Creamy butter chicken 奶油鸡 recipe

Creamy butter chicken 奶油鸡 is a common dish in Chinese restaurants in Malaysia. Unfortunately, it's not that common in Melbourne's Malaysian restaurants. I almost forgot about this dish until my sister reminded me. It's another dish that uses curry leaves to bring out the extra aroma. By the way, it is a different dish from the Indian butter chicken!

Similar to the sweet and sour chicken, there are 2 components in this dish - the fried chicken and the sauce. The fried chicken is like the popcorn chicken. You can actually eat it alone or dip it with some dipping sauce if it is not for this dish. It is crunchy outside and juicy inside.

The creamy butter sauce is very yummy, thanks to the curry leaves and chillies which give it extra flavours. This sauce can be used for making creamy butter prawns too. Wow, that is another dish that makes me drool!

Recipe:

(4 servings)

Fried chicken:

4 chicken thigh fillets
1 beaten egg
Plain flour
Corn flour
Oil

Marinade for chicken:

1 1/2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1/2 tablespoon light soya sauce
1/2 tablespoon sesame oil
Pinch of salt
A few dashes of pepper

Creamy butter sauce:

6 cloves garlic
1 small piece of ginger
Handful of curry leaves
5 bird eye chillies
50g butter
1 cup* evaporated milk
1/4 cup* water
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons shaoxing cooking wine
Salt

* 1 cup = 236ml

1. Cut the chicken into cubes and marinade them for 20mins.

2. Add beaten egg onto the chicken cubes and mix thoroughly.

3. Mix plain flour and corn flour in a bowl with the ratio of 3:2.

4. Coat each chicken cubes with the flour mix.

5. Deep fry the chicken in the hot oil. Remove them from the oil once turn brown. Leave them aside.

6. Mince garlic and ginger. Cut the chillies into slices.

7. Melt the butter in the frying pan or wok. Add the minced garlic and ginger. Stir fry for 30 secs.

8. Add curry leaves, follow by chillies and continue to stir fry until you can smell the aroma of the curry leaves.

9. Stir in evaporated milk and water. Add oyster sauce, shaoxing cooking wine and salt to taste.

10. Cook until the sauce is thicken. Turn off the heat and add in the chicken. Toss the chicken so that each pieces is coated with the sauce.

11. Serve with rice.