Indonesian Chicken Curry

There are so many versions of curry , so i felt like i should add the ” indonesian ” word in it . LOL .. My mom used to make this dish quite often , she would call it ” Kare Ayam ” Kare = curry and Ayam = chicken . It is one of her favorite dish . I wasn’t really much into Curry back then . Although it was delicious , she would use whole chicken that she cut up herself and make a whole pot that would last us probably 3 days because there was only 2 of us .

You’re required to make your own curry paste , and i promise , it is not hard at all . As long as you have food processor , it’s easy peasy . Back then my mom would use mortar and pestle to make the paste , i bet it was some arm workout LOL . The food processor makes things easier , a lot easier , saves me some time . Only thing i have to do in making this paste is just to peel the ingredients such as garlic , ginger , shallots . Otherwise it’s quite easy !

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As far as the protein , i use mainly chicken , i love the flavor dark meat , so i chose boneless chicken thighs in this , if you want to use whole cut up chicken , hey go right ahead . I haven’t made this using beef at all . But for those vegetarian , i think using tofu and tempe would be perfect in here , along with other vegetables . My mom never added any vegetables in the curry , but i like adding veggies , like color bell pepper , carrots and potatoes . Just to give some colors . I didn’t have regular potato last night when i made this , and i only had sweet potatoes , so that’s what i used .

Most of these ingredients are available in regular grocery store , but if you could go to Asian grocery , it’s probably a lot cheaper compared to local grocer . There is one ingredient that you can’t get from local grocery though , so i skipped it and i think the flavor still turned out really good with it . But anyway , here goes ..

Ingredients :

• 25 grams garlic cloves , about 8 large garlic cloves
• 125 grams shallots , about 2 large shallots
• 15 grams ginger
• 35 grams cayenne pepper or more if you want more heat
• 6 cloves
• 6 candle nuts
• 40 grams fresh turmeric , or you can use 1.5 tsp ground turmeric
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp fennel seed
• 5 grams shrimp paste ( look for this in asian market , it can also be labelled ‘belacan’ , if you can’t get it , that’s fine , just skip it )
• 35 grams of sugar
• 1 tbsp kosher salt , adjust to your preference later on
• All of the above ingredients goes into the food processor
• 1 – 15 oz can coconut milk , i use full fat
• 1 whole can of water ( use the can from coconut milk )
• 2 fresh lemon grass , smash the head
• 1 cinnamon sticks
• 25 grams fresh galangal ( if you can’t get it , it’s perfectly fine ! )
• about 2 lbs of chicken ( white or dark , bone in boneless , your choice ) or tofu / tempe
• 2 large bell pepper ,whatever color you want , green , red , orange
• 1 large potato ( gold , red or even sweet potato work just fine ! )
• 1 carrots ( if you’d like )

Direction :

• Get all the ingredients ready and throw them all in food processor , add about 1-2 tbsp of olive oil to make a smooth paste . Probably take about few minutes . Just let it run until it becomes smooth .
• Cut up the chicken and vegetables . Heat up the dutch oven , and sautee the curry paste and lemon grass and cinnamon stick for few minutes . Add coconut milk and water .
• Bring to boil , add the chicken and vegetables in . Bring to boil , then turn it to medium low , cover and let it cook until chicken is done , 20 minutes or something . If you use whole chicken , it will take longer .
• Serve with jasmine rice

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