One Pan Chicken in Spicy Tomato Sauce (Ayam Masak Merah)

A classic Malay dish, chicken is seared & braised in a thick spicy, sweet sourish sauce made of a flavorful spice paste & tomato sauce. All in one pan!

What is in a name? Have you thought about your name lately?

Mr. V hates his name. His first name is ALWAYS spelled incorrectly by others. If said incorrectly, he could very well be called stupid in Japanese. His last name is difficult to pronounce. His name in Chinese sounds like a girl’s name.

The poor guy. He totally has the right to hate his name.

I, on the other hand, LOVE my name. Ai means ‘love’ and Ping means ‘peace’ in Chinese. Ok, in all honesty, I didn’t used to love my name but now I do. My biggest pet peeve however is that people call me Ai.

Of course this only happens here in the US. No one does that back home because they understand that most Chinese first names have two parts. Case in point = Ai Ping. Or my sisters’ names Ai Yuen or Ai Vy. Imagine people calling all three of us Ai.

*shakes head

I’m talking about names because this dish has a tricky name too. In Malay, we call it “Ayam Masak Merah”. It literally means chicken cook red or with better ‘grammar’, chicken cooked in red. However, I can’t very well call it that. It’s just weird.

So, I’m calling it whatever I want to call it which is One Pan Chicken in Spicy Tomato Sauce. There.

A traditional Malay style dish, chicken is first deep fried (par cooked) or seared (in my case) and then slowly braised in a thick spicy, sweet sourish sauce made of a flavorful spice paste and tomato sauce.

Ayam Masak Merah and I, we go way back. Nasi Lemak (a local Malaysian dish) stalls in Kuala Lumpur are like Taco trucks in L.A. They’re everywhere. In my past, when I stopped by a nasi lemak stall, I’d look out for two things. Cute guys and whether the nasi lemak stall has ayam masak merah.

Now that I’m married to one, I suppose it’s only morally right for me to look for out the latter. 🙂

Love chicken in spicy sauce? Then you’re going to love this Dry Curry Chicken. Melting soft chicken braised in creamy, thick gravy of aromatic spices, tomatoes, onions & coconut. Slightly spicy, so flavorful & addictive.

Also, if you haven’t already, check out my last post Thai Fried Chicken. Uber crispy outside, moist & tender inside marinated Thai fried Chicken with a sweet & spicy chili sauce.

If you like what you see, don’t forget to subscribe and follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest or Twitter to get the latest post updates. See you there!

One Pan Chicken in Spicy Tomato Sauce (Ayam Masak Merah)

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

70 mins

Total time

1 hour 20 mins

 

Author: AiPing | Curious Nut

Recipe type: Entree

Cuisine: Malaysian

Serves: 5

Ingredients

• 5-7 bone in skin on chicken thighs (2 - 2⅓ lb)
• 
  
• Spice paste
• 15 shallots (short variety), peeled
• 1″ ginger, peeled and roughly sliced
• 1″ galangal (blue ginger root), use knife to slice skin off and roughly chop
• 5 garlic cloves, peeled
• 8 dried cayenne chilies, deseeded and soaked in hot water for 10 minutes
• 2 stalks lemongrass, white parts only, thinly sliced
• ½ tsp ground turmeric
• ¼ cup oil
• 
  
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 star anise
• 3 whole cloves
• 2 cardamoms
• 2 lemongrass green parts from spice paste (cut into 3" length)
• 
  
• 1 large onion, finely sliced
• 1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
• ½ cup water
• 1½ - 2 tbs brown sugar
• 1½ tsp salt or to taste

Directions

1. Place all the ingredients for the spice paste in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. I mix in the turmeric to the paste when frying so that I don't stain my blender.
2. Heat a wide pan over medium high heat. Add ½ tsp oil. When the pan is hot, add the chicken skin side down and sear for 3-4 minutes each side. Set aside.
3. In the same pan, over medium high heat, fry the onion until soft. Set aside.
4. In the same pan, over medium heat, add the spice paste (and turmeric powder) and fry for 5 minutes. Add water one tablespoon at a time if it seems dry (don't let it burn). Add the whole spices and continue to fry for another 5 minutes (again adding water if necessary).
5. Turn the heat to medium high and add the tomato sauce. Stir to combine. Add the chicken and onion and stir so the sauce coats the chicken. The chicken will start to absorb the sauce. Add the water and bring the liquid to a boil. Once boiled, stir in the sugar and salt. Turn the heat to low and simmer covered for 20 minutes. (If you want the chicken to be super soft (and if you have time), simmer covered for 1 - ½ hours).
6. Uncover, turn the heat to medium low and simmer for another 20 minutes or until sauce has reduced and thicken to your desired consistency. Stir occasionally. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Serve with steamed rice.

Notes

1. If you like the sliced onions to have some crunch, add them later.

2. I buy my spices from Mountain Rose Herbs because I can easily buy most of them under one roof - cayenne chilies, cinnamon sticks, star anise, cloves, & cardamom pods.

3. Cayenne chilies are spicy . If you use a milder type of dry chili, you'll have to double or maybe even triple the amount in this recipe. To give you an idea, cayenne's spiciness scale is 30k - 50k while Jalapeno or Fresno is only 3k - 10k. Serrano or Holland chilies are about 10k - 20k while Thai bird's eye chilies are 100k.

4. Shallots (short variety) and galangal (blue ginger root) can be found in Thai or Chinese markets.

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