Name: Ayam Tempra
Yield: Makes 4 to 6 Servings
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon lime juice; 2 cups water; 2.5 cm or 1 inch ginger, skinned and julienned; 2 tablespoons vegetable oil; 2 cloves garlic, minced; 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce; 1 stalk lemon grass (seray), use bottom third, slice finely; 1 large yellow onion, peeled and sliced; 30 g or 1 ounce belachan; 2 teaspoons sugar; 1 teaspoon salt; 2 red chillies, sliced; 230 g or 8 ounces chicken breast, sliced finely*; 3 kaffir lime leaves (daun limau purut)

Preparation info

Makes
4 to 6
Servings

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Growing Up In A Nonya Kitchen

By Sharon Wee

Published 2012

About

When most people think of Nonya food, they think of all the usual suspects like ayam buah keluak, laksa, mee siam and nonya chicken curry. It was only a few years back that my sister Molly talked about how she missed having ayam tempra for dinner. Then only did I realise that it was indeed a low-key Nonya dish we ate often. ‘Tempra’ is a Malay word related to the Portuguese word ‘tempero’ which means ‘seasoning’ or ‘gravy’ in English.

The sauce was garnished