Stumbled upon a recipe for Opor Ayam aka Lontong Curry Chicken here last Sunday after an early morning swim. Though I did amend the recipe slightly to suit my taste bud and availability of ingredients. Not bad for a first timer, I would think. Even J found it good too, and that coming from a non-curry/soupy kind of person :D

Recipe adapted from Scent of Spice, ingredients required as follows :

- 1 whole chicken (3-3 1/2 lbs), clean & cut into 10-12 pieces (The chicken I cooked was most probably much smaller as it could only last us 2 and half meals, normally 1 chicken can stretch to 4 large satisfying meals)

 - 2 large eggs, soft boiled and peeled

- Salt to taste

- 3 tablespoons canola oil (Normal cooking oil for me)

- 1 can coconut milk (400 ml) (Half the requirement, too santan-ny ie milky for me)

- 1 cup water

- 1 lemongrass/serai, bruised and tie into a knot

- 2 Indian bay leaves (daun salam/curry leaves)

- 5 kaffir lime leaves, bruised to release the essense

- 2 belimbing wuluh (optional) (Left this out since it was optional as I was too lazy to find out what this was and to get it)

Seasoning Paste:

- 1 T. coriander seeds or 1 1/2 tsp. ground coriander

- 6 candlenuts/buah keras, chopped

- 6 shallots, peeled and roughly chopped

- 3 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced (Used only 2 cloves just in case of overdose/overpowering of garlicky taste)

- 1 piece galangal/lengkuas, about 1 inches long, peeled and cut into julienne*

- 1 piece ginger, 1 1/2 inches long, peeled and cut into julienne*

- 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric, optional (for coloring only)

*You don't have to follow the way of cutting it into julienne. I just cut it up randomly to smaller bits to make blending easier.

What to do:

- Arrange the chicken pieces on a foil lined broiler pan, skin side up. Season lightly with salt (coarse salt preferable). Set the oven rack at the top level.

- Broil the chicken pieces until the chicken skins are slightly charred, about 5-7 minutes. Keep checking since each oven is different and you don’t want to burn the meat. Set aside.

- Grind the seasoning paste in the order of the ingredients list until creamy.

- Heat oil in the Dutch oven over medium highheat. Add the seasoning paste and it should sizzle gently. Lower the heat if necessary. Stir until fragrant and brightly colored (about 3-4 minutes), take care not to brown the paste.

- Add the chicken pieces and stir so that the paste adhere to the meat (about 1-2 minutes).

- Mix the coconut milk and water until blended before adding into the pot. Then, add the lemongrass, Indian bay leaves, lime leaves and the eggs. Taste for balance of flavor.

- Lower the heat to a simmer, stir occasional so that the coconut milk doesn’t curdle. Continue to cook for another 30 minutes or until chicken is tender and the gravy is slightly thicken.

- Remove the lemongrass, bay leaves, and lime leaves before serving.

I left out steps 1 and 2 in interest of time since this was also an optional step. It was really an easy recipe to follow with most of the ingredients required easy to find, with a wonderful aroma with the many spices included in this dish. Will definitely cook this again, but will need help sharing this dish since J is not too keen on soupy stuff. Any takers? :)