Dry Chicken Curry



I've always thought that cooking a curry dish is a daunting task. Long list of ingredients that involves lots of chopping and grinding, squeezing of coconut milk... Oh, that really puts me off!

I chanced upon a dry chicken curry recipe from one of my mom's cookbooks. As in any curry dish, it comes with a long list of ingredients, but one look at the instruction got me interested, it is very short, only 4 steps! Well, I thought, it looks so simple that there's no way that I'm going to screw up this dish. And if I manage to cook well, hopefully I will be more willing to try out other types of curry dish!

This dry chicken curry was a simple dish indeed. It is "dry" because it does not have lots of gravy like a standard curry dish. All the dry ingredients were ground with a blender, then stir-fried it until fragrant. Next, pieces of chicken were added in, then squeezed some lime juice in it. Let it simmer for about 10 minutes and that's it, it's ready to be served! Oh, by the way, this recipe does not call for coconut milk. :-D

Hubby was out running some errands when I was cooking and he's still not back yet by the time I was done. By then the whole house was filled with the aroma of the curry. I wanted to wait for him but I just couldn't resist.. I tried a piece of chicken and I was pleased with the result, it was flavourful, and the spiciness was just right. The lime juice gave an extra tang to it. However, I could taste the lemongrass fibers in my mouth. I guess I should've crushed it instead of grinding it with other ingredients.

Dry Chicken Curry Recipe

Ingredients A:
1 whole chicken (cut into small chunks)
lime juice


Ingredients B (grind with a blender or pound with mortar and pestle):
2 sticks lemongrass
7-8 shallot
2-3 cloves garlic
1 piece ginger (length of a thumb)
7-8 dried chilies
2 pieces tumeric (length of a thumb)
1 piece of belachan (about 1 inch)
2 tsp chopped curry leaves


Method:
1) Heat oil in a saucepan, sauté Ingredients B until fragrant.
2) Add chicken chunks and season with salt, cook in medium heat for about 10 minutes or until the chicken is softened.
3) Add lime juice and cook in low heat for another 1 to 2 minutes.
4) Serve.

Comments

Cate said…
What... no recipe?
Piggy said…
Hi Sweetnicks! I've included the recipe in the post. :-)
boo_licious said…
Oh yum, the curry looks nice. Yeah, I also don't like to cook curry as I hate the long long list of ingredients I have to buy.
Nic said…
I like this idea. Sometimes curries just seem like a lot of work (worthwhile, but still work), and this seems like it is just as tasty and q bit easier. Yum!
Joycelyn said…
hiya, am a huge fan of dry curries...yours looks fantastic...thanks for the recipe...cheers,j
Anonymous said…
Nice recipe. Thanks. I like chicken curry a lot and this is a bit different from what I had here in S'pore.

Ciao,
Sabrina
BaliRain said…
yeah...that's also what happen with Indonesian cooking - bezillion of chopping, grinding, stewing, brewing but the end result is just hmmmm....I usually cook whatever curried and/with complicated spices over night and let it breathes and "spa-ing" before devouring it as the taste developed better that way.
Anonymous said…
Hi Ms. Piggy,

Just found your blog when I was searching for a recipe for Chinese Smoke Chicken.

Can't wait to try your Dry curry chicken. Looks delicious ... I love curry dishes without coconut milk!!!

Thanks for sharing!!!

p/s: Do you mind sharing your Stew & Smoke Chinese Chicken Recipe??
Piggy said…
Hi Tricia,

Thanks for dropping by!

Pls send your email address to grace_choo03@hotmail.com, I'll send the recipe of smoke chicken to you.