Javanese Chicken Curry (Opor Ayam)

Yesterday my mom made one my favorite dish.. it's Opor Ayam. Or in english you can say Javanese Chicken Curry.


In the old days, it's really quite a hard job on processing the spices to make the curry, seeing that there are quite a lot of spices needed. But nowadays, people choose to be more practical and effective. So the Indonesian people invented the Javanese Chicken Curry spices packed in a plastic taadaaa! :D

Earlier I thought that to use those instant packages are just simply mix them in boil water along with chicken and the dish will come out delish. But nope. You still have to add a little bit of this and that. But afterall, it's still a lot more easier than to grind and mix and pulverize the spices yourself.

To make the Javanese Chicken Curry you need

• 1 pack of instant Javanese Chicken Curry (you can get it at any supermarket, or if you are located outside Indonesia, you can get it at any Asian Supermarket)
• 1 chicken, cut into small pieces
  
• 6 eggs (boiled until they are well cooked and then peeled)
• 2 large potatoes (peeled and cut into small dices)
• 2/3 teaspoon of tamarind (asem)
• 1 tablespoon of grated brown sugar (gula merah)
  
• 1 straw of lemongrass/citronella (daun serai)
• 2 sheets of Salam leaves (daun salam)
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 3 teaspoons of salt
• 200 ml of coconut milk (santan kelapa)
  

The steps to make Javanese Chicken Curry are :

1. Saute the instant Javanese Chicken Curry in about 3-4 tablespoons of cooking oil until you can smell the aroma.
2. Add the chicken cuts and also the tamarind, saute until the chicken cuts are half cooked.
3. Add the water, wait until it's boiling and then put in the potato dices along with all the other spices, except the eggs and coconut milk.
4. After another boiling, lower the fire, and add the coconut milk. Stir the curry until the coconut milk is well blended. Remember : do not close the pot when you're boiling the curry or the coconut milk will break apart.
5. Lastly put in the eggs, boil one more time and the curry is ready to serve :)

To add more of the Indonesian taste, sprinkle some fried onions on top of the curry when you're about to eat it :)