I am thrilled that Malaysian cuisine is gaining momentum in the Australian food scene in the past years. Whenever I’m in Sydney nowadays, I have found myself trying different Malaysian restaurants. This has somewhat helped with my homesickness towards my birthplace.
If you enjoy food, learning how to make the food you love is a beneficial skill. It was what motivated me to learn how to cook after moving away from my family for the first time. I have shared a couple of my favourite Malaysian dishes in the past (here, here and here) and they required some level of make-from-scratch effort.
If you are a fan of Malaysian coconut chicken curry, I think you might like this.
Today I’d like to share with you a cooking shortcut which has became my pantry staple – the A1 Meat Instant Curry Sauce. If you live in Australia, you can get buy this instant curry sauce in most Asian grocery shops. If you do not have access to an Asian grocery shop, you can buy them online via www.asiangrocerystore.com.au just like what I did.
If you can look pass the oil content, the curry sauce tastes and smells like hours have spent to prepare and saute the spices until aromatic and oil separates from the spices. When you make curry, what make or break the dish is if you have spent enough time to saute the curry paste which basically consist of onion, garlic, sometimes ginger, spices in hot oil until the oil splits from the paste. This important step is to ensure the sauce does not have the “powdery” texture and you’ll get the deep, nutty and rich spices flavours.
Unlike the curry I’ve made (as seen here) which I felt was on the mild side, the curry made with the Instant Curry Sauce was on a spicier side as in both chilli hot as well as rich in ground spices. Having said that, I have served this curry a number of times to different guests (sometimes I needed to get a tissue box ready on the side ha!) and despite the hotness from chilli that some may experienced, this curry has received all around good reviews from my friends. 🙂
And little did they know it was made using Instant Curry Sauce. 😉
Ingredients
- 230g A1 Meat Instant Curry Sauce
- 500ml Boiling water
- 1kg Chicken thigh fillets, in chunks
- 100ml Coconut milk
- Coriander leaves for garnish optional
Instructions
- In a medium sized pot, add instant curry sauce and heat over low heat. When the oil from paste starts to sizzle, slowly add boiling water. Be careful of the oil splatter.
- When the mixture is boiling, add chicken. Wait until the mixture is boiling again. Turn the flame down to low, covered. Allow a gentle simmer until the chicken is cooked through.
- When the chicken is cooked, add coconut milk. When the curry is boiling again, then it is done.
- Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve immediately with rice.
So my dear readers, what is your frequently used pre-made sauce?
Shhhh…..it will be our little secret. 😉
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I fry a whole head of garlic grated and half this quantity of fresh grated ginger then add the curry paste and fry some more. Awesome.