Assam Chicken

In her post 'Fresh Meat vs. Frozen Meat', the Swallow examined the benefits of cooking with fresh meat and drew a conclusion that cooking with frozen meat is equally good.

Thus, when there was an offer in the local co-operative supermarket for a 2-kg bag of frozen chicken wings, the Swallow bought a bag.  She cut the wings into three parts - the drumlets, the mid-joints and the wing-tips.  The wing-tips were set aside to be used as a base for chicken stock.  while the remaining drumlets and mid-joints were split into two portions.  One portion was used in a dish called 'Chilli Chicken'.

The other portion was used in a dish known as Assam Chicken (the Swallow loves tamarind-related dishes!).

Assam Chicken

ASSAM CHICKEN (serves 4)

Ingredients

• 1kg chicken wings, cut into parts (use only drumlets & mid-joints, use wing-tips to make chicken stock)
• 100g uncooked chilli paste
• 1 tsp belachan granules
• 3 shallots
• 4 candlenuts
• 1 cup tamarind water
• 2 - 3 tamarind slices
• 1/2 cup lime juice
• 1 can of pineapple rings, drained and cut into slices
• syrup from the can of pineapple rings

• 

  Cooked with Lady Fingers

  1/2 tsp salt
• 4 tbsp oil
• additional boiled water, if necessary
• sugar, to taste

Method

1. Rinse chicken parts and drain.
2. Ground chilli paste, belachan, shallots and candlenuts into a fine paste (add a little of the tamarind water if using a blender).
3. Heat oil in a wok until hot.  Add the grounded paste and fry until the oil separates from the paste.
4. Add chicken and stir-fry until chicken turns colour, about 5 minutes.
5. Add tamarind water, tamarind slices, lime juice, syrup and salt.
6. Fry until chicken is cooked and sauce has thickened.  If sauce thickens too quickly before chicken is fully cooked or more sauce is desired, add a little boiled water.
7. Add pineapples and cook for another 1 - 2 minutes.  Season with sugar, to taste.
8. Serve hot with rice.

Notes

• This recipe is super spicy.
• Lady fingers (okra) or brinjals (eggplants) or both vegetables (total about 100g) may be added to this dish. Add them in before the pineapples and let them cook for about 5 minutes then continue with the remaining steps.