Malaysia is the land of a thousand curries. There are curries for every protein, vegetable, and tuber imaginable. There are time-intensive curries made for special occasions and quick curries for weeknight cooking. There are curries with and without coconut milk. Creamy curries, sour curries, Malay curries, Indian curries, yes even Chinese curries!
This particular Curry Spice Blend is inspired by my Mum's quick chicken curry that she made for dinner almost weekly. Using this spice pouch, you'll come very, very close to what I had for dinner as a girl growing up in Malaysia. The distinct blend of warm spices (cinnamon, star anise) and Southeast Asian aromatics (lime leaf, lemongrass)
My go-to for a weeknight curry is always bone-in chicken thighs, but this spice mix will work for beef, fish, tofu, veggies, potatoes, beans, or chick peas. Oooooh, EGGS! Imagine this delicious curry with halved hard-boiled eggs. Yum, so good! The yolks soak up the curry and become little flavor bombs that just melt in your mouth. Heaven!
Here are just a few tips to help you make your delicious version at home:
1. For quick-cooking proteins (fish, shrimp, tofu, hard-boiled eggs, cooked chick peas) - follow the package directions closely - add all ingredients except for your protein to a pot, bring to boil, then simmer for ten minutes before adding your protein of choice.
2. For proteins that take a little longer to cook (beef, pork, bone-in chicken, mutton, lamb) - no need to boil and simmer the pouch contents first. Just add everything to your pot and proceed to bring it up to a slow boil, then turn down to simmer.
3. When cooking with coconut milk, never let your pot come to a rolling boil. A rolling boil will split or break the coconut milk, resulting in a lumpy curry. As soon as the curry gravy begins to bubble, turn it down to simmer.
4. For chicken and pork curries, Mum always added potatoes. Peel and cut two large Idaho potato into 8 pieces. Once your curry with the added protein has simmered for ten minutes, add the potatoes and cook until they're fork tender.
5. For extra credit: slice up a large red onion and sauté that in your pot til softened, before following the package instructions. This is completely optional, and not necessary at all. It's one of the things we did in testing and it yielded an A++ curry!
6. Taste and adjust seasonings - I usually add salt and since the spice blends are quite mild, I add a heaping tablespoon of Hot Chilli Sambal for the heat level that I like.
Here's a quick Instagram video of me making a pot of chicken curry in my kitchen.
