Chicken Tempra (Nyonya Dish)

This is the best dish and loved by all; adults and children during our Mid-autumn festival family gathering! The gravy is especially yummy yummy! I can just eat the rice with the gravy alone! Thanks Cindy for your recipe. I have modified the recipe according to our taste.

Ingredients :

- 1 whole chicken (washed and cut into pieces and marinated with jintan manis)

- 1 big onions (washed and sliced)
- 1 bombay onion (washed and sliced)
- garlic (finely chopped)
- ginger (washed and crushed)
- 2 bird's eye chilies (cili padi - chopped) I only used 1 chili as some of the children couldn't take too spicy
- cooking oil

Seasonings : (to taste)
- Fennel powder (jintan manis) - I used it to marinate the chicken

- Caramel sauce
- Soy sauce
- Salt
- Brown sugar (I used 5 tablespoons)
- Water (mixed with brown sugar, add enough water to cover the chicken and you would not regret cos' the gravy is very yummy)
- 1/2 cup of lime juice

Method :

1) Heat oil in a wok or pan. Fry onions till fragrant. Then, add ginger, garlic and chili. Fry until aromatic.

2) Add in marinated chicken and fry for a while.

3) Add in seasonings and water except lime juice. Cover and let it simmer over medium low heat until the chicken is cooked and tender.

4) Lastly, add lime juice. Stir and mix well.

5) Dish out and serve.

A1 Chicken Curry

Yesterday, I had a sudden craving for curry and yet I didn't want to fuss around with all the poundings of curry paste .  Fortunately, I still had a packet of A1 Instant Chicken Curry Sauce in my pantry but no coconut milk.  So, I whipped up my no-fuss style curry (without the coconut milk) in less than 30 minutes! 

Ingredients :

  

- 1 packet of A1 Instant Chicken Curry Sauce
- 1 kampung chicken - cut into small pieces
- 4 potatoes - peeled and quartered
- 5 stalks of lemongrass (serai) - cut into 4cm to 5cm lengths, slit and crushed
- 4 sprigs of curry leaves
- 8 shallots - peeled and minced
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 800ml water
- Salt - to taste
- 2 tbsp of Cooking oil

Methods :

1) Heat oil in a medium-sized wok and fry the shallot until slightly browned.  Add curry sauce and cinnamon stick.  Stir fry until fragrant.

2) Add chicken, potatoes, lemongrass and curry leaves. Stir and mix well.  

3) Add water and mix well.  Simmer with lid covered until chicken is cooked.

4)  Reduce heat.  Add salt to taste.

5)  Serve with warm rice or with bread.

I prefer thicker curry gravy and if coconut milk is added, wow...... you will get a richer curry gravy too....  Unfortunately, I was quite lazy to go out and buy the coconut milk.  Hence, the end result is chicken curry minus the coconut milk but the taste is still yummy yummy....

Should you want to add the coconut milk, you can add it at step no. 4.  In fact, you can also substitute the coconut milk with either yogurt or milk powder.