Dicing with Death — I tweaked mom's chicken curry recipe

[LLCC]

This curry is really simple to make, and like all Peranakan dishes, tastes great. "But wait a minute here" I can imagine you saying, "the words 'Peranakan' and 'simple to make' just cannot belong together in one sentence!" And you are right in saying so. Peranakans are famed to be so fussy about applying the proper technique or method to build up a dish that they would religiously spend hours pounding the pestle and mortar or hunched over a hot stove, skimming and stirring, just so the taste will come out sedap (delicious. say: ser-dup). So it is reasonable to reason that it is impossible for any Peranakan dish to be 'easy to make'.

On top of that, we Peranakans are so proud of our own cooking that we will never admit that another Baba's (man) or Nonya's (young lady. say: Nyo-ny-ar) tangan, (literally, hand ~A Peranakan term meaning one's cooking. say: ton-ngan) had made a more delicious dish. If we cannot fault the taste, we'd fault the condiments, the temperature it's served or even the plating. That's how proud we are of our own cooking.

So now you begin to see why I titled this 'Dicing with Death'? And I'm not talking about a Buah Keluak dish (the keluak nut contains cyanide), but that's another topic altogether. Mom's a strict and fierce Nonya and Grandma was also a strict Bibik (senior lady. say: Bee-beak) despite her smiley demeanour. Mom is a 'drill sergeant' in strictness and expects all her commands to be obeyed immediately with a clear "yes mom" reply and to be executed without any excursion from her specified method. Failing which, (as I'm wont to do as I'm always curious about ... what if...) I'd get a resounding tongue lashing at best. But mostly, skin meeting the painful end of a cane which was de rigueur for me. Having said these, I'm gonna blog about her chicken curry recipe with my own modifications. I'm old enough to do things my way Mom, and I will, even though you still call me Lawrence-Boy.

https://gaspinggurami.wordpress.com/2016/11/28/dicing-with-death-tweaking-moms-kari-ayam-recipe/

[theswimmer]

Great picture into your life Lawrence.
I learned more about curries from your post than I ever dreamed.
The recipes from our parents and grandparents link us to our past and provide our children and grandchildren a window into to our lives that nothing else conveys.
Thank you again, great read.
I would like to meet and fish with you sometime.
Best,
Jonathan

[David Hall]

Your recipe conveyed much more than food, thank you for sharing Lawrence. It was a very enjoyable to read on this beautiful morning.

[Dominick]

Lawrence.  Thank you for the link.  I too learned a lot about your life and food.  I loved your website.  I buzzed through it and saw that you put a lot of passion into it.  Keep up the good work.  Dominick

[foakes]

Thanks, Lawrence --

You show us that there are other thngs in our life besides fishing.

Good blogging, and good authorship.

Best,

Fred

[Alto Mare]

very nice.

[LLCC]

Thanks for all the encouragement guys,

I have to admit that this is one of the hardest pieces to write as I had to dig deep within myself to pen those words.

I'm glad you found it interesting. Do give curries a try if you can. There's so many kinds of curries, almost as many as there are different genres of lures.

Cheers,

LL