Malaysian-Style Chicken Curry

I have been sick for the past week. Oh boy have I been sick! Actually both the girl and I have been sick. She started it although you would never know that if you saw her running and jumping through the leaves this morning or spent the last week marveling at how she doesn’t seem to stop moving or talking for one minute. To look at her and her level of activity you would never know this child woke up one day last week with a slight fever and a frog in her tummy and throat. I, on the other hand look (and feel) like hell warmed over. The only cool part so far has been that I lost my voice for a few days. I thought it sounded so sexy I wanted to kiss myself but refrained for fear of passing on my germs. heh

I haven’t felt much like cooking. I spent a lovely two days over the weekend cooking for a little luncheon I had on Sunday with a fellow blogger and kindred spirit who lives close by. Despite my skewed taste buds I thought the meal turned out well and I will write about some of it as soon as I feel a little better. And because I haven’t felt much like cooking I also missed making the yearly Pan de Muerto for my friend Miguel and his family for Dia de los Muertos. I'll still make the bread this year because I have a new recipe I want to try but this now marks the second year in a row I missed making the bread for the right day. I am lame. Anyway, I'm getting off track, so since I was not feeling up to making dinner Tom graciously stepped in. Earlier in the day I had sought out a chicken curry recipe from good old Epicurious after Tom said he wouldn't mind having a curry for dinner. Well, you know me, you don't have to twist my arm for curried anything. I can easily eat it every single day and so when I saw this recipe I was inspired-too bad I wasn’t up to cooking it myself. I printed it out, handed it to Tom and he worked his magic. It turned out wonderful and was full of all the right things for a head cold like shallots, ginger, garlic, and hot red pepper (we passed on the jalapeno because we didn’t have one). We substituted chicken thighs for the breast, discarding the skin and cutting the meat from the bone. If you prefer white meat by all means follow the recipe as written but because we prefer the darker thigh meat we used that. Modifications aside I can’t tell you enough how well this turned out. I was able to taste it even with the head cold, it was that good. (sorry no picture this time) Perhaps next time we might add some veggies. Tom thought potato would work well, although for me it was great as is but I can see how adding veggies might make it more balanced and sop up some of that extra sauce. Oh, and by the way, I'm not sure how this serves six because we were only able to get barely 4 servings from it. Maybe our portions were bigger I don't know.

From Epicurious

Malaysin-Style Chicken Curry

• 6 shallots, chopped
• 4 large garlic cloves, chopped
• a 1-inch piece fresh gingerroot, peeled and chopped
• 2 tablespoons water
• 3 whole boneless chicken breasts with skin, halved (about 2 1/2 pounds)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons curry powder
• a 14-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk (1 2/3 cups)
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• a 3-inch fresh jalapeño chili, slit in 4 places
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 whole clove
• 1 star anise
• 1/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh coriander

Accompaniment: cooked rice

In a food processor chop fine shallots, garlic, and gingerroot. Add water and purée to a paste.

Pat chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt. In a large heavy casserole heat oil over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking and brown chicken in 2 batches, transferring with tongs as browned to a large plate. Reduce heat to moderately low. Add shallot paste and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add curry powder and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add chicken with any juices accumulated on plate and remaining ingredients except coriander and simmer, covered and turning chicken once, until cooked through, about 15 minutes.

Transfer chicken to plate with tongs and boil sauce gently, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 5 minutes. Discard cinnamon stick, clove, and star anise and season sauce with salt. Add chicken and coriander and serve over rice.

Serves 6.

Gourmet

June 1995

Written by Deb on November 1, 2006 11:56 PM