Green Chicken Curry

This dish is definitely not for the faint hearted. 

With 8 green chillies, its literally mouth-watering, molten lava hot and sweat glands tumping kind of dish of the brave hearts. Be that as it may, the temperature mellows down, and the warmth leaves your body - and soon you will not remember that at one point you were sucking you breath - when you pair this dish off with a cup or two of fragrant jasmine rice.

Or you can just simply cut down the chillies. :))

On the day that I was about to make the green chicken curry, I found out, much to my chagrin, that my hand blender wasn't working. Since I am not fond of reading equipment manuals, I inadvertently used my hand blender to mix my dough the day before. Note to self: Read the manual before using the equipment. A hand blender is obviously for blending (or milling) and not a kneading machine. Hahaha! No wonder I  smelled burning wires while I was mixing my dough. My hand blender apparently died on me due to my ____ (fill in the blank with whatever word you think suits my action. Lol!). Good thing, the equipment was still under warranty so I was able to return it a day after I made this dish. I think the sales personnel just plainly pretended oblivious and completely ignored the truth that it was really my fault. Nice one, Myer! :))

What with all the ingredients needed to be crushed, my little boy came to the rescue. We were left with no choice but to pound the ingredients with the ever reliable mortar and pestle. And so huff and puff and pound and pound my little boy went. Whew!

But if the philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli were to describe the whole process, then he will surely say: The end justifies the means. Lol!

After all the crushing, grinding and pounding, this dish is worth the wait. Yummy!

(A)

750gm chicken pieces, chopped into smaller pieces and marinate with 1 tsp salt for 30 minutes (my little boy loves chicken drumsticks so I used 750g of chicken drumsticks.)

1 russet potato or any other floury potatoes, peeled and cubed

(B)

8 green chillies (seeds partially removed, if you want more heat)

2 lemon grass (4 inches from the base) 

3-4 shallots

2 cloves garlic

Thumb sized ginger

Pinkie sized belacan/shrimp paste

1 Tbsp oil

(C )

1 tbsp coriander seeds

½ Tbsp cumin seeds

1 tsp black pepper

(D)

200ml thick coconut milk

Salt to taste

Oil for cooking

Handful of Thai basil

1. Blend (B) plus 3 Tbsp coconut cream (skim the top of the 200ml coconut milk) until it becomes a smooth paste

2. Mill (C ) until fine (If you have a blender, use it to liquify your ingredients)

3. Heat wok and put in 1 tbsp oil and fry (c ) until fragrant, put in (B) and cook until it is very fragrant.

4. Put in chicken and potatoes. Cook for 2 minutes

5. Put in water to cover chicken and cook until potato turns tender.

6. Reduce gravy to desired amount and put in coconut milk. Season with salt.

7. When curry has come to a boil, put in basil leaves and give it a toss and dish up. Serve hot with rice.