Recipe: Easy Chicken Curry, Singaporean-style

I realise that, despite several posts on the topic of chicken curry, I have never actually posted a recipe. Since I made a pot the other night, I thought this was a good excuse to do so here.

I have to confess that my mum's recipe is a lot tastier, but requires somewhat more work too. Hence I've posted my own recipe here, and qualified it as "Easy". Also, if you are looking for a recipe to make rempah (curry base) - sorry again, but again this does not fall under the category of "Easy". I'm going to do a Nigella Lawson/Rachel Ray here: but if you can get decent curry powder in any grocery store, why in the heck do you want to make your own rempah? If you are really dying to, check out my recipe for beef rendang (you might want to tweak it slightly for chicken curry) - the instructions can be found here.

Now, back to "Easy".

RECIPE: EASY CHICKEN CURRY, SINGAPOREAN-STYLE

2x Chicken pieces/per person
(I like a mixture of breast, thigh and drumsticks. If you are using fillets, cut into chunks.)
1x Potato/per person
Sweet potatoes (optional)
1x Onion
3-8x Chilli padi / birds-eye chilli
(how many depends on how hot you want your curry to be - 5-8 chillies will yield a fiery curry)
1 bunch Fresh coriander
4-6x tomatoes
4 tbsp Curry powder
1 can/pkt Coconut milk
1 cup Fresh milk OR Water

1. Season raw chicken with salt, sprinkled generously and rubbed into meat. Set aside.
2. Peel potatoes and cut into chunks. Quarter the tomatoes. Set aside.
3. Chop onion and chillis together finely, or blitz in the blender (pulse mode, so that you don't end up with puree).
4. Using a spoon, blend curry powder with a few tbsp of water. Add 2 tbsp first, then another two etc. until you get smooth paste.
5. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a pot (I like my Le Creuset cocotte). Fry (3) for a few minutes until the onions are soft. Add (4) and fry until a shiny layer of oil appears (a few minutes again).
6. Add seasoned chicken pieces and mix until they are well-coated with the curry paste.
7. Add coconut milk. Add some fresh milk or water until the liquid level covers all the chicken pieces completely. Bring to a boil.
8. When boiling, add potatoes, tomatoes, and half of the coriander. Lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
9. Add rest of coriander. Simmer for another 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft.
10. Garnish with a few coriander leaves and serve with fluffy short-grained rice.