Angry (Malaysian) Bird

Alvin Quah

Cook Time 40 minutes

Servings 4-6

Ingredients

Onion and Garlic Paste
1 large red onion, roughly chopped
5 cloves of garlic, peeled
½ tsp turmeric powder

1 whole chicken, cut into 8-10 pieces, dusted with 2 tbsp of rice flour, 2 tsp of turmeric and a pinch of salt then deep fried until golden brown (this can be done beforehand)
1/3 cup rice bran oil
20 dried chillies
1 large red onion, halved (finely chop one half and slice the other half into thin half circles)
5 cloves garlic, sliced
5 cm ginger, finely sliced
5 star anise
2 cinnamon sticks
2 cloves
4 cardamom pods
½ cup garlic and onion paste
1 ½ cups sambal oelek
3 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tbsp sweet soy sauce
Salt to taste
1 tbsp sugar
2 tomatoes, quartered
½ cup roughly chopped coriander

Method

To make the onion and garlic paste, blend the red onion, garlic and turmeric in a food processor. Set aside.

In a large wok, heat the rice bran  oil. Fry the dry chillies, finely chopped red onion, garlic and ginger for 3 minutes until fragrant.

Add the star anise, cinnamon sticks, cloves and cardamom pods and fry for another 2 minutes.

Add onion and garlic paste and fry for another 2 minutes. Add the chilli paste, tomato ketchup and sweet soy sauce and allow to simmer for 10 minutes. Season with salt and sugar.

Mix in the chicken pieces and stir to coat the chicken in the sauce. Cook for 5 minutes. Add the red onion half circles and tomatoes and cook for another minute. Turn the heat off and stir through the coriander.