Opor Ayam

Opor Ayam

You may wonder why I would make Opor Ayam when I have French people coming over for dinner. Such a risk, don't you think so?

Well, this French person (actually Southern Italian on both sides of the family) has a Dutch companion whose father used to live in Indonesia (Dutch Colonial Army) and whose great grandmother was Indonesian. So they love eating Indonesian and I was more than happy to make the dish for my guests.

As I've mentioned before, the guy is the one overseeing the designing of all the Ferraris. His companion works in the Communications Department of the same company. She was supposed to have dinner with some important journalists (including 2 from Singapore), but turned it down to attend mine - so very paiseh, ahem...

Anyway, I really enjoyed the dinner. They are such charming folks and the guy has loads of interesting tales (including one on how his grandmother encountered a were-wolf) to share, not at all unlike back home when we would share ghost stories. Such a change from my very cartesian Hubby who doesn't believe in anything. Do you know that in the South of Italy they also leave a spread of food and drink at home for visiting spirits during their own Qingming?

Prawn and Pork Wan Tons

I made fried prawn and pork wantons (though this time around I mixed the meat and prawns together with some ginger and garlic roughly in a mixer to get a more homogenous filling) with a soy sauce-lime juice-rice wine etc dip for appetisers and we ate them with a bottle of Rieflé's wonderful Gewurzstraminer Vendanges Tardives.

They were followed by the Opor Ayam that I served with Thai Jasmine Rice though I completely forgot the Sweet Potato Fritters that I had earlier planned to serve the curry with. I am so absent-minded...

Opor Ayam:

Chicken Thighs or a Whole Chicken cut into pieces

Ground Turmeric
Ground Cinnamon

Ground Cumin

Ground Cloves

Mustard Seeds

Salt and Pepper

Lime Juice

Onions

Garlic

Ginger

Lemongrass

Galangal

Ground Coriander Seeds

Palm Sugar

Coconut Milk

Meat Stock (optional)

Lime Leaves

Candlenut (I substituted it with Ground Peeled Almonds)

Tamarind or Lime Juice

Chillis

First, rub the chicken pieces with some lime juice and marinate them with the ground spices, salt and pepper. Set aside for at least an hour.

Mix or pound the onions, garlic and ginger into a paste.

In a non-stick pot, fry the marinated chicken pieces in a little bit of oil till they turn golden brown (it's ok if they are not totally cooked on the inside). Remove, drain on kitchen towels and set aside.

In the same oil, brown the bashed lemongrass, sliced galangal and coriander seeds. Add in the paste. Fry till fragrant, add in the sugar and the ground candlenut/almond. Pour in the coconut milk and stir well. Add in the lime leaves and let the curry simmer for 30 minutes. If necessary, add in some meat stock for a richer gravy.

Then gently return the chicken pieces to the curry. Add in the tamarind or lime juice, add salt, chilli and pepper to taste. The opor should be sweet, sour, salty and hot at the same time. Cook the dish till the gravy coats the chicken pieces. It is normally served rather creamy, but I priviledge more gravy so I usually have mine rather wet.

The Ayam Opor was followed by a fresh salad Italian style (i.e. DIY) eaten at the same time as a platter of French cheeses and a good red wine Château du Tertre, Margaux 2002. This was after all a French-speaking evening and certain niceties had to be respected. After dessert, the men ended the evening with expresso and an alcool blanc - a Quetsch-flavoured Eau de Vie d'Alsace from Rieflé.

This marked the beginning of a new round of entertaining. This coming Wednesday I will cook for a few of Hubby's colleagues and on Sunday I will have the honour, I hope, of receiving a famous fellow blogger. On the 1st of November I'll be organising a gathering of Singaporeans/PRs living in Italy and almost every weekend after that we would be inviting all the French people we know in Modena for a meal. And at the end of the year, Ferrari apparently organises many parties here and there, so arrivederci to my poor eternal to-do diet which unfortunately is much needed if I were to squeeze into all my dresses. But then it's going to be very cold so the sweaters should do. O così que espero...