Wash and pat dry the chicken.

Put the shallots, garlic, lime leaves, oil, turmeric and coriander powder, ginger and chopped chillies in bowl and work to a paste with a stab mixer.

Put oil into a pan, fry the paste to release the fragrance, add solid coconut milk and melt with the spices. Add the chicken pieces and stir and sauté till well covered with spice. When the chicken is half cooked, add stock/water and continue to cook till chicken is fully cooked. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

If you’re using tins of coconut milk, remove cream and cook with the spices at the beginning, until the coconut milk ‘curdles’, then add the chicken and the rest of the milk with the stock. Add green chillies and Bird’s Eye chillies just before the end of cooking.

Serve sprinkled with fried shallots (or you can fry onions crisply and add to the dish).

from:The Food of Singapore.