Dry Curry Chicken - Rendang Ayam

I love curry ,rendang (dry curry) and sambal(chili paste) spices!! Actually I love everything spicy in my meal. You will notice I rarely cooked beef rendang or beef curry or sambal beef in my cooking,right? Well,actually I love to try beef but due to religion reason I can't.Well, since I still have precooked homemake-fried-sambal-belacan and kerisik (grated grilled coconut) in my freezer and the weather is pretty cold,a nice plate of chicken rendang with white rice is so comfort for my soul and spirit!! I always prepare the spices during summer to store for winter season.For those who live in 4 seasons country,you can try my storing sambal belacan spices method. It's easy and simple when you want to cook your own chicken rendang at home.Check it out my recipe here and method of how to make homemake-fried-sambal-belacan-step-by step here. !!

Some of you might wonder what is rendang right? OK..let's excerpt from Wikipedia:
Rendang is made from beef (or occasionally chicken, mutton, water buffalo, duck, or vegetables like jackfruit or cassava) slowly cooked in coconut milk and spices for several hours until almost all the liquid is gone, allowing the meat to absorb the spicy condiments. The cooking process changes from boiling to frying as the liquid evaporates. The slow cooking process allows the meat to absorb all the spices and to become tender. The spices may include ginger, galangal, turmeric leaf, lemon grass and chillies. Chicken or duck rendang also contains tamarind and is usually not cooked for as long as beef rendang.[4]

Ingredients:

10 drumsticks ( chop into 2 pieces,then wash and drain to removed any chip bones)

3 tbsp homemake-fried-sambal-belacan

1 tbsp meat curry powder(preferly Baba's and Nuri's Brand)

2 tsp chicken boullion powder

2 tbsp chili boh *optional if you like extra spicy*

2 pieces rock sugar ( medium size) or 2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp sea salt or more to your taste

1/2 cup kerisik ( blended fine grated grilled coconut)

1/2 can coconut milk (200 ml)

4-5 pieces daun limau purut (kaffir lime leaves)

1 tbsp cooking oil

Method:

1:Heat large non-stick soup pot or wok with cooking oil,curry powder and /homemake-fried-sambal-belacan at high medium heat for 30 seconds,then add in daun limau purut(kaffir lime leaves) and chopped chicken drumstick.

2:Reduce heat to medium ,add in coconut milk,chicken bouillon ,rock sugar and salt into the chicken.Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes or until the gravy slightly thicken.Remember to keep stirring with spatula especially to scrape the bottom if you 're using regular aluminum pot or wok to prevent from burning.

3:Add in blended grated grilled coconut into pot,stir well combine with chicken.If the gravy is too dry,add extra another 100 ml coconut milk/ whole milk. Check the seasoning,cook for another 5-10 minutes or until red oil start floating on the pot surface .Remove from heat.

4: Serve warm with rice,ketupat(compress rice) or lontong or nasi lemak (coconut rice

Note:

Some recipe out there omit curry powder,but I prefer to add some curry powder into my rendang. I'm looking high and low for daun kunyit (turmeric leaves) for this dish but unfortunately no store in US carry this leaves yet!.