I'm sure you've come across the saying ‘never judge a book by its cover’? If you dismiss this dish by their mere appearance, you might want to remember that saying. As ordinary as it looks, Chicken Tempra is one fantastic Nyonya dish. The marriage of Malay and Chinese culture is evidenced by this dish, with flavours that will put your taste buds on overdrive.

Preparing this dish is quite easy, unlike many great-tasting food. The chicken is braised with a ‘magical sauce’ made with a medley of ingredients such as shallots, chillies and Calamansi lime juice, which can be replaced with tamarind juice if you like. While the ingredients are fairly common, the same cannot be said of their effect on the chicken when braised with it. 

Braising involves searing the meat or browning it in fat before letting it simmer in liquid over low heat. A covered pot such as a crock pot or Dutch oven is often used for this. It’s a simple way to cook less expensive, tough cuts of meat but the resulting meat is far from being simply good. They’re amazingly tender and flavourful in the end, soaking up all the flavours swimming in the liquid it’s braised with, which in this case would be the ‘magic sauce’ I mentioned. Another reason to love this cooking method is that it gives you plenty of free time. Once you’ve placed the meat to simmer over the low heat, it doesn’t require much attention until they’re done. This gives you time to go about cooking other things, catching up on chores, entertaining guests or even taking a break! Once it’s done, you’re not only rewarded with great-tasting meat, you also get delicious broth, sauce or gravy that’s steeped with amazing flavours! Now that’s what I call pot cooking made easy!

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