Asian Kurma Chicken 亚洲拷瑪鸡肉

Kurma chicken @ ayam masak kurma is not a strange word here in Malaysia. Its one of the popular main dish serve almost every Malay restaurants or even at home. Unlike rendang or ayam masak lemak which is thick and dry, masak kurma has soup like gravy. This is such a irresistible dish to serve at anytime. I bet your guests will ask for more.

And here's what I did.
Ingredients :
1 kg  chicken, cut small (15 drumstick)
1-1/2 TB   turmeric powder
300ml   coconut milk
4 cups  water
salt to taste
1 TB   sugar
1 large  turmeric leaf, thinly sliced
3  stalk  lemongrass, take only the white part & smashed
2 pieces  asam keping

Blended paste :
3 TB  kurma mixed powder, toasted (I used readymixed)
5  candlenut / buah keras, slightly toasted
5 cloves garlic
1 large  onion
3  shallot
1"  ginger
1"  galangal / blue ginger
15  bird eye chilies
(blend into paste)

Method :
(1) wash & clean chicken thoroughly then cut into bite size as desired or you may use chicken drumstick, then marinade chicken with turmeric powder and set aside to rest for 30 minutes.
(2) preheat a wok with enough cooking oil for frying, then fry chicken meat till golden brown and set aside.
(3) now, preheat wok with 1/2 cup after fried cooking oil and saute lemongrass till fragrant then stir in blended paste and simmer everything till nice & fragrant.
(4) next, add in asam keping, water and coconut milk & bring it to boil for about 15 minutes over medium heat.

(5)  finally, add in fried chicken, salt & sugar, at the same time top up one cup of water, and let to boil over medium heat till chicken meat turns soft & tender. If the gravy is too thick, add in extra water and bring it to boil.
(6)  stir in turmeric leaf till well mixed and then off the heat. And its all ready to serve.

The gravy should look quite saucy and well blended. The additional turmeric leaf should be able to kill you instantly. Hubby calls for extra white rice...... The chicken meat tastes even merrier after soaking in the gravy overnight. Just imagine you're having a bowl of white rice infront of you right now. Slurppppp...... .haha......