Chicken Rendang
Popular Malaysian-Indonesian chicken rendang recipe made with tender chicken pieces slow-cooked in aromatic rendang curry sauce. One of the best spicy chicken curry recipes loaded with authentic flavour. Serve with plain rice to complement the dish.
Servings: 4
Calories: 323kcal
Ingredients
- 600 grams Chicken Skinless bone-in chicken, cut medium pieces
- 200 ml Coconut milk Full fat coconut milk or double cream ( heavy cream )
- 250 ml Water About 1 cup warm water, ( add more water if needed )
- 1 tsp Cumin seeds
- 1 stick Cinnamon
- 2-3 Star anise
- 5-6 Cloves
- 1 Lemongrass Bruised and tie it into a knot
- 1 tbsp Tamarind juice See details in note
- 4-5 Kaffir lime leaves or ( lime zest 1 tsp )
- 1 tbsp Brown sugar or palm sugar or regular white sugar
- 1 tsp Salt Or adjust salt to taste
- 4 tbsp Cooking oil add more oil if needed
Rendang curry paste
- 4-5 Onion Shallot onions, roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp Lemongrass Chopped
- 10-12 Dried long red chillies Deseeded and soaked in hot water for 10 mins.
- 4-5 cloves Garlic Roughly chopped
- 2 tsp Galangal Chopped or sliced
- 2 tsp Ginger Chopped or sliced
- 1 tsp Turmeric powder Or fresh turmeric sliced
Garnish
- Coriander
- Fresh chillies
Instructions
- First, place all the rendang curry paste ingredients in the food processor and grind it into a smooth paste. Add a splash of water if needed.
- Heat the pan into medium heat and add oil. Once the oil is hot, add cumin seeds, cinnamon, cloves, and star anise. Let the spices sizzle for a few seconds.
- Add the prepared curry paste and saute for 1-2 minutes or until the curry paste colour change and fragrant.
- Then, pour the coconut milk in, stir it well. Next, at the chicken pieces, salt, sugar, and lemongrass. Combine everything well and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Now add water and bring the heat to high for 1-2 minutes. Then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20-25 minutes or until the chicken is tender.
- Finish with tamarind juice and kaffir lime leaves. Make a taste test and add more salt or water if needed.
- Transfer to a serving plate with garnish with fresh green chillies or coriander. Serve with plain rice.
Video
Notes
- Tamarind juice/puree - You can use readymade store-bought tamarind puree or homemade. To make tamarind puree at home, soak the tamarind pulp in hot water for 15 minutes and massage the pulp using your hands. Then strain the seeds and pulps by using a mesh strainer.
- Coconut milk - recommend using full fat ( full cream ) coconut milk. I usually use Aroy-D or Chaokoh coconut milk tins. Instead of coconut milk, you can use double cream ( heavy cream ).
- Dried chillies - should be deseeded and soaked in hot water for 10-15 minutes to rehydrate and soften them before grinding. Instead of dried chillies, you can use regular hot/mild chilli powder. You might want to adjust the chilli amount to your taste.
- Spices - You don't have to use all the spices used in this recipe. You can adjust the flavour to your liking.
- Galangal - has a hot, peppery, earthy, citrusy flavour and is similar to ginger. You can find fresh or frozen galangal at Chinese/Thai or Asian supermarkets. You can omit it if you cannot find it.
- Kaffir lime leaves - brings fresh zesty flavour. You can add a dash of lime zest or kaffir lime zest as a substitute.
- How to serve this curry? Simply serve with basmati rice, jasmine rice or a choice of cooked rice, noodles, naan, chapati, or flatbread.
- To control the heat you can reduce the amount of dried chillies, galangal, and ginger.
- Nutritional facts are calculated approximately per serving without adding rice or noodles. ( It can be varied by the number of different products used. )
Nutrition
Calories: 323kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 16g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 54mg | Sodium: 649mg | Potassium: 476mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 114IU | Vitamin C: 11mg | Calcium: 73mg | Iron: 4mg
