Recipes: Chicken Curry Kapitan

I have fond memories of chicken curry kapitan. The first time I had this was also the first time we made it as well. You see, it was the last session of this Catholic pre-marital course that we attended before we got married and the couple who led our session decided to organise a little pot-luck celebration. We offered to cook a curry dish and bought our made-from scratch rempah from this aunty in TTDI. She also gave us instruction how to cook it and the dish turned out to be a favourite.

I searched for the recipe online and found an easy-to-follow version at Rasa Malaysia. I sorta agak-agak on the amount of ingredients, because when I attempted this, I haven't bought my weighing scale yet. But it turn out lovely and received praises from our Indonesian friends. So this is my version below:

Chicken Curry Kapitan

1 whole chicken, cut into small pieces
4 stalks serai, bruised
5-6 daun limau purut
¼ cup packet coconut cream
salt and sugar to taste

To blend into fine paste:
10 red chillies
3 red chilli padi
4cm ginger
2cm lengkuas
2cm tumeric
3 garlic cloves
5 shallots
5 candlenuts, soaked in warm water
1 tsp belacan powder

- Heat some oil in a wok and fry paste till turn darker red and fragrant. Take care not to burn paste.
- Next add in bruised serai and fry for another 2-3 minutes before adding chicken pieces. Stir to coat well.
- Add sufficient water to cover chicken. Bring to boil and simmer on slow fire for another 20 minutes.
- Next add in the coconut cream, daun limau purut, salt and sugar to taste.
- Allow curry to rest for 30 minutes before serving