Saturday 20 October 2012

Kay Kutuk (Terengganu Chicken Curry)


The proper name for this curry is Kerutuk Ayam/Kerutup Ayam but my family has been calling it Kay Kutuk since time immemorial. It is another standard Chinese New Year reunion dish for us and this curry is one of my Grandma's and Mum's specialties. 

It has been ages since I ate this curry and I barely remembered what it tasted like. I came across the recipe in my Aunt's recipe scrapbook and my Mum's name was written beside the recipe title. Ah, so this is my Mum's version then! 



The problem I had was, this being a family recipe, no exact measurements were recorded. So I bravely set out to cook this curry using my judgement and I wrote the measurements as I went along. Which explains why my pen smells of onions.



I also did some research on the internet to see if Mum's version is the original kerutuk and to my delight I found many Terengganu kerutuk recipes. But alas, these recipes called for "rempah kerutuk" (kerutuk spice mix) which is readily available in Terengganu. But no matter, Mum's recipe was handed down from Grandma and therefore I concluded that it must be the authentic Terengganu Nyonya version. I also checked another Mek Terengganu's recipe, K. Nor and it is slightly different. The Malay version calls for the 4 spices - cinnamon stick, cardamom, cloves and star anise. 




The kerutuk turned out beautifully and tasted just like Mum's (yay!). And it sure brought back memories of Chinese New Year past. As you know from this post, my family are egg lovers. So inevitably, we add hard boiled eggs to our Kay Kutuk. And as usual, everyone fights for the eggs.

This curry is very fragrant and tasty. I bet it will get Mum's approval and it is best served with white rice and a good dose of sambal belacan. 










Kay Kutuk (Terengganu Chicken Curry)

Ingredients :
- 4 chicken legs, cut into 2 pieces each
- 6 hardboiled eggs

Spice paste :
-4 dried chillies (soaked to soften and remove seeds if you want less heat)
- 5 fresh chillies (remove seeds if you want less heat)
- 400g shallots
- 20g lengkuas
- 30g belacan
- 1 tablespoon budu (fermented fish or use fish sauce)
- 30g gula Melaka (palm sugar)
- 50g kerisik (recipe here)
- 1 tablespoon corriander powder
- 1 teaspoon fennel powder

- 600ml coconut milk (see note)
- salt to taste
- cooking oil for frying

Method :
- blend spice paste ingredients.
- Saute the spice paste until fragrant and oil separates.
- while sauteing, if your spice paste is dry, add some coconut milk to it.
- Add chicken and mix with the spice paste. Fry until chicken turn opaque.
- Add coconut milk and eggs.
- Simmer until chicken is cooked and gravy is thick.

Note :

1. I put one packet 200ml coconut milk into measuring glass and added water until it reached 600ml. Adjust more or less water according to how thick you want your gravy to be.
2. This curry taste better after a day or two when the flavors develop further.




I am submitting this post to Malaysian Food Fest, Terengganu Month hosted by Lena of frozen wings.



43 comments:

  1. Wow, looks so sedap. Must try this recipe

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    1. Thanks Azie, hope you enjoy this version :)

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  2. Looks so colorful and scrumptious, looks like an Indian chicken, irresistible!

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  3. early morning see curry, lao hau sui oredi! yeah, i also happened to see budu in some malay dishes, does it taste like cincalok? haha..better clean your pen..at least onion not so bad..sometimes i bake then dropped some sugar in my writing pad, then never realised until i saw ants enjoying it!

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    1. Hah! Hah! Lena, budu taste different from cincaluk. Dono how to describe :) I drop sugar all the time too, now my house got a lot of ants.

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  4. Hi Phong Hong, there are really many versions of kerutup ayam. Thanks for sharing this family version which I believe must be good. This curry is very fragrant but not spicy?

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    1. Hi Kimmy, it's not spicy if you put less chillies or remove the seeds. Quite moderate I would say. Hope you try it some day.

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  5. Hey you :) I'm salivating! I never learn not to look at food blogs before lunch. Sigh.
    This looks seriously good! I guess every family will have their own slight twist to any authentic recipe.Oh, I notice this uses budu. Now that's a truly Terengganu condiment. Not a fan but like some weird tasting stuff, combined with other ingredients, makes heaven!

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    1. Ping! Hey, wait till you try budu then you will get addicted. Budu by itself is strong smelling but add lots of lime juice, sliced shallots and chillies, it will send you to heaven! Hah! Hah!

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  6. Hello Phong Hong
    Good day to you! Wow, I am salivating here too! How nice if I am invited to your house for this delicious looking curry chicken (or Kay Kutuk). Must be real flavourful with all those spices cooked in it. I will bookmark this and will cook this one day..... yeah one day hopefully soon.

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    1. Hi Mel, so when are you coming over? hee..hee...This curry has loads of flavours and is very different from other curries. I would say it is unique. Yeah, try it ok?

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  7. Look at the gravy ... really made me drooling over it. I better find something in curry for my lunch today :)

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  8. mcm gulai ayam jer ni PH .. mcm org kelantan jer tu letak budu. biasanya org ganu letak belacan hehe dan satu lg perbezaan dia PH letak fresh chilli.. sbb tu kuah merah sbb malay version kaler darker.. kalau tak ada rempah kerutup, boleh aje guna rempah gulai (ex: rempah cap bunga ros tu.. rempah tu versatile, boleh guna utk pelbagai masakan gulai2 ni.. )

    hehhe.. u make me laugh "mek gterengganu" hehee

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    1. Itu lah, K. Nor kita orang ni lebih-lebih. Dahlah letak belacan, letak budu pulak :) Sebenornya, PH tak sure letak semua cili kering, ke cili hidup. So PH hentam campur-campur, jadi gak. Lain kali PH nak cuba K. Nor punya stail lak.

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  9. I think slight variations do happen among families (Like I use cinnamon and you don't)and important is the general concept of curry chicken with egg.
    In the olden days, homemakers will grind their own spices and thus, their recipes are long with the spice list. Modern ppl prefer to remember less and use the spice mix and have no idea what's in it.
    If you ask me, I think I'll prefer recipes from the old scrapbook written in the days before the existence of any spice mix so that the recipes can be passed down as authentically as possible.

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    1. I agree with you, Wendy. I prefer to make the spice paste from scratch. Somehow using ready made is like "cheating" to me , not that I'm against it. And on the variations, I sometimes wonder is some ingredients are accidentally left out when it is passed on :)

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  10. Juicy chicken is making me hungry....What is lengkuas and belacan??? Love to try this!! Is thr any substitute for that???

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    1. Hi Priya! Lengkuas is also known as blue ginger (but it's not blue!) and belacan is shrimp paste. You could leave out lengkuas (we use very little of it anyway) and substitute belacan with Thai fish sauce.

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    2. Thank you so much....Will try soon!!!

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  11. I have not tried curry chicken with eggs... sounds interesting. As I told you before, I love curry and good curry gravy and plain rice is good enough for me... even if there's no meat!

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    1. Oh, I agree! Just rice mixed with the gravy and we are happy!

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  12. Thats a very flavorful chicken curry

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  13. Aiyoyo, your curry looks so delicious, luckily I can only see, can't touch, hahaha, coz I'm having a bad sorethroat!

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    1. Jessie, sorry about your sore throat. Cannot eat curry, so kesian :(

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  14. My mouth is watering so much right now. I just love curry -all types. Have yet to eat one with eggs. Thanks for sharing, I'm going to pin it so I remember to try your recipe. Happy Sunday:)

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    1. Thanks, Nancy! If you love curries, perhaps this one is for you :)

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  15. Wow, another delicious dish from you! I always thought kerutub ayam is something like rendang! Now I know! Thanks for sharing yet another lovely family recipe! If I'm served with this, I sure "tambah nasi"!!

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    1. Joyce, the Malay version is more like rendang but wetter than rendang. On yes, you need lots of nasi with this :)

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  16. Wahhhhhh!!!! So many shallots one! Garenti nice lor like that... Slurpsss!!!!! The name is funny...kutuk sounds something like bullied or hen-pecked as in hen-pecked husband. LOL!!!!

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    1. Arthur, my Mum always says curries must have lots of onions so that it is tasty! Hah! Hah! Kutuk is my grandma's version of kerutuk/kerutup.

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  17. I'm giggling at the thought of your oniony pen :) Sounds like how things roll at my house! And how wonderful that you've written down this family recipe for future generations...it sounds wonderful~

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    1. Lizzy, your comment made me laugh. Oh, you should also see dried cake batter on my pen too. Family recipes are really great and I inherited my Aunt's recipe scrapbook after she did a spring cleaning. And it's really great to share with others :)

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  18. Very yummy n delicious... First time here n love ur space... When u find time do visit mine..

    Event: Dish name starts with P

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    1. Hi Akila, thanks! Will visit your space soon :)

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  19. salam ziarah...

    sedapnya kari ni... buat akak lapar je... nanti nak cuba juga.. tapi nak letak serbuk keju... biar aroma keju pula ada dalam kari. sebab anak2 suka sangat dengan keju, terutama serbuk keju CHEEZE MAZ

    jemput ya ke blog cheezemaz.blogspot.com

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  20. Cheeze Maz, eh pelek lah kari letak keju :) Kalau kat pizza yang ada kari ayam tu ok juga, memang sedap. Jangan risau, akan ke blog cheesemaz nanti :)

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  21. Hi Phong Hong, another delicious curry chicken, this one must have extra rice!!! hehehe..
    But I guess habis already cos I miss the train. :(

    Have a nice week ahead.

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    1. Hi Amelia, finish oredi...Don't worry, next time reserve one bowl for you with 2 plates of rice hee...hee...

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  22. Aiyoyo, this curry also made me salivated , one plate rice sure not enough .

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    1. Sonia, mesti makan 2 plates baru "kuay gian" :)

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