THERMAL COOKER - AYAM SIOH

Ayam Sioh or Sioh Chicken is a Nyonya dish.  It is a home-cooked favourite in most Nyonya households with minimal ingredients easily found in the kitchen.

The combination of coriander powder, tamarind and taucheong [preserved bean paste] with  seasoning of sugar and salt give this dish its' sweet, savoury and sourish tasty that is very appetising.

Here, I used the Thermal Cooker to cook this dish which is so much easier and hassle-free.  There is no necessity to watch over the stove until the chicken is tender and gravy has thickened.  Just fry the ingredients until fragrant, add in the necessary liquid, bring to boil and leave the remaining cooking process in the Thermal Cooker.   This preparation takes about 15-20 minutes only and in 2 hours the dish is ready to be served.  

I did this in the morning before leaving home and by dinner time, the tasty chicken is ready and still warm in the cooker.  I cooked half portion of this recipe but it is worthy to cook the whole portion if you have a big family of 6 cos' it is good.
The recipe is adapted from Nyonya Flavours [my selected cookbook for Cookbook Countdown Event - February 2016]. 

Ingredients [slightly modified]
1.5 kg chicken whole legs [I used drumsticks]
15 shallots - pounded and extract the juice and keep the juice
2 heaped tbsp preserved bean paste [taucheong]
50 gm coriander powder
100 gm tamarind pulp dissolve in 250 ml water - discard the pulp
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
3 tbsp sugar to taste
1 tsp salt to taste
2 tbsp cooking oil
extra water

1. Heat up thermal cooker pot, add in oil, shallot pulp, saute until aromatic and brown. 
2. Add in bean paste and chicken, stir to mix ingredients well, then add in coriander powder and dark soy sauce.
3. Give it a good stir and pour in shallot juice, tamarind juice and some water.  Add in seasoning, bring to boil, then simmer for about 6-10 minutes.
4. Off heat, cover the pot, transfer to the outer pot and close the lid.  
5. Leave the chicken to cook for a further 2 hours.
6. Serve with rice.
   

Note - If using normal wok, add enough water to cover chicken, bring to boil and simmer until it is cooked and gravy is thick.

I'm submitting this post to Cookbook Countdown 2 hosted by Kitchen Flavours and Emily's Cooking [Makan2] Foray