This dish I made at a cooking class at one of my fave restaurants, D’Warung with Kadek! It tasted absolutely delicious, at first I was hoping I could share the taste but in the end I was glad to eat it all myself – ahh so selfish but yummy.
Ingredients:
- 300ml coconut milk (fresh is so good, but tinned versions are fine if you’re not in the tropics)
- Any type of meat or vegetable can be used (I used chicken and lots of different vegetables)
- 1 shallot
- 3 garlic cloves
- 3 candlenut (or macadamia nut)
- 1 lemongrass stick
- fresh chilli (number depends on desired spice level)
- 4-5 bay leaves (again fresh is best, but dried can work too)
- finger size ginger root
- finger size aromatic ginger root (kuncir)
- finger size tumeric root (kunyit)
Method:
- Finely chop, dice, cut up all the spice ingredients. Do this until all are very finely ground. By hand this took a very long time (although I enjoyed some nice conversation with my mentor). If you are in more of a hurry you could throw them all in a spice blender to save time.
- Fry the spice mix in a little oil until fragrant
- Add the coconut milk
- Add the chicken cook for a few minutes, then add pre-cooked potato, then the other vegetables in reverse order of cooking time, with green beans added on high heat for the last 2-3 minutes to preserve the bright green colour.
- Serve with steamed white rice and enjoy!
This spice mix can also be the base for soups or spicy meat dishes. It has a great all round robust flavour.