Chu Chee Chicken Curry with Sticky Thai Jasmine Rice

This is my signature dish. I like to make this for people when trying to show of my skills and my ultimate comfort food dishes. I think I’ve cooked it so often I may have even overdone it. I recently cooked this for a group of good pals from work and it went down a treat and I’m delighted to say the recipe has been passed along nicely!  

The dish Chu Chee chicken curry is a dish adapted from the Asian restaurant Wagamamas. 

Wagamamas is such a cool place it’s where myself and two of my best pals used to meet up for food straight after work before those two lovely ladies Lorna and Naomi left me for Australia! Never quite feels the same going there now without them! I love the quirky interior layout, the laid back atmosphere, the bench tables and seating and the always lovely staff (did I mention I also have a 20% discount card?!). 

Ingredients: 

2 x chicken fillets chopped into chunks

1 butternut squash 

1 tablespoon of sunflower oil 

1/2 red pepper

juice of one 1 whole lime

1 teaspoon of fish sauce

2 tablespoons of light soya sauce

2 tablespoon of palm sugar chopped

1 tin of creamy coconut milk (400g) 

1 tablespoon (30g) of panang curry paste

4-5 leaves of thai sweet basil 

200g / 1 cup of thai jasmine rice 

Equipment needed: 

1 large frying pan, small pan, wooden spoon, saucepan, cup, kettle, sharp knives, chopping boards (red & green) tin opener, 

The ingredients for this dish are readily available from your local Asian supermarket of which there is so many now. I buy the panang paste, palm sugar, thai sweet basil and the sticky thai jasmine rice from the Asia Market on Drury Street in town which has such a huge selection of oriental products. I also go to the Asia Market in Ballymount industrial estate as it is also very close to my work. It’s worth investing in large sizes of the thai jasmine rice and palm sugar as they are cupboard staples and can be used in a variety of different dishes. All of the other ingredients for this dish are easily available in your local supermarket.      

Preparation is key in this dish. The butternut squash needs to be roasted for about 30minutes in a hot oven before being added to the sauce to give the dish its authentic sweet flavour. This is very easy to do. The squash needs to be first peeled and roughly chopped in chunks, sprinkled in a little sunflower oil and roasted in a hot 180DC oven in a casserole dish for 30minutes until tender. 

Make sure and keep an eye on the butternut squash in the oven as it can easily be overcooked and become soggy. It needs to be firm and tender as it will become softer once it has been added to the sauce to cook for a final few moments.    

Next to make the sauce: weigh out all your ingredients and have them ready to go as the sauce can be prepared very quickly. The ingredients are the 1 tablespoon of panang paste (more if you like it hot), 1 tin of creamy coconut milk, juice of 1 whole lime, 1 teaspoon of fish sauce, 2 tablespoons of soya sauce and finally 2 tablespoons of palm sugar roughly chopped.  Begin my heating 1 tablespoon of canola oil/sunflower oil in a frying pan and add in the panang paste. Stir for two to three minutes until the paste starts to cook, make sure it doesn’t start to burn. Pour in the full tin of coconut milk and stir until the paste dissolves into the coconut milk. Next add the lime juice, soya sauce and fish sauce. Finally add in the two tablespoons of palm sugar and mix gently until you have a nice smooth sauce. Once achieved turn down the heat to a low setting and leave to one side. 

In a separate frying pan heat some oil and gently fry the chicken pieces until white. Next stir in the peppers and fry gently for 3-4 minutes.

For the rice I adopt Jamie Oliver’s philosophy which is one full cup of rice to 2 cups of boiling hot water. This is the perfect ratio and will result in perfectly fluffy sticky rice. The rice generally takes no more than 8-10minutes to cook with the lid on a pot. 

Once the chicken and peppers are done add to the sauce and increase the heat. Next add in the tender butternut squash and mix gently. Finally I like to break up some thai sweet basil leaves and garnish the dish generously with this. 

I like to use a little coffee cup to assemble the rice mould on the plate. The thai jasmine rice is perfectly sticky and will remove from the cup easily onto the place and keep its structure and shape.  

Finally serve and enjoy! 

If you would prefer the dish a little hotter you can use two tablespoons of panang paste when making the sauce to increase the spice level. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQLHY_iEpYY

Above is a link to a video from a wagamamas chef demonstrating chu chee chicken curry! 

I have also included the ingredients to use if you would prefer to make your own paste at home, however I do find it is a lot of work and the panang paste that I buy from the Asia Market is very good quality. Ingredients list below:  

1 tablespoon peeled and chopped ginger
2 tablespoons lemongrass, sliced thin
6 kaffir lime leaves, chopped
2 tablespoons peeled and chopped coriander root
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons black peppercorns, crushed
2 shallots, sliced thin
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon fermented shrimp paste
1 tablespoon coriander seeds, toasted
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted
4 pieces of mace, toasted
2 cardamom pods, toasted
4 big green peppers, toasted
10 big red dried chillies, reconstituted in water for 10 minutes

Pound all the ingredients together, incorporating them one at a time in a large mortar and pounding with a pestle until the paste is smooth.