Name: Ayam masak merah (Red chicken)
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Malaysian
Ingredients: 1 whole chicken cut into 12 parts; 2 tsp kashmiri chilli powder; 1 tsp ground turmeric; 1 tsp garlic paste; 1 tsp ginger paste; vegetable oil to shallow-fry; 1 cinnamon stick; 2 cardamom pods; 1 star anise; 2 cloves; 2 onions finely sliced; 1½ tbsp tomato purée; 3 tbsp tomato ketchup; 1 pandan leaf; 1 tbsp dark brown sugar; 10g coriander leaves picked and roughly chopped; 10g dried kashmiri chillies; 3 red chillies stalks removed; 3 lemongrass stalks white parts only, bashed and roughly chopped; 100g galangal; 2 onions roughly chopped; 1 small tomato roughly chopped

1 whole chicken cut into 12 parts
2 tsp kashmiri chilli powder
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp garlic paste
1 tsp ginger paste
vegetable oil
to shallow-fry
1 cinnamon stick
2 cardamom pods
1 star anise
2 cloves
2 onions
finely sliced
1½ tbsp tomato purée
3 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 pandan leaf
1 tbsp dark brown sugar
10g coriander
leaves picked and roughly chopped

CHILLI PASTE

10g dried kashmiri chillies
3 red chillies
stalks removed
3 lemongrass stalks
white parts only, bashed and roughly chopped
100g galangal
2 onions
roughly chopped
1 small tomato
roughly chopped

Method

step 1
Put all the paste ingredients in a blender with 100ml of water and blitz until smooth. Put the chicken pieces in a large dish and add the chilli powder, turmeric, garlic and ginger paste, and 1 tsp salt, then massage the spices into the meat. Leave to marinate for 30 mins in a sealed container at room temperature.
step 2
Fill a large frying pan with 1cm depth of oil and put over a high heat. Once hot, fry the chicken pieces for 5 mins on each side until crispy and coloured – you may need to do this in batches depending on your pan size. Remove the chicken from the pan, followed by the oil, decanting it into a heatproof bowl or jug.
step 3
In a larger, high-sided, lidded frying pan or wok, add 6 tbsp of the reserved oil and, once hot, fry the cinnamon, cardamom, star anise and cloves for 1 min before adding the onions, and cook for 5 mins until starting to soften but without colouring. Add the paste and cook for 10-15 mins, stirring often, until it’s bubbling and starting to separate. Add 2 tsp of salt, the tomato purée, ketchup and pandan. Add 6 tbsp of water along with the sugar, then cook for 5 mins. Add the chicken to the pan, put on the lid and cook over a low heat for 10 mins. Serve scattered with the coriander.