Gulai Ayam Kunyit

Gulai Ayam Masak Kunyit (Chicken Stew with tumeric)

I reckon everyone had a childhood favourites and had recipes that could roused up sweet memories of those growing up years. This recipe always reminds me of my late grandmother paternal side. My grandmother Hjh Nipah was one of the kindest and sweetest grandmom that I ever had; she is always the fun grandmother never chatised and angry with us her grandchildren. She started to live with us since 1991 until she passed away in 1998 during those years she had taught me the love of cooking. The thing with grandmom's cooking was just simple 'kampong' (village) food and with her being an ethnic kedayan she loves to cook nearly everything savoury with fresh tumeric. The ingredients are simple enough and the taste would be soupy, soury, little taste of heat from the chopped chilles.

Ingredients:

Half kilo (500gm) chicken cut into your choice of cuts but I prefer it to be chop into medium sizes

2 medium size potatoes (cut into 8 wedges)

5-6 cm of fresh tumeric (if you are abroad and could not find any fresh tumeric; just head to your local asian store and bought powdered tumeric. Approximate 1 tablespoon is enough as the powdered tumeric is powerful and could leave stains)

1 stalk lemongrassn (there are dry versions but the fresh one is better)

4 shallots (sliced finely)

2 cloves of garlic (sliced finely)

3-5 birds eye chilli (just cut the top off thereby the heat only seeped through from the top of the chillies making the heat only tingling and not overpowering the taste - you can reduced or increased the number chillies depend on your heat preferences)

Salt and Sugar to taste

3-5 pieces of Asam Gelugur/Keping

(Asam gelugor, also known as asam keping (literally meaning “sour slices”), is used mainly in fish curries in most ASEAN countries. Its acidity and flavour are subtly different to the sour fruitiness of the more commonly used souring agent, tamarind (asam jawa) but they can be substitutes with tamarind paste (this text was taken from the definition in http://www.rasarasa.net.my/) )

Directions:

The shallots, garlics and tumeric pounded into the mortal and pestle to form a paste.

Heat little amount of oil onto your pan on medium heat (I prefer using a non-stick pan hence less oil and much healthier), chuck into your paste and stirred until its fragrant.

Put in the chicken pieces, potatoes, the bird-eye chilles, lemongrass and the Asam keping. Add half a cup of water.

(Optional I add 1 tomato cut into 4 wedges as hubby loves to eat tomatoes)

Cook and simmered until cooked. Add salt and sugar to taste.

Decorate your dish with scattering of diced spring onions. Serve with hot jasmine thai rice.

Note: If I am back home all the key ingredients would be just free, I would just go to my herb back garden and pull out the lemongrass, bird-eyes chillies and fresh tumeric. Hubby's aunty got the Asam tree so when it bear its fruit, cut up the fruit and dried it under the hot sun and I would have containers upon containers of asam keping to used for many months to come. Remembering these make my homesick more :)