Masak Merah - Makcik Style

When Natt came to visit in April, I made it my mission to learn how make Ayam Masak Merah (literally, Chicken Cooked Red). Masak Merah is a popular member of the wedding banquet in Singapore and happens to be one of Natt's favourite dishes. She didn't get to have any at her wedding, so I thought I'd try my luck at making it myself.

It's a dark red, spicy tomato-based curry. Similar to a rendang, the gravy is usually reduced to a thick paste - although the extent of reduction varies from individual chefs.

I got this recipe from Julia's Recipe on Facebook. She's a fabulous cook and I can't help but marvel at how she is always in the kitchen... and how she makes it all seem so effortless. Unfortunately, Julia's style of cooking is what I refer to as Makcik-style. I've found that I had to make a few modifications in order to make the dish resemble the Masak Merah I love and that's what I've posted here. I've added notes at the bottom to detail what I changed, if you wanted to compare the two recipes.

Ayam Masak Merah

Ingredients:

1 Chicken – cut in parts washed & drained
2 teaspoons tumeric powder12 whole cloves
15 cardamom pods, lightly crushed to split the pod
3 cinnamon sticks
4 whole star anise
2 big onions – sliced
4 tomatoes – cut in quarters
1 cup tomato puree
4 tablespoons tomato sauce
2 tablespoons chilli sauce
1 can evaporated milk
1 cup of water
Salt & Sugar to taste
 

Blended Ingredients: 

4 big onions
6 dried chillies – soaked in hot water then drained
8 cloves garlic
2 inches ginger, sliced
6 stalk lemon grass, sliced
1 inch galangal, sliced

 

(The basis of any good Malay curry - the paste)

Method: 

1. Coat the chicken evenly with a thin paste of salt and tumeric powder. Leave to marinate for 20 minutes. 
2. In the meantime, blend the ingredients for the paste. You might need to add some water to get your blender going and get a nice smooth paste.
3. Fry the chicken until golden.  
   
   
   
   
4. In a wok, heat up the oil and fry the sliced onions until they have softened. 
5. Once the onions have softened, add the star anise, cinnamon sticks, cardamom, cloves and blended ingredients. Fry until fragrant.
   
   
    
6. Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, chilli sauce, evaporated milk and water. Stir to combine.
7. When the mixture is boiling, add the chicken and simmer until the gravy thickens. 

Notes:

• I love lots of sauce. I've doubled the amount of sauce ingredients here so that each piece of chicken gets a healthy coverage of spicy, pasty, gravy.
• However, I've kept the amount of evaporated milk the same as a single batch because I found that it made the gravy too light - whereas I am more used to Masak Merah which is as red as tomato puree.
• I've said to use onions in this recipe - I prefer to use shallots as they are closer in taste to the red onions you get in Singapore than the Spanish onions in Australia.
• I've added a lot more spices to my version than asked for in the original recipe to add more complexity to the dish. I found that the original amounts simply couldn't match up to the overpowering tomato paste. 
• Best eaten the morning after cooking once all the flavours have seeped into and infused the chicken.