Name: Ayam Buah Keluak (Chicken in a Spicy Gravy with Buah Keluak)
Yield: Makes 8 to 12 Servings
Ingredients: 140 g or 5 ounces tamarind (assam), soaked in 7 cups hot water; 1 tablespoon cornflour, mixed with water to form a slurry (optional); 1 tablespoon thick coconut milk; Pinch of salt main dish; 2 stalks lemon grass (seray), discard top half, smash remaining parts; 150 g or 5½ ounces galangal (lengkuas), skinned and diced finely; 45 g or 1½ ounces turmeric (kunyit), skinned and chopped; 5 tablespoons oil; 1 whole chicken (about 1.4 kg or 3 pounds), cut into serving pieces; 60 g or 2 ounces prawns (shrimps), deveined and minced; 12 buah keluak nuts, reserve the extracted flesh from the nuts; 75 g or 2½ ounces chicken or pork, minced; 90 g or 3 ounces lemon grass (seray), upper stalks and outer layers removed, sliced thinly; 3 red chillies, deseeded; 215 g or 7½ ounces shallots, peeled and sliced; 7 dried chillies, deseeded and soaked in hot water; 30 g or 1 ounce belachan, chopped; 45 g or 1½ ounces candlenuts (buah keras), diced; 1 tablespoon salt; ½ tablespoon sugar

Preparation info

Makes
8 to 12
Servings

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Growing Up In A Nonya Kitchen

By Sharon Wee

Published 2012

About

These nuts may look peculiar but the contents are even more alarming. Officially, the nuts are derived from the Pangium edule tree native to South East Asian mangrove swamps. More alarmingly, the fruit which produce these nut seeds are poisonous. However, the fruit and nuts can be made edible by fermentation. We assure ourselves that over several generations, we have not heard of any Baba who has died from buah keluak poisoning!

I once tried to smuggle them into the US and got quest