Chicken in Green Sauce

Name: Chicken in Green Sauce
Ingredients: 500 g chicken, cut in pieces; juice from 1 lime or lemon; 2 pc kaffir-lime leaves; 2 stem lemongrass, use only the bottom white part, finely sliced; 200 ml water; 1 tsp tamarind pulp soak in 2 tbsp water; 2 tsp palm sugar; salt; 5 pc shallots, chopped; 3 gloves garlic, chopped; 100 gr large green chillies, de-seeded, chopped; 2 cm fresh ginger; 2 cm galangale; 1 cm ground turmeric; 1 cm lesser galangale

Origin: Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan

Ingredients

500 g chicken, cut in pieces
juice from 1 lime or lemon
2 pc kaffir-lime leaves
2 stem lemongrass, use only the bottom white part, finely sliced
200 ml water
1 tsp tamarind pulp soak in 2 tbsp water
2 tsp palm sugar
salt

Spice for the paste

5 pc shallots, chopped
3 gloves garlic, chopped
100 gr large green chillies, de-seeded, chopped
2 cm fresh ginger
2 cm galangale
1 cm ground turmeric
1 cm lesser galangale

Chicken in Green Sauce

Masak Hijau (Cooking in Green Sauce) is a typical dish from Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan. Hijau means green! So the name already suggest it's character which's dominated by the green colour, provided by the large green chillies.

For your info, these dish has it's counterparts : Masak Habang (Cooking in Red Sauce) and Masak Kuning (Cooking in Yellow Sauce). The paste ingredients for those three dishes are totally different, but the main item to be cooked are flexible. It means you can exchange with each other.

For example "Chicken in Red Sauce" or "Beef in Green Sauce" or vice versa (Chicken in Green Sauce and Beef in Red Sauce etc.) As example this time I choose chicken as the main course to be cooked. Anyway before I forget, for you who do not like spicy food, you don't need to worry. Although this dish contain a lot of chillies, de-seeded large green chilli is not so spicy as bird's eye chilli.

Instructions

Put the chicken in a bowl and mix with salt and lime juice. Put aside for 15 minutes.
Put all ingredients for the paste in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. (If necessery add a little bit oil to help the blending process).
Heat 50 ml oil in a frying pan, fry the chicken pieces until golden brown. Set aside to drain.
Heat 2 tbsp oil in another frying pan (Don't add oil if already added in a blender) and stir fry the paste, lemongrass and kaffir-lime leaves.
Stirring all the time until the paste well cooked & fragrant
Pour in the water, bring to boil and continue simmering until the water is driven off and the sauce has become thick. Stir occationally.
Add the tamarind water, palm sugar and salt. Adjust the seasoning to taste.
Add the fried chicken and continue cooking until the sauce has becomes almost dry. At this stage you will probably need to stir all the time to prevent burning. Serve hot with rice.