davepolaschek

This was captured by Dave Mackmiller, who spent an afternoon at the Bayon learning how to make Cambodian curry chicken. Kim let him watch and take notes while her husband Boon told him where to find ingredients. He thought he got everything written down correctly, although there seemed to be plenty of leeway on the amounts of the ingredients.

In the ingredients list, a “spoon” is roughly a large table spoon (as opposed to a Tablespoon measure) and are generally heaping spoonfuls.

Curry Chicken Sauce (12-15 servings)

Ingredients

• 1 cup Kachai, chopped
• 1 cup lemon grass stems, chopped
• 1 head of garlic, peeled
• 1/3 cup lemon leaves, chopped
• 1 tbsp turmeric powder
• 3 spoons curry powder (Golden Bell brand)
• 3 spoons red hot pepper powder (optional)
• 1/3 cup oil
• 2 spoons salt
• 1 spoon fish sauce
• 4 spoon sugar
• 2 – 12 oz cans coconut milk
• 2 cans water

Directions

1. Place kachai, lemongrass, garlic, lemon leaves, and turmeric powder in blender or food processor, and add water to top of ingredients. Puree.
2. Place curry powder in small saucepan and roast over medium heat for about two minutes.
3. Cook red pepper powder in oil in a large heavy pot for two minutes, then add spices from blender and roasted curry powder. Simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Add salt, fish sauce, sugar, coconut milk, and water. Simmer for a few more minutes. At that point, the sauce is complete, and can be refrigerated for up to 3 days, or frozen for longer-term storage.

Making the curry chicken

Ingredients per serving

• ½ pound boneless skinless chicken thighs, broken up
• 1 medium carrot
• 2 medium potatoes, quartered
• [optional] ⅓ pound bamboo shoots, cubed

Directions

1. Deep fry (or stir-fry) each ingredient separately for about a minute.
2. Place cooked ingredients in saucepan. Add sauce almost to top and a little more coconut milk and water. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about ½ hour or until carrots and potatoes are tender.
3. Serve over rice.

Notes:

• If you increase the sugar, you can decrease the salt.
• The amount of fish sauce can be increased, to taste.
• Kachai or Krachai is a root that looks like a hand with 15-20 fingers, and may also be known as “fingerroot.”

#recipe

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