Woke up with a sore throat this morning. Not good… not good at all. Too much to do and no time to get sick. Chili peppers seem to relieve the pain of a sore throat for me, so a spicy dish was in order.

This is one of the few boemboe’s (Bumbu)—a wet Indonesian herb and spice pasta—you can often find in my pantry. The commercial version, that is. It wasn’t until my regular grocery store had run out of the brand I normally use that it dawned on me I can easily make it myself too.

So I did, the quick way: in my food processor. This turned out so delicious and was so simple to make that I doubt I’ll buy the commercial spice mix again anytime soon.

Ingredients:

2 boneless chicken breasts
2 shallots
2 or 3 chili peppers
thumb-size piece ginger
2 lemon grass stalks
2 garlic cloves
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp tomato paste
1/2 tsp sweet paprika powder
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp peanut oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tbsp soy sauce (reduced sodium)
2 tsp brown sugar
1/2 can coconut milk (200ml)

Directions:

Let’s do this.

Scrape the ginger with a spoon and grate it along with the garlic. Add the coarsely chopped shallots.

In with the cumin, ground coriander, paprika, turmeric, salt and tomato paste.

Deseed and coarsely cut up the peppers. Add them.

The lemon grass: remove the outer layer and coarsely cut up the white part. Add it, along with the peanut oil and the lemon juice.

Blitz until you have a really fine consistency.

I always taste it before I add the soy sauce and sugar, and then I blitz one last time.

Cube the chicken and season it just a bit.

Heat 1 tbsp peanut oil in a stir-fry pan (non-stick) and quickly brown the chicken over high heat. Just a tan, not all the way.

Pour in the boemboe, stir well en give it another 3 to 4 minutes over high heat.

 
The boemboe needs to be cooked as well to release as much of the flavors as possible. You can also start by stir-frying the boemboe and then add the chicken, but I prefer it this way.
 

Make sure you stay with it and continue to stir.

The boemboe will cook down and the color will deepen.

That’s your cue to pour in the coconut milk.

Simmer it over low heat for 10 to 15 minutes.

Until the chicken is done and the sauce has cooked down a bit. Season to taste.

There you go… easy, quick and totally irresistible.