Chicken rendang for eid

Today is the last day of fasting in the holy month of Ramadhan. There is a heavy feeling inside when I think Ramadhan is leaving us all. I hope this year's Ramadhan has purified my soul and I have became a better Muslim. I pray hard that I will meet Ramadhan again next year, amin.

On another note, I am excited to celebrate hari raya aidil fitri (eid al-fitr) tomorrow. As usual, my mom cooks chicken rendang for tomorrow. Last year I had to bake cakes so I didn't get to help her with the chicken rendang. But today, I helped her cook, she even said that this is Ani's rendang since I did most of the cooking.

Looks delicious right?

Cooking chicken rendang is no joke man. Took mom and I about 4 hours to prepare it from scratch. We used a lot of shallots (i call them red onion), garlic, ginger, lemongrass and a bit of galangal (have to google up this word. i have no idea what lengkuas is in english)

I added a bit of turmeric leaf before I turned off the heat to give it a bit of that nice turmeric leaf aroma that is just fantastic.

Here's the recipe (attempted to translate mom's recipe to english, but i surrendered)

Bahan-bahan:
2 ekor ayam, dipotong
Bawang kecil 16 biji *
Bawang putih 10 biji *
Serai 10 batang *
Lengkuas 2 inci *
Halia 3 inci *
Rempah kari ayam 2 1/2 paket kecil
Cili kering yang diblend 4 senduk (sesuaikan mengikut tahap kepedasan yang diingini)
Bunga lawang/bunga cengkih/kulit kayu manis/buah pelaga
Santan daripada 3 biji kelapa (diperah 3 kali)
Kerisik daripada sebiji kelapa
3 helai daun kunyit dihiris halus
Minyak masak untuk menumis

- blend bahan-bahan bertanda *

Cara-cara:
1. Panaskan minyak masak
2. Masukkan bunga lawang/bunga cengkih/kulit kayu manis/buah pelaga
3. Tumis bahan-bahan yang sudah diblend sehingga naik bau dan kekuningan
4. Masukkan rempah kari dan cili kering
5. Kacau sehingga masak -- perlu berjaga-jaga supaya tidak hangit
6. Masukkan ayam dan kacau sedikit, biarkan sehingga air ayam keluar
7. Masukkan santan kelapa dan kacau lagi
8. Biarkan sehingga mendidih dan kuah mengering, kacau sekali sekala
9. Masukkan garam secukup rasa
10. Apabila kuah sudah hampir kering, masukkan kerisik dan kacau rata
11. Masukkan daun kunyit tadi dan kacau beberapa minit lagi

Siap!

Cooking rendang takes a lot of effort, but the end result is marvellous.
One day I will have to cook this for my own little family, will drag Butang to come down to the kitchen and get dirty with me. LOL.