Auria’s Malaysian Kitchen – curry spice blend to the rescue

Since Kaia’s birth, although I have still enjoyed cooking, I have also been focused on making things that require less effort and time for obvious reasons. Time is limited when you are not only a new mother but also an exclusive pumper and working full time, so while I want tasty, homemade food, I can’t spend all weekend cooking anymore.

Auria’s Malaysian Kitchen has been quite the God-send during this time. I’ve used her spice blend packets more times than I can remember since Kaia was born, and the latest way I’ve used it is through a method she recently posted on her Instagram reels: instead of using the curry spice blend to make a curry like stew per se, she uses the blend with a little salt and yogurt to coat chicken thighs, then pan fries them on the stove until cooked through. Instead of tending to cooking the meat on the stove, after an overnight marinade with the spices and yogurt, I roasted them in the oven at 425 F for 20 minutes, and then blasted them under the broiler for an additional 4 minutes for some color per her message to me. And it worked out perfectly: the meat was cooked through and still juicy, and it was super flavorful!

I decided to let Kaia have some, too. Even though it does have a little brown sugar, I figured that a little sugar in the overall packet wouldn’t be too much for her. In addition, her portion would be so small. Plus, she’s getting closer to 1 year, so no point in being super insane about avoiding sugar now. I just didn’t add any salt to her chicken thigh. I had her nanny try the chicken beforehand, and while she enjoyed it, she said she thought it might be too spicy for Kaia. At her 5pm feed today, the chicken was the first thing she had… and not only did she accept and eat it, but she didn’t even cry for yogurt or water the way she has done in the past when given really spicy foods! She happily babbled throughout and ate her roasted curried chicken.

“What have you done to your baby?!” the nanny exclaimed, in total shock and awe.

I’m so proud of my little baby, embracing spice and heat.

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