We're expecting guests tomorrow and Mrs Chubby Chops is planning to cook her delicious lontong. To be absolutely correct, she'll be cooking sayur lodeh to serve with lontong. It's her sayur lodeh that is so enjoyable. I had some boneless chicken breasts that I wanted to cook so I thought I'd cook something along the lines of chicken rendang to compliment Mrs Chubby Chops sayur lodeh.
I'm not a fan of chicken rendang as I believe that the slower cooking beef makes a much tastier dish. What I came up with is nothing like chicken rendang anyway. The biggest difference is that I wanted to cook something child friendly so I really cut down on the number of chillies compared with a typical rendang.
Ingredients
Four skinned chicken breasts
About 500 grams of santan (thick coconut milk).
Two small red onions
Six cloves of garlic
A couple of inches of ginger
Two lemongrass stalks
One red chilli
A heaped dessert spoon of turmeric powder
A heaped dessert spoon of kerisik
Half a small turmeric leaf
Five or six kaffir lime leaves
Salt
Sugar
I used fresh santan, a can of coconut milk or cream would suffice.
Kerisik is fresh grated coconut slowly dry roast until it turns brown. You could probably try to make it from desiccated coconut. If you do, you will need to constantly stir the coconut when you roast it.
If you can't find lemongrass, you could probably use the peel of a lime instead. The peel of a lime would also be the best substitute for kaffir lime leaves too.
I can't think of a substitute for turmeric leaf which seems to add more to the aroma than the taste.
As for the chilies, I'd normally have used five red chillies for such a dish. Doubling the amount of chillies and removing the seeds would give the dish a smoother, more subtle taste.
Equipment
A wok, preferably with a lid
Method
Slice the chicken into finger-sized pieces. Try to cut the chicken with the grain so that it retains a little bite once it is cooked.
Pound or grind the chilli, onion, garlic, ginger, and lemongrass into a smooth paste.
Stir the turmeric powder and a little salt and sugar into the paste.
Empty the coconut milk into the wok. Add the chicken and paste. Simmer slowly, covering with a lid if your wok has one. Stir gently from time to time.
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| The coconut milk, paste, and chicken starting to simmer |
Gradually, the sauce will start to thicken. Once it does, add the kerisik, finely sliced turmeric leaves and kaffir lime leaves. Add more salt and sugar if necessary.
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| After the kerisik and leaves have been added |
Continue to simmer the dish, stirring more and more frequently as it starts to dry out. Take care not to break the pieces of chicken which will be very, very tender at this stage.
Cook until the sauce is quite dry.
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| The finished dish |
Looks yummy, Mr. Chubby Chops! I have "stolen" the recipe and hope that the missus will give this a whirl. None for me due to "no meat" (the fish aren't safe, however) in my diet. Hopefully, she can do justice to your recipe. cheers.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what would be the best vegetarian substitute for the chicken. I'd probably try with veggie burger or haloumi. In either case I'd grill them first and them slice them into "fingers". Also, I'd only add them to the pot once the sauce has thickened even after adding the kerisik and leaves.
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