Ayam masak merah is one of my favourite things to eat. Literally translated, it means Chicken cooked in red gravy. It is a robust, rich and filling food that can be eaten with practically anything – rice, bread, roti jala. This was a dish that we’d usually have every other week while back in Singapore.
Having missed my comfort food, I tried my best to find most of the ingredients and attempted to make it myself. One of the ingredients is this concentrated tomato paste.
Refrain yourself from trying to brush your teeth with this
However, there are some key ingredients that I cant get here in Rome. One of them being lemongrass and I dont even see it for sale in the Asian kiosk that I patronise.
Anyways, I still have a few ingredients at hand. First, I marinated the chicken with salt and tumeric powder
And while waiting for the chicken to be marinated, I sliced and fried some potatoes because mum always did it like that 
I used the same oil to fry the chicken. And I loved how the fried chicken looks. The tumeric powder really adds to the colour! In another pan, I fried some ground ginger, garlic, onion and chilli. Then added some tomatoes and stirred till they were a little more cooked.
Finally I added in the tomato concentrate and waited for it to be a little “crispier” before adding the chicken and the potato and of course added a bit of salt for seasoning.
I waited for it to cool down before having it with rice. At the first bite, its not bad, but the taste is off.
What did I do wrong? I want my cheeken 
Updated : I see where I went wrong. Redid it again and it tastes extremely close! Thanks for the tip everyone! :-)
Here is what I did to the gravy:
- Soak some dried chillies
- Blend it with an onion, some ginger, garlic and lemongrass (if you have it)
- Fry it till crispy, stir in the tomato concentrate, add the fried chicken and add a bit of sugar
- Most importantly add santan (coconut milk) to give it that lemak flavour!
Woo I am so happy that I ate two platefuls of it and promptly fell asleep on the sofa
Sis, i usually add galangal (lengkuas) and coconut milk and a bit sugar.
back to Tekong story :-)
my grandfather’s name is Hussin Yet, Grandma is Mariah.. I can’t remember what they call my grandpa back then.
Gosh i really miss that place..
No dried chillies?
Liza
Dont think that I’ve seen galangal for sale here before, will try to keep an active search for it but the coconut milk! Of course! Why did I forget that! No wonder its off!
I’ll try and ask my mother if she knows your grandparents. I’m pretty sure she’d know! :-)
Spai
Have, I add a bit of dried chili padi while frying the pounded spices :-)
must be the chicken… they speak different language there.
All these while you eat Malaysian chicken, you know or not? :P
Hmm… My mum usually blends big red onion, garlic and chilli kering altogether. Tomato paste dah tentu. Lengkuas tak tahu kalau dia taruk. Serai sudah mesti. Agaknyer, takde asam tak, Rinaz?
Hi,
You may like to add a little Coriander Powder or Ketumbar
in malay…
Cheers
hello.. i having studies attachment at there yeah =).. ahhaha..
I think i know what you did wrong. You cooked it too much because you were taking photos! Lol.
But ya, coconut milk really helps. The other time i tried cooking and everybody was licking their fingers off :D.
Kynne
Serai is practically impossible to find here. Satu hari cari tau :(
Tak apa lah, nanti “take two” hehehe!
Sam
Ok, that can be done :)
Hisyam
London sey!
Maalikka
Oh please! Pictures only takes a few seconds to take :P
And woo, you’re a pro at cooking now! :)
have you tried your hand at baking? I want to see ur tiramisu ingredients(if ur doing)…:DDD
my style is to grind all the ingredients and make a paste, like onions, chili, abit of serai, lengkuas, ginger. Then cook till garing, add the tomato paste, seasoning and wallahhh!!.. Hehehhe Try not to add too much tomato paste thou.. try it again and u might get it right this time.
Oh btw, I love reading ur posts.. Take care dear.
Maalikka
Baking? Maybe once a year for making cookies for hari raya :P
Havent tried making tiramisu yet, but that sounds like a great idea to try next!
Aqi
Thank you for dropping by and yeah, I think that the grind/blend method is the best!
Over here I have yet to find lemongrass and lengkuas though. So I have to omit it :(
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