Malay Spicy Tomato Chicken (Ayam Masak Merah)

Ingredients

• 5-7 pieces of chicken thigh (leave the bone in and skin on)
• 1 onion (finely sliced)
• 1 can tomato sauce
• ½ cup water
• 1½-2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 star anise
• 3 cloves
• 2 cardamoms
• 2 lemongrass stalks (green parts; cut into 6cm pieces)
• Salt (to taste)
• ¼ cup oil
• ½ tsp ground turmeric
• 2.5cm ginger knob (peeled and roughly sliced)
• 2.5m galangal (peeled and roughly sliced)
• 5 garlic cloves (peeled)
• 8 dried cayenne chillies (remove seeds and soak in hot water)
• 2 lemongrass stalks (white parts; thinly sliced)
• 15 shallots (peeled)