Poh's Chicken Rendang with Coconut Pancakes (MasterChef)

When the first Australian Masterchef season was on at 2009, a few people that I came across said that I look like Poh Ling Yeow who is Australian Masterchef season one runner-up...

Me = Poh? I often gave a confused look as a reply to these compliments. And very often, I was always double confirmed with this... " You really look like Poh when you smile." Being both Asians, Poh and I do have "disappearing" eyes when we display our super-wide smiles on our faces and I reckon this actually make most people having the impression that we look kind of similar... In fact, Poh is actually a pretty girl who has a cheerful personality and so why would I mind looking like her... LOL!

Poh was born in Malaysia and had her first nine years living in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Her family and her then migrated to South Australia and now, after gaining her fame at the Australian Masterchef, she is hosting her cook show called Poh's Kitchen at ABC channel.

I'm thinking... If I look like Poh, maybe I can cook like her... LOL! So, here I am cooking this Poh’s Aussie-Asian fusion style of Chicken Rendang, served with coconut pancakes.

Poh cooked this dish when she was competing in MasterChef show and the recipe comes from the book, Masterchef Australia The Cookbook (volume one). In term of its taste, colour and texture, I wouldn't say that this is an authentic Rendang recipe and prefer to refer it as a fusion kind. It is quite fragrant for its taste but just ok for us in general. Based on the amount of coconut milk and coconut used in this chicken dish, I reckon this chicken dish can be quite filling to eat and this recipe can serve up to 6 instead of 4. 

Interestingly, it was a different story for the pancakes... As stated in the recipe, this amount can make up to 12 lace-like pancakes but I can only make 8 simple ones in total and the amount that I made were simply not enough to wrap and eat this full amount of chicken. I blamed myself for not being skillful enough to make the lace-like pancakes because they all broke when they were flipped... I don't think I'm quite "Poh" yet. LOL! In regardless of what shapes, sizes and patterns, these coconut pancakes were delicious and these 8 pancakes that I have cooked is just enough to serve the three of us. Now, you can see why we didn't eat much of the chicken rendang.. simply because we ate too much of these coconut pancakes. Ops!

Poh's Chicken Rendang with Coconut Pancakes

Processing the onion paste

Cooking different components of this dish

More chicken rendang cooking

Cooking the coconut pancakes

enjoy!

Here is the recipe from the book, Masterchef Australia The Cookbook (volume one)
(with my modification and notes in blue)

Chicken Rendang - Serve 4

500g chicken breasts
3/4 cup (70 g) desiccated coconut
1 tsp chilli powder
2 tbsp ground coriander
1 tbsp ground fennel
1 tbsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
5 eschalots, or 1 large red onion roughly chopped (I used red onion)
5 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
2 cm piece ginger, finely sliced
2 cm piece galangal
2 stalks lemongrass, finely chopped
1 tbsp vegetable oil
400ml can coconut milk 
(I use the one with regular amount of fat but less in the saturated ones)
1 tbsp sugar
freshly sliced cucumber and lime wedges, to garnish

Pancakes ~ makes 12 
(This amount can make 8 simple pancakes which is only enough to serve 2-3)
3/4 cup (105 g) plain flour, sifted
1 tsp salt
3 eggs
3/4 cup (180ml) coconut milk
(I use the one with regular amount of fat but less in the saturated ones)
oil, to grease frying pan

Steam or poach chicken breasts. Cool and then shred finely, so the flash is almost flossy in appearance. (I used chicken breasts from a store-bought roast chicken.)

Dry fry coconut in a frying pan until golden. Set aside. Dry fry spices until toasted and fragrant. Set aside

Place eshalots, garlic, ginger, galangal and lemongrass in a blender and process to form a fine paste. Heat oil in a frying pan and cook paste over medium heat until fragrant and caramelised.

Add chicken, dry spice mixture, coconut milk and sugar to eschalot (onion) mixture. Cook until sauce has reduced slightly. Add toasted coconut. This will absorb most of the sauce. Keep cooking till mixture is quite dry and forms a golden crust on the underside, and keep tossing until all the chicken has a crispy, golden appearance.

To make the pancakes, whisk flour, salt and eggs in a large jug until completely smooth. Add coconut milk to make the batter the consistency of pouring cream. Pass mixture through a sieve to give a very smooth texture.

Heat a lightly oiled non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Make sure the pan is sufficiently hot before attempting a pancake. Pour batter into the empty milk carton, and in a tight zig zag motion pour a thin stream from one side of the pan to the other.

Repeat the action at the right angles to form a crosshatch pattern. To complete, move in concentric circles around the outer edge of the crosshatching to knit the lattice together and make the pancake stable enough to pick up.

Using a butter knife, flick up an edge and gently pick the pancake up with your fingers. Flip onto the other side and cook for 2 sec.

Place the pancake on a plate. Repeat with remaining pancake batter to make 12 pancakes.

I tried cooking these lace-like pancakes but failed because they all broke up into pieces when I flipped them and so I made my pancakes into simple round ones instead.

Serve the pancakes hot or at room temperature with the Chicken Rendang, freshly sliced cucumber and a wedge of lime.

Happy Cooking

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