My partner’s sister was in Cambodia recently and brought us back some fantastic spices and ingredients from there. Lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, chilies… So we’ve been looking at ways to use them all up while they are fresh, before we dry the rest up. This recipe was perfect for this as it used all three of the above mentioned ingredients! And it was a really delicious curry too. Serve simply with fluffy white rice, this makes for a superb midweek dinner when you have a bit more time to cook. Saying that, it’s really waiting that you’ll need to have time for as the chicken will pretty much cook itself once you put it on. I’ve not changed much from the original recipe, apart from allowing a bit more time for the chicken to cook but you can adjust depending on the size of chicken thighs you use. I’ve also missed out a couple of ingredients because I found the sauce perfect without the addition of extra sugar and fish sauce.

Malaysian-style chicken

Serves 4 | Prep 15 mins | Cook 40 mins
Easy |Gluten and Dairy-Free

malaysian-chicken-21

You’ll need

  • Vegetable oil;
  • 8 free-range chicken thighs;
  • 1 onion, chopped;
  • 3 garlic cloves;
  • 4 medium-hot red chillies;
  • 1 lemongrass stalk, tough outer leaves removed, inner core sliced;
  • 1 tbsp ground ginger;
  • Groundnut oil;
  • ½ tsp ground turmeric;
  • 1 cinnamon stick;
  • 2 star anise;
  • 5 kaffir lime leaves;
  • 400ml coconut milk;
  • 100ml chicken stock.

Heat a little vegetable oil in a frying pan and fry the chicken thighs, skin-side down, until the skin is crisp and golden. Remove the chicken and set aside.

Whizz the onion, garlic cloves, chillies, lemongrass, ginger and a good glug of groundnut oil. Fry this paste in the pan over a medium heat for 2 minutes, add the turmeric, cinnamon stick, star anise and kaffir lime leaves, then fry for 3 minutes.

Stir in the coconut milk and chicken stock, sit the chicken thighs in the pan, skin-side up, and simmer for 25-30 minutes until the chicken is just cooked and the sauce has reduced. Serve with rice on the side.

Original recipe from Delicious magazine, available online here.