Indonesian Chicken Curry - Gulai Ayam

After discussing Thai Green Curry during the AWA talk, I moved to Indonesian curries which were originally inspired by India due to the trade relationship.  These curries - kari, gulai, and Rendang have a distinct Indonesian flare because they're fiery and cooked in coconut milk.  Gulai sauce can be quite addicting and it's vibrant orange color is due to the turmeric powder and dried chillies.

First grind the paste.

Then combine the dry spices.

Fry the paste for a few minutes, add the spices, then add the chicken and lemongrass.

Coconut milk and broth go in next and the gulai is simmered until thickened.

Finally, garnish and devour.

Gulai Ayam (Indonesian Chicken Curry)

12 skinless chicken thighs or 6 breast halves

3 Tbsp oil

200 ml thick coconut milk

1-2 cups chicken broth

3 stalks lemongrass, bruised

1 teaspoon salt, or to taste

1 Tbsp fish sauce

1/2 tsp sugar

Spice Paste:

15 shallots

10 dried chillies, soaked in hot water for 20 mins

1 inch galangal

1 inch fresh ginger

4 cloves garlic

6 candlenuts

Dry Spices:

1 Tbsp coriander powder

1 Tbsp cumin powder

1 tsp fennel

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 inch cinnamon stick

1.  Chop spice paste ingredients and grind into a paste, adding water if needed to keep the mix turning.
2. Combine coriander, cumin, fennel and turmeric together in a small bowl and set aside.
3.  Heat oil in wok and gently fry spice paste for 2- 3 minutes until fragrant.
4. Add dry spices and fry, stirring for another 2 minutes.
5. Add chicken and lemongrass and cook, stirring frequently until chicken is well coated with spices.
6. Add coconut milk, 1 cup broth, and salt.
7. Simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally until chicken is tender and curry has thickened (~20 minutes).  Add additional broth if sauce becomes too thick.
8.   Garnish with cilantro and serve with rice.

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Curry Cravings - Thai Green Curry

A few weeks ago Les and I did a talk for AWA (American Women's Association) where I discussed curry (Thai, Indonesian, and Indian) and she highlighted a traditional wedding she attended in India and explained the customs related to a few events.  Jeff was my guinea pig and sous chef for all the curry creations which he was more than happy to help with.  The talk went really well with only a little stage fright on my part due to the large size of the group.  To kick off the Thai discussion, I talked about a few of the popular types of Thai curry:

• Green curry is generally mild and sweet with fresh green chilies, lime leaves, and cilantro to give the vibrant green color.
• Red curry is spicy and uses fresh red chilies (both hot and mild) to give the bright red color
• Penang is a peanut curry that is creamy and mild with dried red chilies used, instead of fresh, and crushed peanut is added while the curry sauce cooks.

I went into more explanation on Thai Green Curry and gave out the recipe below.  This is an update/improvement to the traditional green curry I posted last year and uses lime leaves (one of my new favorite herbs) in the paste and more vegetables in the curry.  The method is very similar and starts with a great curry paste of cilantro leaves and roots, ginger, galangal, shallots, lime leaves, green chilies, lemongrass, garlic, salt, coriander, cumin, and white pepper.

My little Sharp grinder works better than the food processor for the paste.

Gather all the ingredients as the cooking can go pretty fast.

Fry the paste in cooking oil to help release the flavors.

Meat and veggies are added once the paste becomes fragrant.  After a few minutes add the liquids and simmer on low.   

Add the finishing flavors, plate, and garnish with herbs.

Thai Green Chicken Curry
8 chicken thighs or 4 breast halves
1 Tbsp oil
3 garlic cloves thinly sliced
1 large eggplant chopped
1 cup mushrooms halved
1 carrot diced
200 ml thick coconut milk
1 ½ cups chicken broth
1 tsp sugar (optional)
2 kaffir lime leaves torn
1 Tbsp fish sauce
1 cup cilantro roughly chopped
¼ cup basil torn

Curry Paste:
4 large green chillies
4 garlic cloves
3 shallots
2 lemon grass stalks
3 kaffir lime leaves
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 inch galangal
1 inch ginger
4 cilantro roots
2 Tbsp cilantro leaves
1 tsp salt
1 tsp white pepper

1. Chop curry paste ingredients and grind in processor to form a paste.  Add water if needed to keep the mix turning.
2. Heat oil in wok, add curry paste and stir-fry 2- 3 minutes.
3. Add chicken, garlic, eggplant, mushrooms, and carrots and stir-fry for around 5 minutes.
4. Add the coconut milk and mix well to combine with curry paste, bring to a low simmer.
5. Add the chicken broth, sugar, lime leaves, and fish sauce.  Simmer gently until chicken is cooked and eggplant is tender, adding water according to preference.
6. Stir in cilantro and basil and remove from heat.

Note: Can be made ahead of time (through step 5) and reheated.

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Lombok Surprise Party

Part of living in Jakarta is you get to experience the full degree of stomach issues.  Generally people have traveler's sickness while on vacation, but Jeff and I have a pretty good track record of just the opposite.  It always amazes us that after a vacation of eating indulgent foods and drinking too much, we often come home only to be struck by Jakarta Belly Syndrome.  I was the victim last week which left me laying on the couch, daydreaming about our wonderful weekend trip to Lombok for Mia's 30th.    Miraculously her husband kept all the details secret including the full bar and blender he stuffed into his suitcase.  Mia was genuinely surprised as each person filtered into the airport or met her at the hotel.

Lombok is often called the unspoiled Bali

Jeff and I arrived earlier than the group so we got to do a little beach exploring before the party began. 

Biggest coconuts ever!

The next day was spent around the beautiful  pool at the Villa with plenty of drinking, beersby, swim races, and relaxing.

Mia's fan club

Then we went out for drinks and a group dinner capped off with a birthday song and delicious wine.

Despite feeling a bit rough the next morning, we all headed out for a group snorkeling/diving trip where we got to swim with a turtle and practice our water ballet.  

What a great trip, we can't wait to go back!

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Ho Chi Minh City

Jeff and I are hoping to do another overseas assignment after Jakarta, and we got the chance to check out what expat life is all about in Ho Chi Minh City.  We crashed with our good friends Clayton, Chantel, and their lab/boxer mix Ginger.  This part of the trip was less about sightseeing and more about relaxing and enjoying some time with C&C since we haven't seen them in over 2 years.  We were so busy socializing and enjoying ourselves that we completely failed to take any good group pictures.  Had we been a bit more ambitious you'd see us lounging by the pool with drinks in hand, getting a massage with G&Ts, riding bikes around the expat complex, playing corn hole, enjoying delicious wine and beer, grilling, baking cookies, and playing board games.

Beautiful street in the complex, we wish our apartment complex had streets like this!

Chantel also showed us how to make authentic Vietnamese coffee - it's almost like a personal french press only with the addition of sweetened condensed milk at the end.

Dessert in a cup

We did venture out for a little shopping at Cho Ben Thanh Market, where we stocked up on our favorite Vietnamese treat - dried, sweetened coconut strips, and found a hat for much anticipated Kentucky Derby Party.

Don't worry this is not the dried coconut

On our last day in HCMC, we made our way to the legendary Lunch Lady that Anthony Bourdain made famous in his show.  There's only 1 type of soup made each day and it varies.  We happened to show up on seafood soup day which was even better than we imagined.  Jeff was also here a few years ago and he said the price had really gone up; we paid a whopping $7 for 2 large bowls of seafood soup with fresh veggies and noodles, 6 fresh spring rolls, and 6 fried spring rolls (definitely still a smokin deal in my opinion).  

The picture hardly captures Jeff's excitement, he was like a kid on Christmas morning bouncing in his seat waiting for the soup to come.

Our time in HCMC was a perfect end to our Vietnam trip and it was so fun to compare crazy stories of living abroad.  If it was up to me, we'd be packing our bags in a few years to move to this beautiful country.

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Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

As we boarded our junk boat for a 2 night cruise, we were awestruck by both the stunning views and the number of boats loading up tourists. We enjoyed the leisurely ride out to Ha Long Bay, and then boarded a smaller boat to take us to Dau Go Cave (Cave of Wonders).  The splendor was marred by the concrete covering over many areas in the cave, but a little imagination helped us picture how amazing the cave must have been.

View from just outside the cave

Next we kayaked around the bay enjoying the beautiful sunset and challenging ourselves to paddle in a straight line.

The next morning we set of for Cat Ba were we enjoyed more kayaking and cave exploring - thankfully these ones had escaped the artistic concrete touch of Dau Go Cave. Since most tourists only take 1 night trips, we were able to get away from the crowds and enjoy the nature and peacefulness mostly to ourselves.

View from inside one of the caves

We had to cool off after our strenuous paddling

Our final stop that day was a pearl farm which was pretty unexciting until a junk boat came barreling into the dock at top speed of about 10 MPH while blowing the air horn. There were no injuries and just a few boards were damaged on the dock, but it certainly was good for some hysterical laughter afterwards.

Sunset on our last night

Our final morning we cruised back through the limestone cliffs while I took an unbelievable amount of pictures trying to get the perfect postcard scene to send our family.

It seemed like such a quick trip, but I would highly recommend it to anyone traveling in Vietnam.

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Hanoi, Vietnam

A few years ago Jeff's crusty Uncle claimed that Vietnam was the worst place he'd ever seen. Since I disagreed with most of his declarations that day, I decided I had to judge the land of Pho and Banh Mi for myself. Living just a quick flight away gave us just the opportunity. The Old Quarter in Hanoi was our first stop and we certainly had our share of adventures.

For the most part we wandered around the maze of streets, practicing our Vietnamese street crossing skills and trying food we found along the way. Getting across the street is no joke given the hordes of motorbikes swerving, honking, and speeding in all directions. The key seems to be avoiding the large buses and trucks while maintaining a steady pace (always forward) so the motorbikes can judge your trajectory and adjust their direction to avoid you.

Drinks with a view over Hoan Kiem Lake

Snail and clams for dinner at a street vendor, notice Jeff waiting patiently in the top left

Local coffee shop - these tiny little stools are everywhere.

We took a street food walking tour to try some local favorites and learn more about the cuisine. Our dinner included mushroom stuffed rice pancakes, bia hoi (fresh beer), floating cake balls, fried eel with rice noodles, pho ga (chicken soup), and grilled fish.  The food was so tasty, but we had to pass on the egg coffee for dessert since I'd been feeling nauseous since before the tour. That night we'd pre-booked a show at the water puppet theater, but about 5 minutes before the start disaster struck and Jeff had to usher me back to the hotel while I hobbled along trying to keep everything down. Jeff was also hit with food poisoning sometime that night and we spent the next day sleeping through our fever and dealing with our stomach "issues".   

I had tourist written all over me and this lady tried to charge us $5 for the picture .  We settled for  a bag of pineapple for a reasonable $1.

Dong Xuan Market

We recovered just in time to enjoy our last day in Hanoi. After a huge breakfast to make up for not eating the day before, we headed straight for a coffee shop to try the popular egg coffee, an extremely addicting treat that I'm going to have to find a recipe for.

Vietnamese egg coffee - so sweet and indulgent!

The finale of the trip was seafood cooking class where we learned squid cakes, shrimp wrapped in bettal leaf, steamed clams, and crab/pomelo salad.  The food was so fresh, tasty, and easy to make.  Hopefully I can replicate the taste when we get back to Jakarta.

Our favorite was the crab/pomelo salad (in front)

Next up is Halong Bay for our first cruise!

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Yogyakarta and Durian

Last weekend our good pal Tane and his family came for a visit from Hong Kong. Since Jakarta isn't much of a tourist hotspot, we headed to Yogyakarta for some relaxing and sightseeing. First on our agenda was a visit to Borobudur, a Buddhist temple built in the 9th century and the most visited tourist sight in Indonesia. The intricate stone detail was impressive and little Anaiyah (Tane's 1 year old daughter) was such a trooper even in the searing heat.

View from the top, it felt like 120 degrees

Anaiyah carried the umbrella for most of the day

Next on the itinerary was Prambanan, a Hindu temple built in the same century as Borubudor. Wikipedia lists it as the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia, but Jeff and I both thought it seemed smaller than Besakih in Bali.

When we returned to Jakarta, Yan and Tane surprised us on their last night by picking up a huge durian to share.

Bigger than Jeff's head!

We'd both been wanting to try it, but were too chicken to take the leap on our own. After seeing Yan dig in with uncontained excitement, I took a bite with huge expectations. I can't even begin to describe the taste - it was flat out the worst thing I've ever eaten. The pictures pretty sum up my opinion of the king of fruits. Even a shot of whiskey afterwards couldn't kill the obnoxious taste invading my mouth, nose, and throat.

Jeff managed a bit better and was able to keep down about 4 bites after being encouraged by Tane's insistence that durian is a superfood with amazing health benefits.

 

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