Opor Ayam Kuning (Javanese Chicken Curry)

Opor Ayam Kuning is one of my comfort food at it best. Super flavorful chicken curry, a mix of coconut milk and spices infused into a divine creamy soup. Many said that cooking a curry dish requires a plethora of spices and laborious work and they are not totally exaggerating. I will not say cooking Opor Ayam is hard, but it does requires a lot of cooking time.

Opor Ayam is a must-have dish on Ied Fitr in Indonesia. Its one of the Ied Fitr signature dish. I absolutely have no idea what made the tradition to have Opor on Ied Fitr, but as far as I remember, every family I know have Opor as one of their menu on the said day. 

There are two kind of Opor Ayam; Opor Ayam Kuning (Yellow Curry) and Opor Ayam Putih (White Curry). The different between the two lays on the spices. Opor Ayam Kuning has a bit more of the spices and it tastes slightly richer than the Opor Ayam Putih. Today I am cooking the Opor Ayam Kuning. As you will see on my recipe, it is not that complicated and the spices needed are not far off from Indian curry. I paste all my ingredients using electronic processor, I add oil instead of water to avoid excessive liquid and I can sauté the paste right away. 

Ingredients:
10 chicken legs
5 Kaffir lime leaves
2 Salam leaves
2 lemongrass stalk, bruised
2 cm of fresh galangal
2 1/2 tsp salt to taste
1/4 tsp white pepper powder
1/2 tsp sugar
1 liter of coconut milk (I used to cans and add a bit of water)
3 tbsp oil

Ingredients to paste:
5 shallots
4 garlic
5 candlenuts
2 cm of fresh ginger
1/4 tsp caraway
1 tsp corriander powder
1/2 tsp curcuma powder


Cooking steps:

1. Using an electronic food processor, add 3 tbsp oil, shallots, garlic, candlenuts, ginger, caraway, corriander powder, and curcuma powder. Turn all the ingredients into a smooth paste,
2. Sautee the paste ingredients along with kaffir lime leaves, salam leaces, lemongrass stalks, and galangal until fragrant (and the color turns into bright yellow), 
3. Add the chicken in and continue cooking until the chicken changes color, 
4. Add salt, white pepper powder, and sugar, stir well,
5. Add coconut milk and continue cooking on low heat until the chicken tender, the longer the better,
6. Real Opor is cooked for minimum two hours until the sauce thickens, there will be a layer of oil separated from the soup as you can see on the image above, it means the Opor is ready,
7. Serve with a bowl of rice and sprinkle fried shallot on top. 

Happy cooking!