Gulai Kawah 1

Kak Sa is one of my hubby's relatives on his maternal side. She makes and sells rempah gulai kawah. From the income of selling the spices, she managed to send her children to study overseas. So, you could understand why she was so secretive on the formula of making the spices. It's her business, her livelihood. I was told she was so reluctant to reveal the formula. Well, except to yours truly. It was at my mom-in-law's place that she was generously revealing the formula (probably due to my trustworthy face?) However, she made me promise not to reveal it or make the spices with the intention of selling them myself. Kak Sa is one religious lady from a very religious family. She had sent her children all the way to Egypt for religious studies. So you could understand why I have kept her promise religiously..hehehehe.
Actually one could find rempah gulai kawah here in most shops in Terengganu. The most popular one is Cap Bunga Ros. But I would prefer Cap Wau. Generally there's 2 types of rempah, namely rempah masak and rempah gulai. Rempah masak is darker in color. However, you need both to make the gulai. The proportion of rempah masak : rempah gulai is 1 : 2, meaning for one tablespoonful of rempah masak, you have to add 2 tablespoonful of rempah gulai.
Gulai kawah is one of the most popular dishes here in Terengganu. The proteins mostly used in this dish are free ranged chickens, beef or muttons. It goes well with rice, especially nasi minyak


                                             RECIPES:
                     

   GULAI KAWAH AYAM KAMPUNG


1 ayam kampung cut to pieces
20 shallots
5 garlics
2 1-inch ginger
2 1-inch galangal
1 inch turmeric root
2 lemon grass
2 tablespoon rempah gulai
1 tablespoon rempah masak
3 tablespoon blended dried chillies or ciliboh
1 cup of tamarind juice ( to your taste)
coconut milk from 1 coconut
1 tablespoon kerisik (fried coconut flesh, pounded till oily)
whole spices- 1 cinnamon stick. 10 cardamoms, 10 cloves, 1 aniseed
5 potatoes cut halves
2 tablespoon of palm sugar
salt to taste

slice thinly 5 shallots, 1 garlic, one 1-in ginger, one 1-in galangal. Fry them in a pot with oil. Add slightly smashed lemon grass. Add the whole spices. Blend the rest of the shallots, garlic, ginger, galangal and turmeric root. Then add the blended stuff and ciliboh into the pot. fry them till the oil appear as stuff reduces due to loss of moisture. In a bowl, mix both rempah with abit of water, then add to the pot. Add the chicken pieces. Mix well, then add tamarind juice. Let them boil. Add water abit if the sauce is dry. Then add coconut milk, palm sugar and kerisik, simmer till chicken cooked then lastly add potatoes. reduce heat, let oil surfaces. salt to taste.

**for those who couldnt find the rempah anywhere, here's a close substitute: in a pan fry with no oil, 1 tablespoon of cummin seeds, 1T aniseeds, 1T black pepper, 2T coriander seeds till fragrant. in a mortar, pound them finely. then add them to the blender and blend together with the shallots, garlic, ginger, galangal and turmeric root. then add 1T of rempah kari daging.

***to bring out the taste of nuttiness in the dish, I normally put 1 green chilly when simmering the gulai at the end.