Ayam Kari Kapitan

This post is dedicated to my buddies, Ina & Mir. God know's why you guys are 'addicted' to it....
Recipe (for 1/2 a chicken) :
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Chicken (obviously...) , cut into pieces

Grind/Blend
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3 garlics (bawang putih)
5 small onions (bawang merah)
7 stalks of dried chillies, previously soaked in hot water
1 cm ginger (halia)
3 cm fresh tumeric (kunyit hidup)
2 stalks lemon grass (serai)
1 inch galangal (lengkuas)
3 candlenuts (buah keras)
1 cube chicken stock

Combine with:
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1.5 ( one and a half) boxes of 200ml coconut milk
Juice of 2 limes (limau nipis)
4 kaffir lime leaves (daun limau purut), torn

Seasoning:
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Salt, sugar & pepper, to taste


Method :
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1. Heat about 3 tbspn of oil in wok. Once hot, add in the blended ingredients until fragrant. Add in some of the torn kaffir lime leaves at this point.

2. Add in chicken. Let it cook for a while. Add a little bit of water if it is too dry.

3. Add in coconut milk. Let it simmer.

4. Add lime juice, salt, sugar and pepper.

5. Throw in the rest of the kaffir lime leaves for decoration.


Note to all : It looks somewhat similar to 'Ayam Masak Lemak' but the tastes differ as the lime juice adds some sourness into the dish and helps to breakup the 'lemak-ness' from the coconut milk. Not recommended if you're on a diet, though. The meal is quite 'rich', if you know what I mean ;)


*p/s: Recently, father got me a personal trainer to help me with my exercise routine at home.

Oohhh gawwwdd, I feel like a dog!!! :(

The Interview

Last night my nieces, Icha and Anna, who are both five and seven years old respectively, came over to visit us at home. It has been a while since I last saw them and we (my aunts and I) took this opportunity to ask them (more like 'interrogate' them really) about their school - Icha currently in kindergarden while Anna is in primary one, on exams, friends and basically anything and everything that has been going on in their life so far.

The following is a snippet of my conversation with them on school and friends :

Me : Soooooo, how's school?

Ica : Ok Aunty Jene. I am not schooling today.

Anna : Cuti sekolah, laaaaa.....

Me : I know, I know. Saja tanye tak boleh ke? (girls giggling) How are your friends? Any cute guys in school?

Ica & Anna : AAADDDAAAAAAA!!!!! (answering with such gusto)

Me : Wow, what are their names?

Ica & Anna: A@#$%^*?!!!! ( at this point I could not hear them well because the television was blasting away in the background. For ease of identification, let's call Icha's - Mr. X and Anna's - Mr. Y)

Me : So Icha, Mr.X handsome boy ahh? How does he look like?

Icah : Like a boy la, Aunty Jene. Tapi cute laaaa....

Anna : Mr. Y also cute. Tapi die hitam (dark)!!!

Me : Okla tu. Women should be fair and men should be dark. You know the saying, ' tall, dark and handsome men '?

Icha & Anna : Huh???!!!!

Me : Nevermind, you girls are underaged anyway. Sssooo, are they rich?

Icha : I dunnooooo.....

Anna : How to know dia 'kaya' (rich) ke tak Aunty Jene?

Me : Well, ahemm ahemmm, you're talking to an 'expert' here(me sounding smug). Ok, let me teach you girls. Dia datang sekolah naik apa??

Icha : Van sekolah.

Anna : School bus.

Me : Aiseyman....ok, nevermind. There's still hope. They are still young anyway. We must give them room to grow and develop. Now school bus, later proton, last sekali bmw!!

Icha at this point looked very much like a confused child. She scratched her head and gave Anna a look that says, you sure she's related to us, aaaahh??

Me : So, parents die kerja apa?

Icha : Tak tau. Tapi Mr. X ada water bottle yang besar!! Ada gambar Thomas lagi. Siap boleh letak makanan kat bawah tau!!

Me: Haaaa??Water bottle aje??!! Hmm, Thomas?? Thomas mana ni? Thomas cup ke?

Anna : *Sigh .... No laaa Aunty Jene. Thomas & Friends laaaa. Cartoon train yang dalam Astro tuh, Channel 611.

Me : OOhhhh, yelah kan. Budak-budak. Mestila kartun. Takkan pulak die letak gambar bola badminton(shuttle cox) kat watter bottle dia kan? Hehehehehe ......

At this point Anna smacked her hand over her forehead and just shook her head.

Come to think of it, I think I am worrying for no reason really. Apparently these kids are growing up just fine. I use to have this fear that these girls would not be able to adapt themselves to this new world of modern technology. That they would not be mature enough to handle the pressures, the harshness and the ugly reality of life. That I would need to be with them at all times to ensure that they are properly guided while taking baby steps, venturing further into the world that is mysterious and full of adventure.

Perhaps I have been worrying about the wrong person all this while. It very much looks like the one who may in need of great guidance and with questionable maturity would not be them, but in actual fact - is me after all..... ;)