Urban Cook - Ayam masak merah

Return of the Urban Cook

I started cooking in Slovakia, and I thought it was a fluke shot (though I did try very hard to match my mum's standards). But seemed like I did well since my Malaysian friends & also mum who visited me, gave the thumbs up for my improvisations. Starting to put online some of the old recipes I sent to others ... in the coming weeks (once I find them in my CDs)

Someone asked me on how I cooked my ayam masak merah back in Europe, so I put in my advice & thought it would be cool to blog it, but be warned that there will be localization since in Malaysia we can find the missing spices not available in Slovakia :)

The Ingredients
> 5-7 chicken drumsticks (or 4 thighs)
> 2 onions, finely chopped
> 3 potatoes, cut into half wedges
> 3 tomatoes, quartered (alternatively a can of diced tomatoes)
> 1 small can tomato paste / Puree or a bottle of tomato sauce
> 150ml santan (alternatively evaporated milk for lower fat)
> a piece cinnamon stick
> 2 cloves of garlic
> 1 star spice
> cooking oil (add per personal preference or minimum to oil the pan)

Ground spices (A):
> 5 shallots
> 6 red chillies (or more)
> minced ginger
> a pinch of kunyit

Seasoning (B):
# 1 tsp salt or to taste
# 1 tbsp sugar or to taste (not required if using tomato sauce)

How?
Marinade chicke with kunyit poweder & salt, and if you have some tomato sauce, even better. Fry chicken until cooked. Leave aside as we proceed to the sauce. Also fry the potato wedges to cbe cooked (cut into dices to enable it to cook better).

Heat oil in pan to be hot, then fry the onions, with garlic, chilli, cinnamon stick & star spice.

Then, add the tomato paste, tomatoes, santan & water (go according to how thick you prefer the sauce to be). Cook until this starts to boil, hen add the chicken. Let it simmer, drop the heat until the gravy is to your liking.

Serving
If you know how to make bryani rice, that's great, but if you don't it can be just as nice if you add some raisins & pepper when cooking your rice, a simpler version but just as nice

Alternative references:
Amy Beh
GoodBites