If you drop by a grocery store or a supermarket in town, you will see all kinds of instant pastes for anything under the sun so much so that these days, to be able to cook merely means opening one of these packets and adding the meat or whatever and you’re done! See! Even Phong Hong had no problem cooking her own Sarawak laksa…or daging masak hitam! Kacang aje! LOL!!!
Of course, it would be nicer to cook from scratch but when it comes to cooking dishes like curry, there is so much to be done and it can be such a chore so of course, we were delighted to find one that was really very good – not quite as good as how mama did it but pretty close – and there has been no looking back since.
This is the A1 Mountain Globe brand…
…but be forewarned that so many of them has A1 on their packets too and some did end up buying the wrong brand that was not all that nice. I’ve tried others but this one remains my favourite and the favourite of everybody else who has tried it as well.
Usually, we would use evaporated milk these days as somehow or other, we all felt it had an edge over santan but it just slipped my mind that day and I ended up grabbing hold of a can of coconut milk and taking it home. Ah well! Since I had bought it, I might as well make use of it, I thought.
I fried the finely-chopped Bombay onion…
…in a bit of oil till soft and fragrant before throwing in the serai (lemon grass) and curry leaves from my garden, just a sprig or two to fry in the oil…and after adding the instant paste, I put in the organic chicken drumsticks that I bought and diluted it with some water before putting in the pandan leaf, also from my garden, knotted.
When it started simmering, I added the potatoes…
…peeled and cut into chunks and once the meat and the potatoes were cooked, I added the rest of the curry leaves and the santan and that was it. So easy! I did not add the santan earlier as with all that simmering while waiting for (the meat and) the potatoes to cook, it might keluar minyak, they call it in Malay, and one might get one kind of unpleasant smell that is not something to my liking.
Once ready, I dished everything…
…out and that was it!
Now, don’t say you do not know how to cook curry and all the rest! If you can cut open a packet, you can!
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
It looks very nice!
Yes, it tasted very good too! Lovely curry.
Have been using A1 Mountain Globe Brand curry paste to cook my curry since you blog about it last time. Has been my favourite too. That a nice pot of curry. I like to add dried beancurd (fu chuk) as my family loves it.
I would add those when I cook fish (head) curry – using the seafood paste from this same brand. It is very good too…and of course, I would add some tofu puffs, tomatoes, pineapples, brinjal and ladies’ fingers as well – the way they do it in the restaurants.
Yummy. I am super lazy to cook curry because of the works and ingredients. But now so many ready curry paste sold.
Try this brand in particular. You will never want to go back to the chore of cooking curry from scratch anymore. Other brands, you may still feel it is better to do that – not this one.
i’ve never cooked a curry before, but you sure make it look easy … and fun! and rewarding! 😀
Come, give it a try! Call your friends over! That would be a welcome surprise, I’m sure.
I use these pre-made pastes here all the time. I don’t think I can make a curry from scratch!
I can but my missus does it better, just like my mum’s and after coming across this brand, we never bother anymore. This brand is available in Australia and also online.
I like curry, but lazy to cook it…
You do not have to add this and that like what I did, just use straight from the pack plus water and evaporated milk, so easy and yet so nice. As easy as cooking instant noodles. If you are too lazy to do this, I cannot imagine you cooking anything else.
hee..hee..hee… I heard my name being mentioned 😀 Yes, these pastes make life a whole lot easier and some of them are really good like the ones you gave me.
With lovely pastes like those, it would be silly to go through all that trouble and torture, really…unless you are a die-hard fanatic, a Michelin chef or something. If they are not nice, of course, one would not have a choice. These are really great!
Curry has always been my favourite, yum!
Try this one, So easy and so very nice!