Indonesian cooking has many types of curry recipe, there are red curry, yellow curry, and white curry.
The curry recipe that I would like to share with you is the white curry because the ingredients required to make this kind of recipe is easy to find at your local supermarket. It is called Opor, the most famous recipe is Opor Ayam (Chicken Opor).
Opor is a method of cooking in coconut milk. Originated from central Java, though there are many other versions of Opor, but I am only sharing the cooking method of this particular dish from central Java.
This time I am feeling a bit creative and would like to share with you alternative way of serving Opor menu. Try swapping the chicken with vegetables of your choice or maybe bean curd or boiled eggs. Or all of the later.
The basic ingredients to make Opor is:
- 5 shallots
- 3 garlic
- 2 candlenuts lightly roasted
- 1/2 tsp coriander seeds lightly roasted
- 1/4 tsp cumin seeds lightly roasted
- 1/2 tsp chopped fresh turmeric ( you may opt this out if you would like to have white curry, otherwise use turmeric to give a yellow color to your dish)
- 1/2 tsp chopped fresh ginger
- 1 tsp of salt
You grind all these basic ingredients in a mortar or food processor ( if you use a food processor add 2 tsp of oil to have a smooth paste)
Once the paste is done, you are ready to make the Opor, for this you need:
- 2 kaffir lime leaves
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 lemongrass bruised
- 1 cm galangal bruised
- 500 ml of coconut milk / you can mix 300 ml of coconut milk and 200 ml of water
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The cooking process of Opor for vegetarian and non-vegetarian varies in time. Naturally, a vegetarian Opor will need less cooking time than the non-vegetarian ones.
For a vegetarian Opor, you will need (but you are free to choose your favorite vegetables):
- 200 gr of baby potatoes
- 200 gr of bean curd (Tofu) cut into medium cube size
- 100 gr of eggplant ( washed and sprinkled a pinch of salt and leave it for 15 minutes), cut lengthwise 3 cm thick.
Ok, now let’s cook:
- heat 2 tbsp of oil in a pot and stir fry the paste until fragrant, or until it slightly changed its color – around 2-3 minutes
- add lemongrass, bay leaf, and kaffir lime leaf to the pot and stir for another 2 minutes
- add the coconut milk and gently bring to boil. You can decide, how thick you want the texture of Opor to be when you want it to be slightly runny than once it is boiled, you can add the vegetables into the pot, but if you want a thicker texture, wait a while until the water was reduced to your liking.
- add the baby potatoes first, and when it is slight tender, add the bean curd and the last is the eggplant.
- Transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with fried shallots.
Tips:
- Opor tahu goes well together with boiled eggs, the two were added in step 4. (Boil the eggs before hand).
- To have less time cooking vegetarian Opor, half boiled the potatoes first before adding it to the Opor pot.
- Non-vegetarian Opor, whole chicken cut into 4-8 pieces marinate with lime juice for 15 mnts and it is added in step 2. Lower the heat, and let the chicken gets friendly with the ingredients and then follow the rest of the steps.