Masak Lemak Cili Padi is a rich spicy yellow coconut gravy that is cooked with bird’s eye chilies/fire chillies. It is known as a traditional curry that is said to be from Negeri Sembilan. While this recipe uses chicken, it can be substituted with prawns, flower crab or fish. Occasionally pineapples, tomatoes or potatoes are added in.
INGREDIENTS
Approximately half a chicken cut into bite size, washed and drained
10 fire chillies and a few more for garnishing
2 cloves of garlic
4 shallots
1 inch fresh turmeric
2 stalks lemon grass, bruised
1 slice of dried tamarind
1 box of 200ml coconut milk (fresh is fine too)
2 tbsp of cooking oil
1 cup water
Salt, sugar, and fish sauce to taste
Method
1. Have all your ingredients portioned out and ready. Blend or pound all your aromatics (garlic, chilies, onions, tumeric) with the chili.
2. Heat the pan over medium heat. Here you can choose to precook the chicken in the hot pan, to rid the chicken of any access water. Add the oil into the pan and fry the aromatics including the bruised lemongrass until fragrant.
3. Add in the chicken and mix well.
4. Next, add the coconut milk, stirring continuously so that the coconut milk would not split.
5. Add water and bring to the boil. Add tamarind slice and let it simmer for about 10 minutes or until the chicken pieces are thoroughly cooked. Add salt to taste, a dash of fish sauce(optional) and balance out the sourness from the tamarind with some sugar.
6. Lastly, garnish with some more bird’s eye chilies and your dish is done. You can also add sliced turmeric leaves, even kaffir lime leaves or a sprinkle of chopped coriander leaves for a nice pop of colour.
