Indonesian Style Chicken Curry Recipes

INDONESIAN CHICKEN CURRY RECIPE

Steps:

• Place the spices, chilies, cashews garlic, shallot, and ginger in a food processor and grind into a paste.
• Heat the peanut oil in a large skillet or work over medium-high heat. Add cinnamon sticks, lemongrass stalks, and lime leaves. Let cook one minute. Add the ground paste and use a wooden spoon to break it up and mash into the oil. Let cook two minutes.
• Add chicken pieces and cook two to three minutes per side, until browned.
• Stir in half of the coconut milk and all of the chicken broth. Cover, reduce heat to low, and let simmer 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
• Stir in the rest of the coconut milk and the fish sauce. Serve hot with lots of rice.

INDONESIAN CHICKEN CURRY

Steps:

• Chop onions and grate ginger.
• Slice meat thinly.
• Heat half the oil in a heavy frying pan.
• Brown meat and set aside.
• Heat remaining oil in pan and add onion, ginger and curry powder.
• Fry for a few minutes, stirring.
• Return meat to pan and season to taste.
• Add coconut milk, water and tomato paste.
• Bring to the boil and simmer covered for 10 minutes.
• Uncover curry and simmer for a further ten minutes.
• Serve with rice.
• If you feel like it, stir through some chilli flakes.

INDONESIAN-STYLE CHICKEN CURRY

Steps:

• Finely grind the coriander and chilli flakes in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle. Put the spice mixture into a small food processor with the garlic, onions and ginger and puree to a paste. Adding 1-2 tablespoons of water, if necessary.
• Heat the oil in a large casserole or saucepan with lid, over medium-low heat. Add the paste.
• Cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, 5-7 minutes.
• Add lime leaves, cinnamon and lemongrass. Cook, stirring occasionally, until cinnamon is fragrant, about 2 minutes.
• Increase the heat to medium, add the chicken and cook, turning once, until golden brown, 8-10 minutes.
• Stir in 1 only cup of coconut milk, 1 1/4 cups of water and the salt.
• Simmer, stirring occasionally, until chicken is tender, 40-50 minutes.
• Add the remaining coconut milk; cook for 2 minutes.
• Let cool for 15 minutes before serving with rice, leaving the cinnamon sticks behind.

JAVANESE CHICKEN CURRY

Steps:

• 1. First, make the flavoring paste. Place the chile, shallots, garlic, galangal, ginger, and coriander in a small food processor, and pulse until the coriander is well ground (no visible bits or pieces should remain) and you have a smooth paste the consistency of creamy mashed potatoes. (If the paste will not purée properly, and repeatedly creeps up the side of the food processor instead of grinding, add up to 2 tablespoons of water to it, 1 tablespoon at a time, periodically turning the processor off and scraping the unground portions with a spoon down toward the blade as you go.) Set aside.
• 2. Rinse the chicken under cold running water and pat it dry with paper towels. If using a whole chicken, for authenticity cut it into 16 pieces. If using precut chicken parts, you can leave them whole. Set aside.
• 3. Heat the oil in a 3- or 4-quart saucepan, Dutch oven, or soup pot over medium-low heat. Test to see if the oil is the right temperature by adding a pinch of the ground paste. The paste should sizzle slightly around the edges, not fry aggressively or sit motionless. When the oil is the correct temperature, add all the ground flavoring paste and sauté, stirring every 10 seconds or so to prevent sticking and burning, until the paste begins to separate from the oil and the smell of raw garlic and shallots has dissipated, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add the cinnamon, tied lemongrass, lime leaves, and daun salam leaves (if using) and stir to combine them with the flavoring paste. Continue sautéing until you can clearly smell the fragrance of cinnamon, about 1 minute.
• 4. Add the chicken and raise the heat to medium. Sauté the chicken in the flavoring paste, moving it around often with a large spoon or spatula to prevent sticking or scorching. Turn each piece so that it sauts in the oil, until they are evenly golden brown, about 10 minutes. (You need not brown the chicken in two batches - it's fine if the chicken is piled in 2 layers, as long as you adjust the pieces in the pot so they all eventually brown.)
• 5. Add 1 cup of the unsweetened coconut milk, the water, and the salt to the chicken. Stir well to combine, blending the flavoring paste with the liquids and scraping from the bottom of the pot to bring up all the bits of flavor stuck to the surface, and bring to a low, steady simmer. Let the coconut milk simmer, stirring occasionally, until the fats from the chicken and coconut milk have risen to the surface and the chicken is tender and cooked through, but not falling apart from the bone, 40 to 50 minutes. You may need to lower and raise the heat occasionally if the simmer becomes too aggressive. Be careful to not allow the liquid to boil; the chicken will likely toughen and the coconut milk curdle. Taste for salt, and add more if necessary.
• 6. Add the additional 1 cup coconut milk and allow it to heat through and begin to take in the flavors of the curry, about 2 minutes. This additional coconut milk enriches this rich dish even more. If there is too much oil floating on the surface of the curry for your taste, feel free to skim some of it off, but by all means not all of it - it's intensely flavorful. Taste for salt once more.
• 7. Transfer the chicken and sauce to a low serving bowl; you may remove the cinnamon, tied lemongrass, and kaffir lime and daun salam leaves, if you like, or leave them in the bowl to continue to season the dish. Allow the dish to rest and cool at room temperature for at least 20 minutes before eating, which will give the flavors time to blend and intensify.

OPOR AYAM (INDONESIAN CHICKEN CURRY)

Steps:

• In a dry skillet over medium-high heat, toast the coriander seeds for 2 to 3 minutes. Let cool, then grind in a spice grinder.
• In a large sauté pan, heat 2 tablespoons of the coconut oil over medium heat. Add the shallots and a generous pinch of salt and cook, stirring often, until browned, about 10 minutes. Remove shallots to a food processor and set aside. Add the garlic cloves and candlenuts to the same pan and cook, stirring constantly to prevent burning, until deep golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the garlic and candlenuts to the shallots in the food processor along with the kaempferia galanga root, white pepper and 2 tablespoons water; purée into a paste.
• Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon coconut oil in the sauté pan over medium heat and add the ginger, galangal, lemongrass, salam leaves and lime leaves, scrunching the lime leaves in your hands as you drop them into the pot. Allow to cook until the ingredients start to smell less intense and raw, stirring occasionally, 5 to 7 minutes.
• Stir the ground coriander seeds, shallot paste mixture and tomato into the pan. Reduce the heat to low and slowly stir in the coconut milk, a little at a time, to keep the sauce from breaking. When all the coconut milk is incorporated and the mixture is gently simmering, add the chicken stock. Nestle the chicken into the pan and spoon some of the sauce over the top. Cover and cook on low heat for about 40 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through and the dish is aromatic. You may have to adjust the heat to keep the mixture at a gentle simmer. (Do not boil.) Season to taste with salt. Before serving, remove the galangal, ginger, lemongrass, salam and makrut leaves. Serve with rice.