Few days ago I had a craving of having my mum's Chicken Rendang, so I called her up and finally wrote down her recipe. Actually, I have tried to cook my own Chicken Rendang using other recipes but there was that oomph missing from it. The rendang dish is part of the Malaysian Cuisine. It actually originated from Indonesia but it's cooked and enjoyed widely in Malaysia and Singapore too. Rendang is described as a spicy meat dish stewed in coconut milk. It's not at all like curry and so far I have not met anyone who does not like rendang. You can also use beef but I prefer to use chicken. Anyways, here's the recipe and I hope someone would try it out.
Chicken Rendang:
6 tablespoons oil (add more if needed)
1kg whole chicken (cut up to 8 pieces)
4 thumb sized galangal, pounded
balance stalks of lemongrass from the spice paste, bruised or pounded
400ml thick coconut milk
4 kaffir lime leafs
2 tablespoons kerisik*
Spice Paste:
25 pieces dried chili (soaked in hot water for 15 minutes)
2 big onions
6 stalks lemongrass (white part only)
10 pieces candlenut
1 tablespoons cumin seeds or powder
4 tablespoons water
1. Blend spice paste in a food processer until fine.
2. Heat up wok or deep pan and add oil. Once hot, fry the lemongrass and galangal till aromatic then add the spice paste and cook till the oil separates from the paste.
3. Add chicken pieces and fry for a while in the paste for about 10 minutes. Then add coconut milk, kerisik and kaffir lime leafs, mix well and leave it to simmer on medium low heat for about 1 hour. Stir every 10 minutes.
4. Serve with basmati rice.
Note: You can simmer the rendang till it's dry or if you like it with more gravy then an hour would do. To make kerisik, add grated coconut to a dry pan, stir till golden brown then blend till it becomes a paste in a dry food processor.
