Malaysian Chicken Curry.

Malaysian Chicken Curry.

Ingredients:

Serves 5.

12 pieces skinless chicken thighs or legs
3 Tbsp oil for cooking
1 can coconut milk

3 stalks lemon grass, bruised
15 shallots
3 dried chillies, soaked in hot water for 20 minutes or until soft.
1 inch galangal
1 inch fresh ginger
4 cloves garlic
6 macadamia nuts (optional)
1 Tbsp coriander powder
1 Tbsp cumin powder
1 tsp fennel
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp turmeric powder
pinch of sugar
salt to taste

Note ** This is a spicey curry. If you intend on serving this to children you may want to consider either leaving out the Chillies or adding more coconut milk.

Method:

1. Grind shallots, chillies, ginger, galangal, garlic and candlenuts into a paste.
2. Add coriander, cumin, fennel and turmeric together in a small bowl and set aside.
3. Heat oil in wok and gently fry shallots and chilli paste for 2 minutes until fragrant.
4. Add dry spices and fry, stirring occasionally for another 2 minutes.
5. Add chicken pieces and lemon grass and cook, stirring frequently until chicken is well coated with spices.
6. Add coconut milk, sugar and salt. Simmer uncovered, stirring from time to time until chicken is tender and gravy has thickened. (Approximately 20 minutes)

7. Serve with rice.

What goes around..comes around!

I've adopted my fathers philosophy in thinking that there are more good & decent people in the world than the reverse. Naive attitude some may say but atleast its a positive one! Contrary to popular belief, I shy from the opinion that most people who have done reasonably well for themselves are all out to get what they can & have no time to help anyone else achieve similar stature. Consider this: if you were successful and some struggling entrepreneur called to ask your advice wouldn't you spare a few moments to impart some of the knowledge gained along the way?
I have no qualms about calling people (unknown to myself ie never previously spoken to or met) in my industry for advice or suggestions and guess what nine times out of ten (if I've been lucky enough to get through to the person), a very affable individual at the other end has taken time out to assist (out of common courtesy, have a list of questions at hand so as to not waste their precious time or yours). Its wrong to assume that just because your present turnover for instance is 10,000 & the potential advice giver is turning over 20,000,000 automatically makes him/her out of your reach or league. Remember we're dealing with human beings here not divinities! I'm sure protocol varies from country to country but luckily in Ireland I've found this course of action to be quite acceptable.
But I digress...going back to the title of today's blog 'what goes around..comes around' means (to me) if we wish others to give then perhaps we should give in return. I don't mean monetarily but more with our time & knowledge. Every time I'm too tired to answer a query from a fellow entrepreneur on distribution or about sourcing organic food ingredients, I think about the kindness shown to me and I am motivated to move my fingers across that key board.