I was in Koh Tao, Thailand, last week {still so fresh in my heart and in my head} and I had the luck to meet, at the cafe where I had my breakfast, a bunch of powerful, beautiful, incredibly sweet and knowledgeable women from Myanmar or Burma.
Most of the wok force in Koh Tao is Burmese. And that makes for a really nice, smiley service almost everywhere in the Island.
The contact with them has made me for sure desire to be in their country even if only for the duration of a meal.
They introduced me to a their Flavours, their Generosity and their Soul.full expression through Food.
Mini gave me the taste of her lip smacking rich, and yet light, delicious Chicken and Potato Curry. Though it has a whole red chilli in it, it is not spicy.
She gave me the recipe step by step.
Today I got most of the ingredients to make it.
I will miss out on the potatoes because I am back on my high protein diet.
I won't share the amount of kilos I put on whilst being in Thailand. It is not lady like...hahaha.
I could not find the Cassia leaves, which I believe would have made a very big difference, next time, I promise.
Actually, next time I post I will make the recipe exactly as she gave to me. Today it will have to be my version as I also have no pestle and mortar in the flat {I am not in my usual kitchen, please forgive me} and could not paste the spices either so it is all chopped and bashed instead. The bashing will help to release all the flavours and the chopping will make it all manageable to be eaten. But it is paramount to understand that it is ALL in the paste. The colour of the curry is not the same and partially I blame that on the time I would have spent slow frying the paste before I added the chicken. So next time, as promised, I will do just that!
You will need:
700g chicken {diced with bones and all}
1 teaspoon of vegetable or coconut oil
1/4 teaspoon of marigold bouillon
1 onion chopped
1 long red chilli bashed and chopped
1 cardamom pod bashed
1 handful of garlic cloves bashed and chopped roughly
2 cloves
1/3 stick of cinnamon or cassia bark
1/3 teaspoon of ground coriander
1 very very small pinch of nutmeg {a whisper only}
1 tablespoon grated ginger
Salt to your taste
1 teaspoon garam masala powder or curry powder
Mix all the ingredients except the oil and the garam masala.
Heat a non stick deep frying pan and add the oil. When very hot add the chicken mix and fry for a few minutes until you can see the chicken turn colour and get a little brown. It is ok if you burn it a little bit, it will add flavour, depth and character to your dish, but do not get carried a away with the charring.
After about 5 minutes, the onions will have cooked and will be transparent. Now, you can add boiling water until the chicken is covered plus another half an inch or so. Once the mixture has boiled, turn the heat to medium to low and let it cook uncovered until the liquid almost disappears. It should take about 20 to 30 minutes.
If you can smell a lot of either cinnamon or cloves remove them. It is not supposed to have any particular smells, just a blend of them all. But sometimes, the spices are fresher than other times and they stand up from other smells. So remove them and after it is all done put them back because it is nice to find bits of the flavours on your plate. At least I love to see what I am eating. Excites me, gives me ideas.
Once the chicken is well cooked and the liquid is almost all gone, add salt and curry powder and let it cook a little further. Something like another 5 minutes or so.
If you want it more curried add a little more garam masala or curry powder.
You can make this in advance as the flavours will blend and get stronger or you can eat as it gets ready.
Enjoy!!!
