Roses are red…

…and so should our Malaysian favourite, ayam masak merah, be – red! Unfortunately, when I tried cooking it that day, it did not turn out the way it should – it  was not really red, not at all…

Well, it all started when Melissa’s colleague invited her over to her quarters for dinner and she cooked this particular dish. Melissa loved it so much and praised it to the skies. Later, she found out that her colleague just used one of those stuff that comes in packets, this particular brand, to be exact…

I quickly grabbed one to try and I added some ingredients of my own – one Bombay onion, finely chopped, two stalks of serai (lemon grass) bruised, a sprig of curry leaves and a spoonful of my missus’ pounded chili.

I fried the Bombay onions in a bit of oil till the fragrance came out and then I threw in the serai, curry leaves and pounded chili…

…before I poured in the ingredients in the packet, diluted in half a cup of water…

…and brought in to boil before I put in the chicken, cut into bite-size chunks…

… after which, I let it simmer until the sauce had gone into the chicken and had thickened and reached the desired consistency.

Then I dished it all out…

…and served.

Yes, it was very nice. I loved the taste very much and I sure would want to use the pre-packed ingredients again. Other than it being really yummy, it was so very easy to cook but unfortunately, it was not really the colour that I had expected. When I asked Melissa again, only then did  she tell me that her colleague had added tomato sauce and hers was very red all right. Sigh!!! Actually, I was so tempted to do just that but I was afraid that it might adversely affect the taste in the end.

Never mind! At least, we enjoyed eating it and for another, there will always be another time – and I’ll make sure I’ll get it right then, you can take my word for it!