BRUNEIAN CHICKEN

Brunei is a Southeast Asian sovereign state on the island of Borneo. It shares Borneo with Indonesia and Malaysia. Brunei is predominantly Muslim. This, and it neighboring countries gives Brunei an interesting cuisine. I have learned that they can do crazy things with a chicken and coconut milk.

I went with a Bruneian chicken recipe, based on a dish called "Beriani". I started with a pound of chicken thighs. I ground together a clove of garlic, a 2 inch piece of ginger, 2 Serrano peppers, seeds included, a tablespoon of poppy seeds, 10 cashew nuts and 10 almonds. In a skillet, I heated some ghee. You can find ghee at an Indian market. You can also use olive oil, or vegetable oil. When the oil is hot, fry up 5 cloves, a 2 inch piece of Cinnamon and a cup of sliced shallots. In goes the chicken, a little salt, and a teaspoon of curry powder. Stir this up, cover, and cook for about 10 minutes.

Here comes the fun part...I put a can of coconut milk in a pot, and added a little more than a cup of basmati rice. Add in a little salt. I can't describe how good rice is when it cooked in coconut milk. Heat until the rice absorbs the coconut milk. After a little bit, I added just a little bit of water. The coconut milk is a little thick, and needed to be thinned out a bit. Then, I put the rice in the skillet with the chicken, and simmered it for about fifteen minutes.

This is a very tasty meal. To make it VERY tasty, add larger amounts of the spices.