The Spicy Side of Life - Chicken Rendang and Nasi Minyak

I don’t know whether I am back in business, but I try. Today I had that wonderful feeling again … of hot and spicy food slightly heating me up from the inside.

I had some Chicken Rendang and Nasi Minyak. 

As it was my first step into the direction of Malay cuisine, I had to do some research. Usually I go about by checking Wikipedia and then reading through the different dishes. I found a few other things I would love to try, like for example Murtabak, but that has to wait for a while.

I set my eyes on Nasi Minyak, rice flavoured with ghee and some dry spices and … you will see later. The description said, it is usually eaten with Rendang.

The most traditional way of doing that dish is with buffalo meat. As I don’t have it and I didn’t want to try getting it, I settled for chicken, which is also quite common these days.

So, don’t be afraid of the heat or the colour (you will see later, why it has roughly the same colour), we have means and ways to reduce the heat.

Now, let’s go for the Chicken Rendang first.

Chicken Rendang

Ingredients
1 tbsp. ghee
500 g chicken breast, cut into small chunks
1 tsp. turmeric powder
Salt
2 shallots, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
Thumb-sized piece of ginger, finely chopped
1 stalk of lemongrass, finely chopped
1 dried chilli, finely chopped (less seeds, less heat)
Some water
400 ml coconut milk
A hand full of fresh coriander

Method
Melt the ghee in a pan. Then fry the chicken pieces together with the turmeric and a bit of salt.

Bash the shallots, garlic, ginger, lemongrass and chilli together in a mortar, adding a bit of water to make a paste – kind of.

Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside. In the same pan, fry now the paste you just made.

Now add the coconut milk and the chopped up stalks of the coriander. Bring this to the boil and leave to simmer.

At some point add the chicken back and continue simmering until the sauce thickens.

Just prior to serving, add the coriander leaves and check the seasoning whether you need more salt.

Serve the Chicken Rendang together with the …

Nasi Minyak

Ingredients
A mug of basmati rice
Two mugs of water for steaming the rice
1 tbsp. ghee
A hand full of cashew nuts
1 cinnamon stick
1 star anise
4 cardamom pods, cracked open
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 red chilli, finely chopped (mind the seeds)
1 tsp. turmeric
Another mug of water
A hand full of peas (frozen, if you like)
A hand full of fresh coriander
Salt

Method
Add the mug of rice and the water into a pot and bring to the boil, while the lid is open. Then put on the lid, reduce the heat to a minimum and leave for 20 minutes.

Fork through the rice to loosen it up a bit, if you like and then set the rice aside.

Melt the ghee in another pan and roast the cashews. Then remove them from the pan.

Toss the cinnamon stick, star anise and the cardamom into the pan and fry them.

After that add the shallot, chilli and the turmeric. Let them all together enjoy some heat.

At this point it’s time for the rice to return. Add them to the pan together with some water.

While you are at heating things up, add the peas as well and finally the chopped up coriander leaves and the cashews.

Serve right away – as I already said – together with the Chicken Rendang. Well, they have both turmeric in it, so it’s not too much contrasting in terms of colour on the plate, but it tastes luvly.

Hähnchen Rendang und Nasi Minyak

Heut ist es mal an der Zeit für malaysische Küche. Das habe ich bis jetzt noch nicht ausprobiert. Also wird es mal Zeit. 

Insgesamt habe ich zwei Chillies verbaut. Es war trotzdem leicht scharf und aufwärmend. Das ist auf jeden Fall gut, wenn es wieder kälter wird – oh nein, der Winter kommt.

Falls man nicht so auf Schärfe steht, wäre es vielleicht angebracht, die Samen der Chillies zu entfernen. Was soll’s immer her mit der Schärfe.

Hähnchen Rendang

Zutaten
1 EL Ghee
500 g Hähnchenbrust, in kleine Stücke geschnitten
1 TL Kurkuma
Salz
2 Schalloten, feingehackt
2 Knoblauchzehen, feingehackt
Daumengroßes Stück Ingwer,feingehackt
1 Stengel Zitronengras, feingehackt
1 getrocknete Chilli, feingehackt
Etwas Wasser
400 ml Kokosmilch
Eine Hand voll frischer Koriander

Zubereitung
Das Ghee in der Pfanne schmelzen. Dann darin die Hähnchenstücke anbraten mit dem Kurkuma und etwas Salz zusammen bis das Fleisch etwas Farbe bekommt – und damit meine ich nicht die Farbe von dem Kurkuma.

Die Schalotten, Knoblauch, Ingwer, Zitronengras und Chilli in einen Mörser geben und dann ordentlich zusammenstampfen. Ein wenig Wasser dabei, so dass eine Paste entsteht – oder so ähnlich.

Das Hähnchenfleisch aus der Pfanne nehmen und statt dessen die Paste hineingeben. Das Fleisch erst mal zur Seite stellen. Die Paste anbraten.

Dann die Kokosmilch und feingehackte Korianderstengel hinzugeben. Das ganze zum Kochen bringen und köcheln lassen.

Irgendwann kommt dann auch das Fleisch zurück in die Pfanne und weiterköcheln lassen bis die Sauce etwas dicker wird.

Kurz vor dem servieren noch die Korianderblätter hinzugeben und kontrollieren, one noch etwas Salz nötig ist.

Das Hähnchen Rendang servieren zusammen mit …

Nasi Minyak

ZutatenEin Becher Basmatireis
Zwei Becher Wasser zum dünsten des Reises
1 EL Ghee
Eine Hand voll Cashewkerne
1 Zimtstange
1 Sternanis
4 Kardamomkapseln, das innere davon
1 Schalotte, feingehackt
1 rote Chilli, feingehackt
1 TL Kurkuma
Noch ein Becher Wasser
Eine Hand voll Erbsen
Eine Hand voll frischer Koriander
Salz

Zubereitung
Den Reis mit dem Wasser in einen Topf geben und zum Kochen bringen. Sobald der Reis schön blubbert, den Deckel drauf und die Hitze reduzieren. Für 20 Minuten vor sich hinköcheln lassen.

Wenn man mag, kann man dann nochmal das ganze kurz mit einer Gabel auflockern. Den Reis zur Seite stellen.

Das Ghee in einer anderen Pfanne schmelzen und die Cashewkerne darin rösten. Dann die Cashewkerne aus der Pfanne entfernen.

Da kommt jetzt die Zimtstange, Sternanis und Kardamon rein. Kurz anbraten.

Es folgt die Schalotte, Chilli und Kurkuma. Die Zutaten ein wenig die Hitze schmecken lassen.

Nun kommt der Reis wieder zurück in die Pfanne mit einem Becher Wasser, so dass uns da nicht anpappt.

Wo jetzt nun schon mal alles erhitzt wird, kann man auch gleich die Erbsen hinzugeben und wenn man dann schon fast fertig zum Essen ist, kommen noch die Cashewkerne und der Koriander mit drunter.

Zeit zum Essen. Wie ich schon erwähnte – ja, das habe ich schon gesagt – Nasi Minyak und Hähnchen Rendang zusammen servieren und Spass dabei haben. Lecker!

Go for Belgium with Stoemp

Either this will be a total confusion or actually a nice little post. Therefor I want to set a thing straight fright away, concerning the title of this post. The last word is not referring to a percussion group, originating in Brighton, UK that uses the body and ordinary objects to create a physical theatre performance. So it's not Stomp, but Stoemp. Just in case you where suspecting a typo here. 

Stoemp (now I have to be careful not to produce a typo here) is a Belgium dish with mashed potatoes and other vegetables in it, depending on what you want to use. As I understood it, it's all mashed together, and that is what I did then.

In fact Stoemp originates from Brussels. Maybe that's why you could add brussels sprouts as well. Fine, I didn't. I also haven't been to Brussels myself. When I was in Liège, Belgium, my friend, who was driving was too afraid to drive in bigger cities and that's why we didn't go further in that direction. So, I've never been there. 

I have been in Bruges, though. Don't mistake that either, because I am not referring to the movie with Colin Farrel and Brendan Gleason here. No I have been to Bruges (maybe that is a better wording as well) about ... eh ... let's think (no, I don't need to think I just read it a few minutes ago) ... 18 years ago.

Still I managed to get a few pictures for you. The quality isn't that good, though, due to the fact I took pictures from the pictures. So here we go for Belgium ... first of all ... with Bruges.

No, I can't tell you what this is, but I must have liked the architecture ... yes, I definitely can't tell you what it is.

Oh, yes, it's a canal. You remember? It should be a famous thing, too, to do a tour on them ... I reckon.

This one you can recognise easily, that the Belfry of Bruges. Again a no for not climbing the tower. For sure you shouldn't attempt to climb the 366 steps, if you are far too fat. Then The 39 Steps would be better (you could try London for that).

After that time travel, Belgium travel sort of thing we are ready to go for Belgium with Stoemp (yes, still not Stomp, they won't be having any concerts in Belgium soon, but you could try London again).

So, finally, we go for Belgium with Stomp ... ah, no ... got me here ... no ... with Stoemp ... at least my version of it ...

Ingredients:

500 g potatoes, cubed

3 medium sized carrots, cubed

Hand full of peas (no, they will do as they are)

A big knob of butter

1 onion, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, finely sliced

A drop of milk (or two)

Salt and pepper

Method:

First of all I got the peas, carrots and potatoes boiling so they are going soft.

In the meantime I melted the butter in a pan on low heat and added the onion and garlic.

Once the potatoes, carrots and peas were soft (that wouldn't be any problem for the peas), I started mashing them up a bit (you may have to rinse them first, though), added the onions and garlic together with the remains of the butter to the pot. Then comes the milk or ... yes, you could use cream, too. A little bit of seasoning with salt and pepper and ready we are to go for Belgium with Stoemp.

Obviously ... yes ... very obviously indeed ... you could have a vegetarian meal here, if you wouldn't add those sausages as I did. You could add whatever you like, if you like. Do you like that? Do you like the dish?

Whatever the case, as this is a Belgian dish and Belgium is playing in the World Cup today, you for sure all know, what that means!

Green Chicken Thai Curry

These days I prefer simple food with no complications or long hours of cooking. Along that line I have something quick and easy for hour current Bloggers Around the World. After all someone has to do the starting. So I have a humble Green Chicken Thai Curry for you.

I even dared to use my Thai curry paste I have in the cupboard. Last time I did that the food was far too hot to be eaten. So with caution we proceed ...