Opor Daging

This dish does not look visually appetizing, but the taste definitely over-compensates what it looks like. It is a dish that does not include chillies for a start. For a dish that is usually served on special occasions, it definitely is easy to make without much hassle!

Ingredients:

• Chicken or Beef
• 2 tspn ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• half an inch fresh ginger peeled and coarsely sliced
• 3 roasted candle nuts or raw almonds or macadamia nuts (I used mac nuts in my dish and it was heavenly!)
• 3 cloves garlic
• 6 shallots, sliced
• 1 tspn ground white pepper
• 160 ml of coconut milk
• 1 thick slice of galangal*, bruised
• 1 stalk lemongrass, bruised
• 1 piece cinnamon stick
• 2 kaffir lime leaves
• 1 tumeric leaf (sliced finely)
• 2 tablespoon tamarind water
• 1 teaspoon of palm/dark brown sugar to taste
• salt to taste

Method:

1. Cut the chicken/beef into pieces
2. Grind/blend coriander, cumin, ginger, chosen types of nuts, garlic, shallots and white pepper into a paste
3. Toss in the blended paste in #2 in a wok with about 2 tablespoon of oil and fry till fragrant
4. Add the chicken/beef pieces and stir fry into the paste
5. Add in coconut milk, galangal*, lemongrass, cinnamon, lime leaves and simmer gently, uncovered until the meat is cooked and gravy is thick.
6. Add tamarind water, sugar, salt and stir on low heat
7. Lastly, throw in the finely sliced tumeric leaf and continue to simmer for 15 minutes
8. Serve it with white rice or ketupat (rice cakes)

The recipe is taken off "Southeast Asian Food" book, and as always, I have modified it a little bit by playing with the portions. My version did not have any galangal in it simply because I only realised that I have run out of galangal after preparing everything else and they have all gone into the pan. Somehow, I don't think it made much of a difference without it.

This is truly a case of never judge a book by its cover.  For, as hideous as it looked, it tasted absolutely yummilucious and worth a repeat. Definitely one of those recipes for folks not too fond of spicy food.