Bento Singapore Chicken Curry Amsterdam - Cook a Pot of Curry Day

As a finale for the now famous facebook event Cook a Pot of Curry Day in Singapore (you can read more here), I made a bento with the rest of the chicken curry I cooked on Sunday 21 August. As with many types of curry around the South East Asia regions, this dish taste even better on the second day. Here is my take on a very Asian dish in a very Amsterdam setting. The roof, big open windows and not forgetting the typical Amsterdammetjes were made from nori seaweed.

Amsterdammetjes (Literal translation: little one from Amsterdam) in real life are little red-brown poles that can be found along sidewalks of Amsterdam. All of them bear the sign XXX, which is the coat of arms of Amsterdam. Interestingly, there is never a really straight Amsterdammetje, they are always slanting someway or another, sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right, sometimes with a dent here and there, which I like, because I think each of them tells a story.

The same goes for the buildings, especially the older buildings along the canals. I think this has got to do with the soft soil foundation under the buildings. My apartment is also severely slanted. But I really don't mind it nowadays (after taking out the wheels from the computer chair, that is. hahahaha!)

Singapore Chicken Curry Bento from Amsterdam

Cook a Pot of Curry from Singapore to Amsterdam

So this is my take on the Cook a Pot of Curry event which was created to promote harmony, respect and tolerance for each other's culture. Oh yes, and in case you are wondering where's the chicken in this Chicken Curry Bento.... there is only 1 little piece left tucked under all the potatoes and the rest of the chicken was already eaten up because I couldn't resist it :D

Bento Nasi Lemak recipe- Coconut Rice , Omelette & strawberries

I'm pretty excited. Tomorrow is going to be the Cook a pot of Curry day in Singapore! More than 50000 people are going to cook curry dishes for the event. Yesterday, I have written a post on Devil's Curry and today I am going to post something that's less spicy. Bento Nasi Lemak paired with cucumber and strawberries!

Bento Nasi Lemak

Here's what I put into the rice cooker:
(serves 3, I saved a portion rice for this bento and had the rest for dinner with Mr Bear)
3 cups rice
1 small packet of coconut cream (aka Santan, available in most supermarkets)
water
pinch of salt

While the rice is cooking, I sliced the cucumber, fried the chicken, omelette and dried anchovies and there you go! Nasi Lemak Bento with Coconut Rice with Egg omelette, chicken, cucumber, dried anchovies and strawberries.

Singapore Chicken Curry - Part 2 - Cook a pot of Curry Day

As I said in my previous post, this is one of the many dishes that I would say is a typical soul food for many people in Singapore. Sometimes if I get desperate, I will get this Prima Deli Singapore Curry instead. BUT!!! this doesn't happen often, especially in my area because its soooo rare to see all these Prima stuffs even in the Amazing Oriental, one of the biggest asian supermarket here in the Netherlands. So what I found myself doing, is making everything from scratch. I know it can sound very scary for some folks, but its not that difficult actually. Scroll down for the recipe I usually go by. Happy Cooking!

Picture credit: http://www.rockman.com.au

Ingredients: Serves 4

1 piece of fresh ginger (about 3cm, peeled and coarsely chopped)
7 cloves of garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
10 shallots, peeled and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup of Singapore Curry Powder ( see previous post)
1/2 cup water
1 whole chicken with skin intact (cut into 15-20 bite size pieces)
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 cups coconut milk (make sure its the runny type. Coconut cream can also be used instead, but do go easy on it)
500grams small potatoes, peeled and halved.
Salt to taste
French Bagette cut into serving slices.

How to:
- Using a mortar and pestle, pound first the ginger, then the garlic and lastly the shallots, until they are a fine mixture. If a mortar and pestle is not available, the ingredients can also be finely grounded with a blender or food processor.

- Mix the curry powder with the water and blend to a paste. Mix half the curry paste with the pounded ginger, garlic and shallot mixture and then rub all over the chicken pieces. Marinate at least 30 minutes.

-Heat the oil in a large frying pan over high heat. The oil should be very hot. (If you add a tiny drop of the curry paste, you should be able to see/hear it sizzle pretty violently. ) Add the remaining curry paste and quickly stir fry for about 3 minutes or until the paste is fragrant and turns dark brown.

- Add the marinated chicken and reduce heat to medium and stir constantly for around 10 minutes.

-Add the coconut milk and bring to a boil over high heat. Add potatoes and salt and cook over medium heat for 30 minutes, or until the chicken pieces are tender and potatoes cooked.

-This dish is traditionally served hot with fresh warm French Bagettes to soak up the deliciously thick gravy.

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Cook a pot of Curry Day 21 August 2011 - Simple Garam Masala Powder

As part of a protest which stems from Singapore, (which you can read about from here ) I have decided to post my favourite recipes featuring Curry spices. Over the next few days,  I'll try to put up different recipes on how to make your own Curry Spice mixes.


So here it goes:

Simple Garam Masala Powder
This spicemix is good for almost all types of meat and vegetable curry dishes.


First get hold of equal portions of the following ingredients:
-green cardamom
-black cardamom
-peppercorns  (whole black pepper or whole black/green/pink/white pepper)
-caraway seeds (which is quite similar to fennel and cumin seeds)

 Simply dry roast all ingredients together and then grind them into powder. After they are cooled, simply store them in air-tight containers till you need the Garam Masala powder.

The way I see this spicemix is that it's one of those multi-purpose ingredient. I use it for almost everything, from marinating meats, to making gravy out of it, to throwing it over my stir-frys. Every family has their own versions, every region has their own versions, and even different brands can taste completely different. 


And to top it all, there's even different spice mixes for different dishes (check out the right sidebar) and sometimes they go by different names as well. Sounds complicated? Nah, its not that complicated actually because there's never any hard and fast rules when it comes to cooking. What is the most important is that you or your love ones get to enjoy your cooking :) 


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I've included some pictures, since these ingredients might be named differently in different countries.

Green and Black Cardamom

Black and White Peppercorn

Black, Green, Pink, White Peppercorn

Caraway seeds (aka Meridian Fennel or Persian Cumin)

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Recipe: Chicken Pesto Pasta Salad

Recipe: Chicken Pesto Pasta Salad

This recipe sounds like a mouthful: Chicken Pesto Pasta Salad but it's really simple and easy to make.

Ingredients:
-Chicken fillet (1 slab of about 150grams)
-Mushrooms (about 200grams)
-Penne Pasta (about 2 handfuls)
-Red capsicium pepper
-Pesto sauce
-Cooking oil

How to:
Boil some water in a saucepan. Pour some cooking oil into the boiling water (this will prevent the pasta from sticking onto each other later on). Put in the penne pasta and let it cook.
In the meantime, prepare the rest of the ingredients.
Clean and slice the chicken fillet. Leave aside.
Remove dirt from mushrooms with a damp paper towel and sliced the mushroom.
Dice the red peppers into small 1cm cubes.

Heat a teaspoon of cooking oil into a frying pan. Once the oil is hot enough, add in the chicken slices. Stir-fry quickly till chicken is pink and almost cooked. Add in the mushroom and red pepper. Once the chicken is thoroughly cooked, turn off the heat and let it cool.

Once the pasta is cooked, remove from heat and run it under cold water from the tap. This will stop the cooking process, making the pasta a little more al dente (chewy, bouncy, less soggy). Remove pasta from cold water and place it in a mixing bowl. Add in all the ingredients from the frying pan and stir in some pesto sauce. Keep tasting and adding the pesto sauce until you are satisfied with the taste. Sprinkly some salt and pepper for that extra ooomph.