Eurasian Curry Debal (Curry Devil)

Serves 6

For the meat:
About 1.5 kg of chicken (I used legs and thighs, about 10 pieces)
Splash of soy sauce
Few pinches of finely ground white pepper

For the paste:
Grind together -
100g shallots (Comes to about 10 - 12)
200g big onions (About 2-3)
100g ginger (About 4 inch knob)
150g fresh red chilies, deseededAbout 8 - 10)
50g dried red chilies, cut and soaked for 20 minutes in hot water, deseeded *

For the stew:
5 tablespoons oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
1.5 inch piece of ginger, thinly sliced
6 cloves garlic
1.5kg chicken, marinated with 4 tablespoons light soy and 2 tablespoons pepper for 20 mins
200g bacon bones **
10g mustard seeds, roughly pounded
½ tablespoon salt
½ tablespoon chicken stock powder
2 potatoes, peeled and quartered
10 chicken cocktail sausages
700ml water
1/2 head of cabbage, roughly chopped
1 cucumber peeled, seeds removed and cut into bite sized pieces
2 tablespoon vinegar

To garnish:
A few chili padi
Sprigs of coriander leaves

Watch the video recipe here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znk2uC0U40k 

1. Marinade the chicken in soy sauce and finely ground white pepper for at least 20 minutes.

2. Soak 50g dried chilies in hot water for 20 minutes.

3. Grind together all the ground ingredients of shallots, onions, ginger, dried and fresh red chilies. You may want to chop them up roughly. I put mine in the food processor and blitzed for about 5 minutes.

4. Lightly pound the mustard seeds.

5. Heat oil and fry the garlic, onions and ginger till browned.

6. Add the chicken and bacon bones and continue frying till the chicken changes colour.

7. Add the ground paste, mustard seeds, salt and chicken stock.

8. Wait for the oil to rise.

9. Add the potatoes, cocktail sausages and water.

10. Boil till the potatoes are cooked and the curry thickens.

11. In the meantime, cut the cabbage and cucumber.

12. Add the cabbage, cucumber and vinegar.

13. Garnish with chili padi and coriander leaves. Serve with steamed rice.


* I used small dried chilies which I think is hotter, and I didn't remove the seeds. I was being daring as I thought we could handle the heat but it was a little too spicy. If you love it hot, leave the seeds and use the small ones. If not, use the bigger dried red chilies which are milder, and remove the seeds to keep spice levels low. 

** I couldn't find any so I used smoked bacon belly instead. 

This recipe is adapted from Robin's Eurasian Recipes. I was inspired to cook it after having dinner at Quentin's Eurasian Restaurant at the Eurasian Community House and wrote a little blog about it after. The book is written by the father of the chef of Quentin's. I can't stress how amazing the food there is and I'm so glad I live just five minutes away!

I didn't change too much of the original recipe, except that I added garlic to the list of aromatics, and as mentioned above, I was a little too bold with my dried chilies. I also couldn't find bacon bones, so I used smoked bacon belly instead. I also reduced the amount of cabbage - the original called for 400g, but maybe my cabbage is too heavy?? And reduced the tablespoons of vinegar from 5 to 2.

3 out of 5 adults in my house could take the heat of this and enjoyed it (me included), one couldn't put it to his mouth, the other could only manage one serving. 

The sauce itself is amazing and I reckon it could even be substituted as a vegetarian dish - just replace the chicken stock powder with vegetable stock, and use hard vegetables like pumpkin in place of meat. 

Crockpot Singapore chicken curry

Serves 4

Chicken & marinade:
4 chicken drumsticks and 4 chicken thighs (you can add one more of each for the super hungry ones)
4-5 local potatoes, peeled and halved
1 tablespoon or about 1 inch knob grated fresh old ginger
5 cloves grated garlic
1 tablespoon turmeric
2 tablespoon chili powder
230g can tomato sauce
2 tablespoons chicken curry powder
pinch of salt and ground white pepper

2 medium red onion, sliced
1-2 teaspoons peanut oil
1-3 red chili padis, chopped (1 for mild, 2 for medium, 3 for very spicy)
4 green cardamon pods, do not crush
4 cloves
12 curry leaves or about 1 stalk
1 stalk lemongrass, bruised
1 1-inch cinnnamon stick
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
2 cups water
200 - 250ml coconut milk
2-3 dessert spoons soy sauce

- 1 french loaf, sliced.

1. Marinade the chicken pieces and potato in the marinade. Let it sit while you prepare the rest.

2. Slice the onions and heat the oil in a wok or pan. Saute the onions till they’re very soft, caramalised and brown, about 15-20 minutes, on medium to high heat. If onions begin to burn, add 1-2 tablespoons of water and continue cooking till they're brown and soft. (You can skip this step and just add the onions raw if you're pressed for time!)

3. Add chili padi, cardamon, cloves, curry leaves, lemongrass, cinnamon, fennel and caramalised onions into the crock pot. Add the chicken pieces with marinade and 2 cups of water. Stir to combine.

4. Set cooker on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.

5. In the last hour of cooking, add the coconut milk and soy sauce to taste. Add as much coconut milk as you like. Some people like it more coconutty, some more brothy. Up to you!

6. Serve with sliced french bread.

* I adapted this recipe from Curry and Comfort. I found the cooking time makes for a very very very soft and tender chicken that's falling off the bone. If you want your chicken to still have some firmness to it, cut down the cooking time by 1 hour on high and 2 hours on low. If you do cut down the cooking time, then remember to cut the potatoes slightly smaller.

* To save more time, you can skip step 2 and just add the onions straight into the crockpot and omit the peanut oil.

* If you have some spare chicken bones (thigh, drumstick, whole carcass), or even chicken feet and neck, chuck them in. Bones make the brother sweeter. Before serving, just fish them out.