This slow-cooker creamy coconut chicken stew isn’t korma and doesn’t make use of korma powder either, but the flavours are reminiscent of korma meets tom kha gai in a subtle but very pleasing way.

You’d ordinarily make soup or stew with chicken, beef or vegetable stock, depending on your protein of choice. The good thing about making stew in a slow cooker is that there is no need for stock.

The slow cooking process releases the meat’s yummy juices into the liquids, giving you a super tasty soup.

The slow, lower heat also means you don’t have to wait until the very end of the cooking process to add in the coconut milk in fear of it splitting.

Plus, the chicken soaking in all that liquid over three or more hours as it cooks allows it to get truly juicy.

One important thing though – while two pieces of tamarind peel may not seem like a very big deal, it adds an essential hint of sourness that cuts through the richness of this stew, making it lighter and fresher on the tongue.

Ingredients

• 1.6kg (1 whole) chicken
• 155g (1 medium) potato, peeled and cut into eight
• 120g (1 large) onion, peeled and halved
• 1 egg, boiled and peeled
• 500ml coconut milk (santan)
• 3g (2 pcs) tamarind peel (asam keping)
• 480ml (2 cups) water
• 7g (1 tsp) salt

Spice mixture

• 9g (4 tsp) ground white pepper
• 24g (3 tbsp) cumin powder
• 35g (1 whole head) garlic, roughly blended or pounded
• 200ml water
• 80ml (1/3 cup) cooking oil

Special equipment

• Small wooden skewers

Preparation

• Clean and drain chicken thoroughly.
• In a bowl, combine all spice mixture ingredients except cooking oil. Stir until thoroughly mixed.
• Set your slow cooker to sauté/sear on high heat and add cooking oil.
• When the “maintain pressure” light comes on, add in the mixed spices.
• Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring regularly so the spices don’t get stuck to the bottom and sides of the pot. You want the spices to cook until they turn dark brown and look quite thick. You’ll also notice the spices and oil will “separate”.

• Add onion, potato and boiled egg.
• Cook, stirring occasionally for about five minutes until the onion is roughly half-cooked. Turn off the slow cooker.
• If you’re stuffing your chicken, remove onion, potato and egg from the pot.
• Minding the heat, stuff the ingredients into the chicken cavity.

• Seal the cavity with wooden skewers.

Making slow cooker creamy coconut chicken stew

• Back to the slow cooker, add coconut milk and salt. Give everything a good stir, making sure the fried spice mixture is thoroughly mixed through.
• Lower in your whole chicken.
• Finally, add 480ml water and gently stir to mix with the coconut milk and spices, “bathing” the chicken as you go along.
• Cover your slow cooker and set it for three hours on high temperature.
• Once the cooking is done, add tamarind peel, mixing it into the gravy. Adjust for salt if necessary.
• If your slow cooker has the sauté/sear function, select that and let the stew continue to cook for another five minutes while uncovered. If your slow cooker doesn’t have that option, let it “keep warm” for 10 minutes while covered to allow sufficient time for the tamarind peel flavours to seep into the gravy.

• Carefully remove chicken from the pot and transfer to a deep platter or serving bowl. If you stuffed your chicken, don’t forget to remove the skewers and, preferably, dig out the stuffing before serving.
• Serve with freshly cooked rice.

Extra tips

• Don’t buy those extra-large chickens for this dish as you want to make sure your chicken will fit into the pot!
• If you’re planning on freezing your soup, shred chicken meat so it takes up less storage space. It’ll heat up easier that way too.
• You can also shred the chicken before serving as it’s a lot neater and easier for guests to handle if you’ve got people coming around for dinner.
• We used a slow cooker with a sauté/sear function. If your cooker does not have this function, sauté your spice mix and vegetables in a pot or wok over a stove on medium heat before transferring to the slow cooker.
• If you prefer a lighter slow cooker creamy coconut chicken stew, add a bit more water. However, be careful not to exceed the water level in your slow cooker.
• If you don’t want to stuff your chicken, feel free to use chicken pieces instead of a whole chicken if that is more convenient for you. Just make sure to include bony chicken parts though to ensure maximum flavour.
• If you have more time or would like to cook the stew overnight or while you’re out at work, set it for six hours at low temperature and let it keep warm until you’re ready to dig in.

This article first appeared in butterkicap.com

Butterkicap is a food and culture platform and community that enables anyone to experience Malaysia through stories of her people, food and places.