prepare.. Actually this is a revised version from my older post.

Recipe: Serves 5 to 6 persons

Ingredients:
600g laksa noodle
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
2 shallots, chopped
15 shelled medium size prawns
1 piece of fish cake, sliced
10 fish balls, cut into half
2 eggs, beaten
100g bean sprouts
some shredded lime leaves

Seasoning:
2 to 2.5 tablespoon Tom Yum paste ( I used  hollyFARMS brand)
2 teaspoon lime juice
2 teaspoon fish sauce
2 teaspoon light soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon sugar
Dash of white pepper
1 cup water

Method:
1)  Heat up oil, saute chopped garlic and shallot until fragrant.  Add in prawns, fish ball, fish cake, and beaten egg, stir-fry for few minutes till the raw ingredients are  just cooked.

2)Add in laksa noodle, seasoning and stir-fry for few minutes.  Pour in water and continue to stir fry till the gravy has absorbed by the noodle. Add in bean-sprouts, mix well,  Dish up onto a serving plate, sprinkle with shredded kafir lime leaves, serve.

Garam Masala Chicken

This is my third attempt at cooking masala chicken.  I've always had a liking for Indian curry and am constantly on the lookout for authentic recipes. Ideally, they should taste like what my family has at our favourite Indian restaurant - Shari Maharani in Raffles City. 

The other day I passed by a newly open Indian grocery shop in my neighbourhood. The lady boss strongly introduced and recommend me the House Brand garam masala powder mix. Though still not the standard I want, it's the closest yet and I am quite happy with the end products.

Recipe:

Ingredients A:

1 medium size chicken (about 1.2 kg), cut into about 20 to 22 pieces

80 g garam masala powder

1  large onions, chopped

2 tomatoes, cut into small cubes

4 red chilli, cut into half

50 g ginger paste

50 g garlic paste

500 ml water

100 ml plain yoghurt

50 ml lime juice 

salt to taste

 Ingredients B:

 150 ml ghee or cooking oil

1 stick cinnamon

3 cloves

3 cardamom

2 star anise

1 piece bay leaf

Garnishing:

2 stalks coriander leaves, chopped

4 strands curry leaves, chopped

Method:

1) Heat oil in a wok or large pan, and add  ingredients B for stir-frying.   Fry for 1 minutes.  Add in onion and saute the mixture until onion turns brown.

2) Add tomato, chilli and continue to fry till the tomato is soft.

3)  Add ginger paste follow by garlic paste and cook for 1 minute over medium heat.  Add chicken and stir-fry and mix well. Cover the lid and cook for few minutes. over low heat.

4) Add in the Garam Masala Powder, follow by yoghurt.  Mix well till the spices are blended with the chicken.

5)  Add water, cover and cook over low heat till the meat is tender. Keep stirring occasionally.

6)  Add lime juice, salt, chopped coriander and curry leaves.  Stir the thick garam masala gravy slowly till chicken is well coated with the mixture.  Serve with rice.

Curry Chicken with Pineapple - 黄梨咖哩鸡

Never in my many years of cooking experience could I imagine that pineapple cooked in curry chicken will be so delicious.  One is sour while the other is spicy and tangy, they are not compatible ingredients! ( I ever cooked  fish, prawns curry with pineapple but not chicken).  But the magic about cooking is that you'll never run out of recipes to experiment with.

The ingredients  for  this dish are mainly cooked using fresh ingredients. It does not have spices like cumin powder, fennel, coriander powder and curry powder. Ha, never expected it too, did you? My family members liked it very much. A unique taste of curry.

Recipe: Adapted from Yum Yum issue No.79

*Ground ingredients:*
* 8 fresh red chillis
* 6 chilli padi
* 5 shallots
* 5 candle nuts (buah keras)
* 2 stalks lemongrass (serai)
* 2 cm lengkuas
* 2 cm tumeic
* 3 pieces kafir lime leaves

3 tablespoon cooking oil

Ingredients:
3 chicken whole legs  (about 700 g), cut into pieces
400 ml diluted coconut milk
1 piece assam keping (tamarind slice)
3 springs daun kesom
1/2 pineapple, peeled and cut into chunks
100 ml thick coconut  milk

Seasoning:
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tsp sugar
 1/2 tsp pepper

Method:
1)  Heat up 3 tablespoon oil in a wok, saute grounded ingredients over low heat until fragrant.
2)  Add in chicken and stir well. Add in diluted coconut milk, assam keping, daun kesom and bring to boil.
     Simmer over low heat for 20 minutes until chicken meat is tender.
3)  Put  in pineapple, thick coconut and continues  to cook for 10 minutes.  Add seasoning to taste. Serve with rice.

Roti Jala

Had leftover potatoes cooked in curry from yesterday and as my family has been bugging me to make roti

jala for some time, I went to dig up "Singapore Cooking Book 2-  By Mrs Leong" recipe.  And went to buy a roti jala mould for 60 cents from a neighbourhood sundry shop.

I found the mixture too thick to go through the strainer, so had to trial and error to keep adding water before the consistency allowed it to flow rather smoothly. I do not know whether it is the holes that are too small, or the mixture is too thick.

Finally the roti jala turned out to be thinner than I wanted, however its texture was fine and does not stick to one's teeth when you bite into it.

Here's my roti jala, goes superb with the potato curry. Yum yum.

Recipe:

Ingredients: (makes 12, diameter 8")
225 ml (8 fl. oz)  milk
2 eggs
salt ( I used 1/2 tsp )
225 g  (8 oz ) all purpose flour - sieved
1 tablespoon oil

Method:
1) Mix all ingredients together (except oil), and strain the batter. If the batter is too thick, add water until desired consistency is reached.  Add 1 tablespoon of oil and set aside for 15 minutes.

2)  Heat up a non-stick pan with  medium low heat and grease it with some oil.

3)  Pour some batter into the mould and quickly transfer to the pan, make circular movement from outer part of the pan to inside of the pan, then make a zigzag movement from left to right and zigzag up and down.

4)  Leave the crepe to cook for 10-15 seconds (or the tops is set and done, the bottom turns light brown).
     Fold the crepe into half, then in half again to form a triangle shape.  Remove from the pan and set aside.        Repeat until all batter is used.

5)  Serve with your  favourite curry.  Enjoy.

Chicken and Potato Curry Milk Bun

When I first saw Sonia's  Chicken and Potato curry  buns, I was very enchanted. I have never made bread using the sponge dough method before. And I gathered from many food bloggers who praised the texture of the bread to be super soft. Sooooo.... today I gathered all the ingredients and put my hands down into making them. It does not disappoint me the buns are really super soft and good..

Thank you Sonia for sharing this recipe.


Recipes: Adapted from sonia @ nasi lemak lover

Ingredients for the filling:
3 potatoes, small cubed
200 g chicken breast, small cubed
2 spring  curry leaves
1/2 big onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic,chopped finely
3 shallots, chopped finely

Mix to form a paste:
1.5 tablespoon meat curry powder (one and the half)
1/2 tablespoon red chilli powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon tumeric powder
4 tablespoon water

Method:
1) Heat oil in a wok, saute onion, garlic and shallots till aroma.
2) Add in curry paste, curry leaves, stir fry till fragrance. Add in chicken and potatoes, mix well.
3) Add in enough of water to cover the chicken and potatoes, cook over low medium heat till potato is softened, add salt and sugar to taste..  Set aside to cool.

To Prepare the buns:  Overnight Sponge dough:
215 g bread flour
125 g full cream milk (cold)
2 g instant yeast (1/2 teaspoon)

Method: Mix all ingredients till a rough dough, cover with cling film or put in the plastic bag and store overnight in the fridge.

To prepare basic dough:
1 quantity of above overnight sponge dough
90 g bread flour
30 g egg (about 1/2 large egg)
4 g instant yeast (1 tsp)
3 g fine salt
60 g fine sugar
45 g butter ( room temperature)
1 tablespoon milk (cold)

Egg wash = balance egg +  1 tablespoon milk

Method:
1)  Place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl except overnight sponge dough and butter. While beating the ingredients, tear the overnight sponge dough  into pieces and throw into the mixing bowl piece by piece. Beat till  form a smooth dough.
2)  Add in the butter and beat until dough is smooth, shinning and elastic. Cover with cling film or a piece of damp cloth. Leave aside to proof till double in size.
3)  Punch down the dough  to expel the air, divide into 55gram portions and mould into round balls, rest for 10-15 minutes. (I made 10 big buns and one small bun)
4)  Use a rolling pin to flatten the dough into a round disc, spoon filling in the center, wrap and seal. Shape them round and place on a baking tray. Let it proof for another 45-60 minutes.
5)  Brush with egg wash on the surface and sieve curry powder over it. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes at 180 degree C.

Note: Fully proofed dough that has doubled in size with a nice texture. Insert a finger into the dough and the finger hole mark should rise very slowly.

Sri Lanka Style Curry Chicken

The weather has not been kind to us recently, with the heat, daze and the haze. It may not be the perfect conditions to whip up a heaty dish, but nothing is stopping me when my taste buds demand for something, and today, it is a pot of spicy, thick curry gravy.

This recipe is not my usual using A1 brand instant curry paste which is easy to prepare. This one requires much effort in  frying the dried chilli till crispy and dry, before blending them into powder form. Dried chilli + haze is a deadly concoction, I'm sure I must have coughed my lungs out while frying. 

There are many types of curry, such as Nonya , thai green curry... just to name a few. Sri Lanka style will suit those who prefer strong flavour with a thicker, spicy gravy. You would be surprised with the explosion of flavour once you sip some of it - the spices, the distinctive flavour of green chilli, and a tinge of sourness. Yes, it is slightly sour! Ah-hah, you wouldn't have expected that white vinegar is one of the culprits that will stimulate your saliva gland and yearn for more.

Recipe (source : 1978 ’女友‘ 杂志，韩蒂夫人食谱）

Ingredients:

A)~  1 kg chicken, cut into big pieces (I suggest using Kampong chicken, Sakura brand chicken or Royale brand chicken because the meat is firmer, good for cooking this type of curry).

B)~ Ingredients need to be fried and be grounded into powder form.

  * 10 dried chilies

  * 2 tbsp. coriander seeds

  * 1 tbsp cumin seeds (小茴香子）

C) ~  4 cm length of fresh kunyit (turmeric) or 2.5 tsp. turmeric  powder

     ~  2 tsp lime juice or white vinegar

    ~  1 tsp salt

D) ~ 1 tsp fennel seeds (大茴香）

     ~  1.5 tsp mustard seeds

    ~  4 curry leaves

     ~  3 tbsp or more cooking oil

      ~ 2 big  onions, chopped

      ~ 4 slices fresh ginger, chopped

     ~  4 pips  garlic, chopped

     ~  4 green fresh chillies, cut into half  along its length

     ~  1 cup thick coconut milk (santan)  squeezed from one coconut . Then add some water to the coconut to get  1 to 1.5 cup of diluted coconut milk.

  

Method:

1)  Marinade chicken with ingredients in C.

2)  Use a damp cloth to wipe the dried chillis to get rid of  dirt and dust (you can wash but it must be dry before frying) .  In a hot and dry wok over low heat,  fry dried chilies until crispy but not burn. Dish out. Fry coriander seeds and cumin seeds until fragrant. Dish out. Ready to be grounded into powder for later use.

3)  In a dry and hot wok saute curry leaves, fennel seeds and mustard seeds till fragrant. Then add oil and   add  the chopped ingredients (onion, ginger, garlic) , fry till brown.   Put in  chicken and stir fry for a minute.  Cover with lid, simmer for 1/2 hour at low heat  (the water content naturally contained within the chicken will escape for the simmering) and stir occasionally to avoid burning at the bottom.

4)  Combine grounded ingredients and green chilies with diluted coconut milk. Pour the mixture into step (3) and cook till the chicken is cooked. Now add in the thick coconut milk , continue to simmer (stir occasionally) until a layer of oil is formed on the surface. Add salt and  sugar to taste. Serve.

____________________

I am submitting my Sri Lanka style chicken curry for a little event at http://everybodyeatswell.blogspot.be/2013/06/little-thumbs-up-its-curry-time.html.

 It is for Little Thumbs Up event hosted by Miss B of Everybody Eats Well in Flanders at this link, organized by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen of my little favourite D.I.Y. 

Prawn and Pineapple curry

Hi! I have been missing in action again for quite some time. I just came back from my 17 days Rockie and Alaska trip a week ago. Had been busy washing laundry, doing house chores and others. Until today, I finally have the time to settle down to cook something local which I have been desiring to whip up.

Recipe: Adapted  here.

Spice paste:*

*15 dried chillies, seeded, soaked until soft then squeezed dry

*10 shallots, peeled

*5 buah keras (candle nuts)

*2 cm length turmeric

1 tbsp belacan, crumbled

2 stalks lemongrass - use only 4 - 5 inches from bottom, bashed

2 thick slices galangal or lengkuas, bashed 

500 ml water

3 slices tamarind (assam keeping)

1/2  a ripe but firm pineapple, skinned, coredand cut into desired chunck size

600 g large prawns (I used medium size), deveined, left unshelled

1 to 1.1/2 tsp salt to taste

1 to 2 tsp sugar (add more if pineapple is sour, less if it's sweet)

Laksa leaves - optional

Method:

1)  Combine spice paste ingredients and pound or process to a smooth and fine paste.

2) Heat about 5 tbsp oil in a wok or pot stir-fry the belacan until crisp and no longer fishy smelling (moderate heat).  Add lemongrass and galangal and stir for about half a minute

3)  Add the spice paste and stir -fry until fragrant and mixture separates from the oil.

4)  Add water and tamarind and bring to a boil. Lower heat and add pineapples, simmer for 2 minutes.  Add prawns and simmer for another 3 -4 minutes or prawns are cooked through. Do not overcook or prawns will toughen up.

5)  Add salt and sugar to taste. If gravy is tangy enough, discard tamarind slices.

6)  Dish out, garnish, and serve hot.

Assam Curry Pork -亚叁咖哩猪肉片

It  is really awesome. I strongly recommend this dish if you like spicy, sour food you can't give it a miss.  It is tangy, spicy and fragrance, this makes you drooling for more and more rice to eat along. So if you gain weight please do not put into my account. lol. It is so easy to prepare give it a try.

Recipe: QUICK & EASY  HAWKER FARE by Chef Alan Kok

Ingredients:
300g sliced pork
100 ml water
100 ml thick coconut milk (I used Kara brand)
1 tbsp assam paste- mix with 100 ml water and squeeze out juice , discard seeds
2 tablespoon cooking oil

Curry  Spices:
4 tbsp chopped shallots
2 stalks lemongrass- bruised
2 tablespoon curry leaves (about 4 twigs)
1 tablespoon curry powder
3 tablespoon chilli paste
3 pieces dried assam slice (assam keping)

Seasoning:
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon  sugar
1 tablespoon light soy sauce

Method:

1) Heat up 2 tbsp oil and saute curry spices until fragrant.

2)  Add in pork and stir well. Add in coconut milk, assam juice, seasoning and bring to boil.  Cook until meat is tender.  Dish and serve hot.

ENJOY!

Food Review:  I find this dish is abit too sour. In my next cooking, I will only put 1 piece of dried assam slice.

Assam Pedas Ikan (sour fish curry)

From Debbie Teoh's recipe

A few days ago my relative gave us a Malay Cuisine treat at one of the popular Malay Restaurants in Johor Baru. We had their signature dish Assam Pedas Ikan. The taste was not bad but I found that it lacks of something, I just can't put a pen to what it was. I will say it did not have the "kick" factor. In order to satisfy my craving of the sourness and spiciness of this curry, so today I gathered all my ingredients and tried my hands at dishing it by myself.  For comparison's sake, I cooked 2 different recipes, one is adapted from Ms Debbie Teoh and the second  from a magazine. Both tastes good and surprisingly similar, with the former slightly more sour.

Recipes for the above click here. The original recipe called for stingray (ikan pari), I replaced with red snapper.

Recipe adapted from a magazine

Ingredients:

800g stingray or ikan  kembong

3 tablespoon tamarind pulp/assam jawa (mixed with 400ml water, strained and discard)

10 belimbing buloh (cut into pieces) - optional

2-3 sprigs laksa leaves/daun kesom

200g ladies fingers/okra (steamed)

5 tablespoon oil

Seasoning:

1 teaspoon salt or to taste

1/2 tablespoon sugar or to taste

Grind or blend ingredients:

10 shallts,

6 fresh red chillies

5 dried red chillies (soaked , and drained)

A small knod of fresh tumeric/kunyit basah

3 slices galangal

1/2 inch toasted belacan

Method:

1) In a wok or frying pan, heat oil over medium heat, saute ground spices paste until fragrant, stirring continuously to prevent burning. Add in the belimbing and continue cooking.

2) Once spice paste is fragrant, add in assam water and daun kesom.

3) Simmer over low heat for 10 to 15 minutes.

4) Add fish, salt and sugar to taste. Cook for 8 - 10 minutes until fish is cooked.  Add in ladies fingers and cook for 1 minute.

5) Turn off heat. Serve .... Enjoy. Get ready some milk to quench the spiciness... heh heh.

Aromatic Chicken Masala

Hi there!
Today is Deepavali. I would like to wish all who celebrate the festival of Lights a very Happy Deepavali Day.

In my older post , I mentioned my family and I like Northern Indian food. The other day I chanced upon this link (love2cook-malaysia.com), I saw this recipe and it inspired me to cook this dish for a special festive - Deepavali day.


Recipe:from love2cook-malaysia.com

Ingredients:
~1 whole chicken
~ 3 tablespoon ginger - garlic paste
~ 2 large onions - slliced
~ 3 green chilies - sliced
~ 2 - 3 tablespoon chili powder
~ 1 teaspoon  turmeric powder
~1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
~ 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
~ 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds (jintan putih)
~ 1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds  ( biji Adas)
~  1/4 teaspoon fenugreek seeds (halba)
~  some coriander leaves for garnishing
~ 2 tablespoons coconout paste (kerisik)
~ salt to taste
~  cooking oil
~ little water (I used 1/2 cup of water)

Method:
1) Clean and pat dry the chicken. Cut into medium  size.  Marinate the chicken with chili powder, turmeric powder, corriander powder, gram masala powder and salt for 15 minutes.
2) Heat up oil in wok, saute cumin seeds, fennel seeds and fenugreek seeds until fragrant.  Add  in sliced onions and green chilies, stir -fry for 1 minute.  Add in the ginger-garlic paste, stir-fry for for another 1 minute.
3) Pour marinated chicken , stir and cook covered for 15 minutes. Stir occasionally until the chicken is cooked.. Add some water if it is too dry.
4)  Add salt to taste.  Keep stirring for another 5 minutes or so, to make it drier.
5)  Finally add in the kerisik. Mix well.
6)  Garnish with corriander leaves and serve.

Curry Laksa Noodle

Maggi Curry-Mee is not bad when you have a craving for curry noodles, but you haven't tried the real thing unless it's Kuala Lumpur you're talking about.  From "Delicacies of China Town" you get as close as the authentic dish - spicy, fragrant, flavourful with a tangy burst of curry powder in every drop of the gravy.  This is curry laksa that will leave you wanting more.  Further adding your wishlist of ingredients like fish balls, prawns, cockles, tender chicken drumstick.... perfect dish for any hungry and food-lover. The gravy is rich and fragrant.  I personally find thin bee-hoon (rice vermicelli) add different dimensions to every SLURP!  Highly recommended by my family members too.  You just need to try.


Recipe: ( slight modified the recipe)

Ingredients: (for 8 - 10 persons)


Spices:
A) Ingredients need to blend together:
25g dried chillies (soak > drain)
25g garlic
30g shallots
5g fresh galangal
5g  fresh turmeric
1 stock of lemon grass
60ml cooking oil

B)
125 curry powder
25g chilli powder
1 twig of curry leaf

(C)
Seasoning:
1 tbsp salt  ( adjust to your taste - liking))
10g rock sugar
1.1/2 chicken stock cubes

(D)
a) 300g thick coconut milk
~ 2500ml water or stock
b) 125g fried pig's skin
~ 4 pieces of bean curd puff  (you can have more)

(E)
500g laksa noodle
500g yellow noodle

(F) Side Dish to accompany:
2 steamed drumsticks - cut into  bite sizes
300g steamed prawns -shelled
fish cakes - slices
fish balls
100g bean-sprouts


Method:
1)  Heat up 1 tbsp oil to fry the blended ingredients (A) at low heat until fragrant, add in ingredients (B) continue to stir-fry until aromatic and the chilli oil is emerged.

2) Pour in ingredients (D) and (C) and boil for 15 minutes. Add in fried pig's skin and bean curd puff continue to boil (low heat) until you can see the chilli oil is emerging on the surface. Remove from heat, ready to serve.

To assemble:
1) Blanch the bean sprouts, drain
2) Blanch the yellow noodles and laksa noodles, drain.
3) Serve the noodles and beansprouts into a big serving bowl with curry laksa soup and top with the side dishes.

 ENJOY!

Indonesian Curry Prawns -印尼咖喱虾

It is really yummy.  It is so yummy that 3 of us savour up the last drip.

Recipe:  Adapted from 好好吃!大牌档菜 by Chef Alan Kok

Ingredients:
600g medium-sized prawns
2 cups oil for deep-frying

Spice (ground):
3 shallots
1 pip garlic
6 red chillies
2 stalks lemongrass (serai)

5 tbsp thick coconut milk (santan)
200g water


Seasoning:
1/2 tsp salt (I put 1 tsp)
1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp fish sauce ( I put 2 tsp)
2 tbsp dried shrimps >chopped, deep-fried until crispy
2  kaffir lime leaf - shredded

Method:
1) Deep-fry prawns in hot oil for 1/2 minute. Dish and drain.
2) Leave some oil in wok, fry the grounded spice until fragrant. Add  coconut milk, water and continue to cook until the gravy has thickened.  Add prawns, seasoning and cook for few minutes. Dish up onto the plate.  Sprinkle crispy dried shrimps and shredded kaffir lime leaves.
3) Serve with  rice. Enjoy!

Masala Chicken

My family and I like to eat Northern Indian food. We frequent Shahi Maharani Northern Indian Restaurant at 4th floor of Raffles City. We always order their signature dishes like Rogan Josh, Vindaloo, Tandoori Chicken and Masala Chicken. I strongly recommend their cheese and garlic naan because they are made on the spot - fresh from the oven, crispy, fragrant and yummy. You must also try their saffron rice. every grain of rice tastes divine and out of this world.

A few days ago my nieces came over from KL and so we brought them to this restaurant for dinner. We ordered curry fish head, tandoori chicken, leg of lamb and vindaloo. Though it seemed the standard of food does not match our previous visits, neverthesless all of us still enjoyed the meal.

If you are interested to try this restaurant, I recommend going for a weekday lunch with a partner because they have a 1 for 1 lunch buffet at $40++. It is a VERY reasonable price and you get good ambiance and can definitely set your teeth into their flavourful tandoori chicken and rich gravy.

Below is a recipe I obtained from a magazine. On my first attempt, the taste is not bad! Of course this cannot be compared to the dish at Shahi Maharani.

Recipe

Ingredients:

~ l kg chicken (cut into big pieces)

~ 4-5 tomatoes (chopped coarsely)

~ 1 tablespoon garam malasa powder (available at supper markets )

(A) Grind and mix together ingredients:

~ 4-5 pips garlic

~ 10 shallots

~ 5 fresh red chillies ( seeds removed)

~ 7-8 chillies padi

~ 3 cm piece ginger

~ 1 cm fresh kunyit

~1 teaspoon jintan putih

~ 1/2 teaspoon jintan manis

~ 1 tablespoon ketumbar powder (coriander powder)

~ 1 tablespoon ground black pepper

~ 1 teaspoon white pepper powder

(B)

~ 5 cm piece kayu manis

~ 5 bubga cengkih (clove)

~ 4 bunga pelaga (split open)

~ 2 bulbs bunga kantan (ginger flower)

Seasoning: 3 tbsp. ghee/cooking oil, salt and sugar to taste.

Method:

~1) Marinade chicken with 2 tablespoon of ingredients (A) and put aside for 1 hour.

~2) Heat a heavy based saucepan until just hot. Add in ghee and fry (A) and (B) until fragrant.

~3) Put in marinated chicken and tomatoes. Cover with lid and allow to simmer over a low heat until chicken is tender and gravy is thick.

~4) Add salt and sugar to taste.

~5) Serve.

花生咖喱鸡

这是一道非常下饭的菜。材料容易购买，准备和烹饪过程

都非常简单。喜欢吃辣和浓郁咖喱的朋友一定会喜欢。所以今天我要和你分享这个食谱。

香料：（打烂）

6 粒葱头仔，去皮

2瓣蒜头，去皮

6条红辣椒，切块

5条辣椒干，浸软

1/2 cm 姜

2支香茅

材料：

2大匙油

1支咖喱叶

2片酸柑叶（枫柑叶）

100毫升稀椰浆

3只全鸡腿斩快（750克 -800克）

调味料：

半 茶匙盐 (1/2 tsp.salt)

1小匙糖 (1 tsp sugar)

半汤匙酱青 (1/2 tbsp light soya sauce)

100毫升浓椰浆

50克炒香花生

做法：

1）烧热油，爆香香料，家入咖喱叶，枫柑叶和鸡肉炒香。

2）加入稀椰浆和调味料煮滚，转小火继续煮20分钟。

3）最后加入浓椰浆煮至浓，上碟时洒上花生享用。