Another blog by Boh Tong the ex- SIA cabin crew: Cooking chicken curry on a Sunday

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Cooking chicken curry on a Sunday








  • I used 1/2 pkt of  Baba's curry powder (250gm) which is obtainable from the supermarkets.
  • Chicken (1 kg) cut into parts and marinate for 5 mins with the curry powder and a bit of salt.
  • Cut the potatoes into any size you like. Get tomatoes, ladies' fingers ready.
  • Fry the the cut brinjals with some oil. 
Methods of cooking:
  • Pour some oil into the pan.
  • Then add curry powder (125 gm) and fry till fragrant. Add a bit of water.
  • Add the pieces of chicken. Fry for a few minutes.
  • Add pieces of potatoes and stir for a while.
  • Let the the curry boil for about 5 minutes.
  • Pour some coconut milk into the boiling curry ( if you like your curry to be lemak, you may put more coconut milk). Preferably use fresh coconut milk if not buy the packet coconut milk from the supermarket. Stir the curry thoroughly and let it simmer (low heat) for another few minutes.
  • Lastly, put the tomatoes, ladies' fingers and brinjals into the curry. Do not stir as it will crush the veggies. Cover the curry and let it simmer for 3 to 5 minutes before switching off the fire.
It's best to eat a few hours later as to let the curry gravy infuse into the chicken parts,potatoes and veggies.
Bon appetit 

7 comments:

ausiroo said...

I also buy Baba's curry powder, available here.

Luke Tan said...

I believe you cook too :-)

Lian said...

Baba's curry powder is the best!

Boh Tong aka Luke Tan said...

Lian, Earthen Pot is equally good.

Cookie ... said...

Must have rempah lah..
give the dish an extra oommph!
Curry powder just for flavouring.. rempah a must.!!

Boh Tong aka Luke Tan said...

I agree with you Cookie cos I used to do that. But since it involves a lot of work, I just stick to using curry powder plus some other spices. The next time I will make some rempah and add it to the curry powder.
Thanks for your tips.

Cookie said...


If you embark on the arduous journey of making rempah.. then might as well
do a big batch... freeze it and any recipe requiring rempah, its just a defrost away.
After all, the kitchen will smell intensely ( though it can be a fragrant one )

1 kilo shallots
500gms Lengkuas ( galingale in malay )
3 thumb sized fresh tumeric root
$1 worth of dried chillies ( if lazy, just buy factory processed chilli paste-700gm)
( if you like a spicier rempah, add $1 worth chilli padi
All chillies must be deseeded.
$1 worth buah keras ( toast them till slightly brown... your rempah will keep longer)

Grind the entire lot into a paste.
Fry with lots of oil.. about 1 litre.

This entire rempah recipe will take 3 days to prepare!
If you use the small moulinex blenders or similar, I guarantee it will break down.
Dont try it!
Use a Vitamix blender.. USA brand.. direct drive motor. ( $1,200 bucks from Simplex... google it )
It will last a lifetime... better than any small fry blender. Makes smoothies, crush ice for chendol, Ice kachang too. Industrial strength. Look out for them at starbucks, to have a preview.

Of course you can scale down all the portions... but then you have to cut, peel deseed all over again if you want rempah.

This rempah very versatile:

Laksa ( because there is buah keras already )just add coconut milk. dried shrimps
Assam fish/prawns ( just add dried assam/ wet assam water, belachan
Nonya chicken curry ( just add rempah after frying chicken... low heat & add coconut)
Sayur lodeh. ( ikan bilis stock, add rempah )
Mee siam ( fry tau cheo, red onions, dried shrimps... add rempah )
Archar ( pickled vegeatbles... nonya style ... long story)

Can also make chilli crab... just set aside a bowl of uncooked rempah, fry with crabs
add some tomato sauce,( or vinegar) sugar.

Magic rempah!... guaranteed tasty.. if you fry it properly, it can keep indefinitely in freezer...or last a least 3 months in fridge. Always use a clean dry spoon to spoon out the rempah. Ignore this advice at your own risk of getting the entire rempah stock turning mouldy white & green.

Happy cleaning up the kitchen!
( but I sincerely believe its worth it... not those crappy stuff you get from restaurants... no msg, no preservatives. All from scratch... old school methods)