Chicken Curry for One

My son Afif called home and requested the recipe for making curries. I have not actually penned down the curry recipe as normally this is the first thing one learns to cook when I was young.I forgot that nowadays we do not eat curries everyday, unlike when I was small.

The normal procedure in making curries is to fry (in gentle heat), 1onion, 2 cloves garlic and and 1 cm ginger ( all sliced) in about 3 tablespoon of oil. Then you add some curry leaves (leave out if not available) and 3 tablespoons of curry powder.Add a bit of water and stir in the oil until the mixture gleams, (which means the oil has risen to the surface). Add more water as necessary. Always cook on gentle heat.

When the curry powder is cooked, you may add 2 to 3 pieces of chicken which have been cut to small pieces and with the skin removed. Next add about 1/5th bar of coconut cream. If using coconut milk in liquid form use about about 100ml. You should not use too much coconut milk as it is fattening. Use water to dilute it instead.

For chicken curry, you need not use tamarind juice or slices.

You may add potatoes, carrots, okra (ladies fingers), long beans, brinjal (or aubergines) or tomatoes to your curry to make it a complete meal. When putting in the vegetables, you put the ones that take a longer time to cook earlier. Tomatoes are always put last and they don't need to be cooked, anyway.