Eastcoastlife's Hainanese Chicken Curry 潮州妹的海南咖喱鸡

Don't know what got into me!? I volunteered to cook chicken curry for 25 council members of a clan when asked to contribute to a "victory celebration" on Sunday.

And of all the different types of chicken curry dishes out there, I choose to cook Hainanese chicken curry. Teochew lady cooking a popular Hainanese chicken curry and serving to Hainanese foodies. Was I too confident? Went through a week of stress to finally present my dish on Sunday.

Here's my basic recipe (for 10 people) :

Ingredients :
2 fresh chicken (1.5 kg each) - chop into big chunks
1 litre thick coconut milk
400g water
8 tbsp cooking oil
salt and sugar to taste
1 kg baby potatoes (boiled until half cook, peel)

Curry paste :
8 dried chillies (soaked for 20 minutes)
10 buah keras (candlenuts, soaked for 20 minutes)
8 cm fresh turmeric
6 cm galangal
2 cm old ginger
10 cloves garlic
10 shallots
6 Kaffir lime leaves
4 lemon grass
2 tbsp belachan (shrimp paste)
2 tbsp curry powder (optional)

Method :
1. Blend all the spices for the curry paste until fine. Or you can use a mortar and pestle to pound them to a paste.

2. Fry the curry paste in the oil until fragrant, then add in the chopped chicken. Coat the chicken evenly with the curry paste and then add in the coconut milk and water. I substituted half the water with 200ml evaporated milk for a creamy texture.

3. Add in the baby potatoes. When the potatoes are fully cooked, the starch from them will thicken the curry. Turn off the fire and serve with fried bee hoon or French loaf.

Eastcoastlife's Hainanese Chicken Curry! Woohooo.... pass the Hainanese seniors' taste test. Very good! very good! *dance for joy*

Note : Because majority of my tasters are senior citizens, I tasted the raw curry paste and adjusted the amount of spices with regard to their health, adding more turmeric, old ginger but not making it too spicy.

Lately I have been studying the use of spices and herbs in Chinese cooking to make healthy dishes. As most elderly people have body aches, pains and inflammation, I try to use spices that can warm the body and promote blood circulation.

Using good quality ingredients and blended to a smooth, fine paste , my curry gravy can be drunk on its own.


潮州妹的海南咖喱鸡。。。 星期天通过海南长辈们的口味测试。 我煮的斋米粉和海南咖喱鸡 ~~~ 扫到光光!! 好开心!