Asam chicken

this is my mom recipe and I modified a little here and there.. To make the spices paste, there is a lot of work, so I normally will make a large batch of spices paste ( we call Rempah) , divided into small portion for one time use, and freeze it till I need it for next round.

Rempah ( Spice paste)

Dried chili 100g ( soak in hot water, use scissor to cut into smallest pieces in the water it help to removed some extra seed)
Fresh red chili 10-15 pcs ( washed, cut and seed removed)
Garlic 10 cloves (peeled)
Lemongrass 2 stalks ( white part only, cut into small pieces)
Shallots 10-15 pcs ( peeled)
Candlesnut 50-80g ( washed)
Fresh ginger 1 big palm size ( peel and cut into smaller pieces

Edit

Steps:

Used a blender, blend all the ingredient together until as fine as possible.

This is how it look after blending

Divided into small bag and keep in freezer

Asam Chicken

Ingredient:

1 big chicken cut into small pieces ( season with salt, Pepper, soya sauces, sugar, shao Xing Wine and keep in fridge for at least 2 hours, best is overnight)
1 portion of Rempah ( Spices paste)
3-4 lime leaves
4 tbsp of cooking oil ( I used Olive oil for most of my cooking)
2 tbsp of Asam paste ( can use those with seed, soak a bit of hot water and when cool, squeeze it and drain the seed)
2 tbsp of sugar
2-3 pcs of Galangal ( hard to fine in USA so I didn’t add this, it will adds bit more gingerly taste to the sauces)
1 tbsp of Turmeric powder
2 tbsp soya sauces
1/2 to 1 tbsp of salt ( depend on how much you season the chicken, always go less and adding more if necessary)
2 potatoes ( peeled and cut into size of chicken)
1 cup of water ( if using Tamarine paste,But if you using the seeded Tamarine, you can skip this cos you add water to squeeze out the watery paste.
seasoning the chicken

Frying the Rempah till fragrant , add lime leaves

This is the Turmeric powder, you can use fresh Turmeric, peeled& blended into the spiced paste

this is how it should look after frying for 1-2 minutes

add chicken, Tamarine paste, water, sugar, soya sauces and salt, cook using low heat for another 10-15 minutes , check the seasoning cos the Tamarine can be sour, you might to add more sugar

Enjoy, it take a few practice to master the spices paste, try a few different recipe and you will fine the one that suit your taste!

My friend Claudia and her family visiting yesterday night from LA, I throw a little get together party with Donna and Anneli family, we had so much fun and on top I make a really good Margarita kick off the party, I’ll tried to post some other recipes later of the day, need a massage today cod I had a few tought work out last few days….