Live to Eat. Live to Give. Only at TFAC by Drool SG.

At Drool we do three things well – we cook, we create and we connect. So we added a fourth “C” – C for “charity’ – and launched “Tea for a Cause”, TFAC for short and pronounced as Tee-Fac. TFAC brings together participating chefs, comprising celebrity chefs, homechefs and restaurant partners, to cook for a good cause.

The team of more than 30 will pit expertise and passion to whip up some 28 dishes to be served at a total of seven food stations, namely French, Hawker Fusion, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Peranakan and Desserts.

All proceeds go to CampVision, a non-profit organisation whose outreach initiatives include leadership camps and programmes designed for youths-at-risk aged 15 to 21 from various foster homes and different welfare organisations. Purchase your ticket online to support us at the inaugural TFAC, 5 November 2016 (Saturday). Where else do you get to eat from seven food stations serving 28 dishes in one afternoon all for a good cause.

As a preview of what is to come at TFAC, here at our second instalment of a seven-week editorial run, we put the spotlight on our Peranakan station by featuring this Nonya Chicken Curry recipe by Drool homechef, Alicia Yeo.

Nonya Chicken Curry Recipe

Chicken curry is an Asian staple found in almost all ASEAN countries although each country has its own version. Regardless, it’s so versatile you can eat it with anything – rice, bread, naan, chapatti, even noodles – and so good you can eat it with nothing.

The Peranakan or Nonya chicken curry version presented here uses lemongrass, imparting an unmistakeable Southeast Asian fragrance to it.

Serves: 8
Prep Time : 30 mins
Cook Time : 45 mins

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken (about 1.5kg)
• 5 tbsps curry powder of which 1 tbsp goes into the chicken marinade
• 1-1/2 tsps salt or more to taste
• 2.5cm or thumb size old ginger, skinned and julienned
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled
• 6 shallots, peeled
• 6 chilli padi, seeds removed
• 2 stalks lemongrass, divided – 1 smashed, 1 to be blended with the spices
• 4 tbsps oil
• 4 medium size potatoes, peeled, quartered and parboiled for about 5 mins
• 1 cup fresh coconut cream (1st press)
• 3 cups fresh coconut milk (2nd press)

Preparation

1. Rinse and pat dry chicken parts. Marinate them with 1 tbsp of the curry powder. Add some salt. Massage well and leave chicken aside to season for about an hour.

2. Mix the remaining curry powder with a few tbsps of water, just enough to form a wet paste.
Pound or blend the chilli padi, lemongrass, ginger, garlic and shallots in that order until a fine paste is formed. Set aside.

3. Heat a dutch oven and add oil. When the oil is glistening, fry the ground paste of blended spices until fragrant and golden brown. Make sure that the heat is not too high so as to avoid burning the spices. Then add the wet curry paste.

4. Next add the chicken pieces. Turn and coat the chicken pieces thoroughly with the spice paste. Continue frying for 5 to 10 mins until the chicken is partly cooked. Slowly pour half of the coconut milk (2nd press) into the chicken. Slowly bring to a boil for about 10 mins until a thin layer of oil surfaces. Add the remaining coconut milk and stirring occasionally until the chicken is tender about 20 mins.

5. Add curry leaves and the parboiled potatoes. Let it simmer, covered for another 20 mins until potatoes are thoroughly cooked.

6. Finally add the coconut cream (1st press). Turn down the heat to low, let it simmer and turn off the heat. Adjust salt according to your taste. The curry is best served hot with rice or French loaf (baguette).