the one about badrul and his mouth-watering kari ayam...

dapur yang sibuk...

it was such a fun weekend... i've decided to invite some friends over for buka puasa... close friends from office... oh well, my ex-office mates... about ten of them but kudsia couldn't make it... so ada nine of us all together including myself... shonn, jolyn, muzaffar, hafiz, hawa *the fly fm boss*, yin yin, tina and joseph... nothing fancy, just whatever yang i pernah masak and the recipes are here in the kitchen tour... tina nak makan nasi lemak, so i made nasi lemak with sambal udang, daging goreng halia, telur dadar sohoon udang, kari ayam and inti dadar... muzaffar brought some ikan bakar and delicious ikan pekasam goreng... jolyn made some beautiful fruit jelly, tina brought home-made resole *fried-bread-rolls like with yummy chicken fillings*, and yin yin brought some chocolates...

so you can imagine how busy my kitchen was to prepare for all the cookings... i made everything from scratch - cili kering nak kena kisar; halia, bawang besar, bawang merah dan bawang putih nak kena kupas; ayam, daging dan udang nak kena siang dan bersihkan; lain-lain bahan macam kentang, santan, air asam jawa, daun pandan, beras, belacan dan lain-lain semua nak kena sediakan... it was great fun!!! i didn't take any pictures because to me, this is something personal, but i had the most wonderful time with all of them... insyaAllah, kalau ada rezeki, i want to do this again with another group of friends...

bahan-bahan untuk kari ayam...

okay, this week punya kitchen tour, i nak share a recipe on kari ayam... i know everyone mesti dah tau macam mana nak masak kari ayam... this is just my way of doing it saje... kalau ada yang suka cara ni, bolehlah cuba... if not, it's okay... bahan-bahan untuk kari ayam:

500 gram ayam - di potong kecil dan di mati air
1 paket kecil rempah kari daging
10 biji cili kering - dikisar
10 biji bawang merah - dikisar
5 biji bawang putih - dikisar
1/2 inci halia muda - dikisar
1/2 mangkuk santan cair
1/2 mangkuk santan pekat
3 sudu besar air asam jawa
garam secukup rasa
sedikit gula
minyak untuk menggoreng

ayam yang dah di 'mati air'...

i'm sure you all dah tahu macam mana nak buat mati air kan... kalau tak pasti, can read the previous kitchen tour... anyway, i memang suka kari yang pekat... i tak suka cair... so with all the bahan-bahan yang dikisar, your kari ayam will be pekat and will taste amazingly sedap... ada jugak orang yang pekatkan kari pakai kentang... that will work too... so with this kari ayam, you can have the option to put or not to put the potatoes... ikut citarasa masing-masing...

masukkan campuran bawang merah, bawang putih dan halia...

the first step is to panaskan minyak di dalam periuk dan tumis bahan-bahan dikisar iaitu bawang merah, bawang putih dan halia sehingga wangi... the simple rule of cooking is to make sure bahan-bahan kisar termasuk rempah atau sebagainya digoreng sehingga masak... kalau bawang atau rempah tak masak, your curry or apa jua masakan akan rasa tak sedap... so, make sure bahan tumisan tadi mesti garing dan wangi...

masukkan campuran rempah kari dan cili giling...

untuk mudahkan proses menggoreng, i akan campurkan rempah kari dan cili kisar dengan sedikit air dan minyak... kemudian gaul rata-rata... lepas tu masukkan ke dalam periuk dan goreng sehingga garing serta pecah minyak...

masukkan ayam...

bila bahan-bahan yang dikisar tadi sudah digoreng sebati, bolehlah masukkan potongan ayam ke dalam periuk... okay, here's another trick... do not throw away air rebusan ayam... selepas masukkan ayam ke dalam periuk dan gaul rata-rata to make sure all rempah menyaluti ayam, you can put in air rebusan from mati air ayam tuh together with all the rempah ratus in there... biarkan sehingga air sedikit kering...

masukkan santan...

kemudian masukkan santan cair, air asam jawa, garam dan gula... i always put a bit of sugar in the curry to balance the taste... pedas, masam, masin, manis semuanya ada in one pot... biarkan menggelegak seketika but you have to make sure you sentiasa mengacau kari ayam supaya santan tak pecah... kalau santan pecah tak best sebab nanti kari jadi berbiji-biji... then bila dah lebih kurang dua minit menggelegak, put in the thick santan... kacau lagi... sehingga sekali lagi menggelegak... then padamkan api...

thick mouth-watering kari ayam...

satu lagi kesilapan yang selalu kita buat, bila kita dah padamkan api, kita biarkan saja periuk tuh di atas dapur... do know that dapur masih panas dan masih lagi memasak apa jua masakan di dalam periuk or kuali... you ada dua choice sama ada letakkan periuk ke tepi, ataupun terus cedok makanan ke dalam mangkuk... that way, apa jua lauk yang you masak will not be over-cook... you can eat this kari ayam dengan nasi panas, pulut, roti dan apa jua that you fancy... selamat berbuka...