Baba Coriander Chicken

If you follow some of my previous posts, you could have noticed that I am a lemon grass & spices lover. I love its fragrant smell to bits and those dishes with lemon grass & spices are my all time favourite. One of my recent posts using lemon grass in the Iced lemon grass green tea recipe, gives you a glass of tea full of fragrant and goodness.

Since I have plenty of lemon grass laying in my fridge, I chanced upon another wonderful recipe from The Malaysian Women's Weekly FoodBook Issue 2 - Cooking Made Simple. Thus, I can make good use of my lemon grass and at the same time savour this Baba & Nyonya dish. If you would like to read more about Baba & Nyonya (the Malaysian peranakan) story, you may hop over here with a sweet treat.

If you would like to try some Baba & Nyonya (peranakan) dish, the dish is definitely your choice. It is easy to prepare and the taste is simply delicious with a bowl of hot steamed rice. Moreover, this dish is suitable for the whole family including children. It is so simple to cook up Asian dishes for any feast! Enjoy!

Some other dishes with lemon grass to match:
Assam Fish (Hot & sour fish)
Mee Siam (spicy & sour vermicelli)
Turmeric Fragrant Butter Rice
Pan-grilled Lemongrass Chicken

Source: Recipe adapted & modified from The Malaysian Women's Weekly FoodBook Issue 2 - Cooking Made Simple Serves 5 Main Ingredients: 750g Chicken drumsticks, chopped into pieces or leave whole (marinated with 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp sugar and 1 tsp sesame oil for 15 mins) - I used Chicken thigh with drumsticks 150 - 200ml Water 2 tbsps Sunflower oil 2 stalks Lemon grass (about 7 - 8 cm), bruised Sliced red chilli & spring onion for garnishing Ingredients A: 3 big-sized shallots, chopped 5 cm young ginger, chopped 3 cloves garlic, chopped Ingredients B: 1.5 tbsps Coriander powder (Ketumbar Powder) 1 tbsp preserved bean paste (taucu) 1/2 tsp white peppercorns, pounded coarsely 1 tbsp each of oyster sauce, light soy sauce & dark soy sauce (refer Note below) 1/2 tsp sugar Method: 1. Heat oil in a wok over medium fire. When hot, stir-fry lemon grass and ingredients A for 3 mins. 2. Add ingredients B, stir-frying briefly until fragrant. 3. Add marinated chicken, mix well and add water. Bring to a boil. You may need to adjust the amount of water accordingly. 4. Lower fire and simmer until chicken is tender and gravy thicken, about 20 - 25 mins. 5. Garnish with sliced red chilli & spring onion (scallion). Serve hot with rice. Note: • Adjust the amount of water according and simmer until gravy is thicken. • Add 1 - 2 stalks more of lemon grass if you prefer a stronger taste. • I find that 1 tbsp of dark soy sauce makes the chicken too dark in colour. Reduce the dark soy sauce to 1/2 tbsp if you prefer a lighter tone of chicken. • Preserved bean paste (taucu) can be found in the Asian market. * More info about Baba & Nyonya food here