Chicken Dishes
 
 
Opor Ayam 
(Chicken in Coconut Milk)
Ingredients (Serves 4-6)
1.5kg (3lb) roasting chicken or chicken pieces
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1½ teaspoons finely grated fresh ginger
3 kemiri or brazil nuts, finely grated
3 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon ground fennel
½ teaspoon laos powder (optional)
4 tablespoons oil
2 medium onions, finely sliced
2 cups thin coconut milk
6 curry leaves
1 stem lemon grass or 3 strips thinly peeled lemon rind
5cm (2 inch) piece cinnamon stick
1½ cups thick coconut milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice or tamarind liquid
extra salt to taste
Divide chicken into serving pieces. In a small bowl, combine garlic, salt, pepper, ginger, nuts, coriander, cumin, fennel and laos (if used). Mix to a paste, adding a little of the oil if necessary. Rub paste well into the pieces of chicken and leave for 1 hour.
Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a frying pan and fry the sliced onion slowly until golden brown. Drain from oil and set aside. Add remaining oil to pan and fry the spiced chicken pieces gently, just until they start to colour. Add thin coconut milk, curry leaves, lemon grass (or rind) and cinnamon stick. Stir until it comes to the boil, then cook uncovered for 30 minutes or until chicken is tender. Add thick coconut milk, stir thoroughly and cook for a further 15 minutes. Remove from heat, add lemon juice and season to taste with extra salt. Remove whole spices. Garnish with fried onions and serve the chicken with white rice, vegetables and sambals.
 
 
Ayam Panggang 
(Roast Spiced Chicken)
Ingredients (Serves 4)
1 x 1.5lb (3lb) roasting chicken
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic
½ teaspoon sambal ulek (hot chilli paste)
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
½ teaspoon dried shrimp paste (trasi)
½ cup water or coconut milk
Cut chicken in half lengthways, or split it down the breast and open it out flat. Wash chicken and dry well with paper towels. Put soy sauce, lemon juice, onion and garlic into container of electric blender and blend until smooth. (If blender is not available, grate onion and garlic finely and mix with sauce and lemon juice)
Add sambal ulek, pepper and crushed trasi to the onion mixture and rub all over chicken. Leave for 30 minutes or longer. If blender is used, wash out container with water or coconut milk.
Put the liquid into a large frying pan or wok and cook the chicken, skin side upwards, for 10 minutes over medium heat. Turn and cook for 10 minutes over low heat. Do not cover during cooking, and baste with the marinade and juices in the pan. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 190C (375F) or moderately hot. Put chicken, skin side upwards, on a rack in a roasting pan with 12mm (½ inch) of water in it. Spoon marinade over chicken. Roast for 30 minutes or until skin is crisp and brown. Turn and cook other side 20-25 minutes. Serve hot.
 
 
Ayam Goreng Jawa 
(Javanese Fried Chicken)
Ingredients (Serves 4-6)
1 X 1.5kg (3lb) roasting chicken
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon chopped fresh ginger
3 fresh red chillies or 1 teaspoon sambal ulek
2 kemiri or brazil nuts
¾ cup coconut milk
1 tablespoon desiccated or fresh grated coconut
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon laos powder (optional)
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
1½ teaspoons salt
1 stem lemon grass or 3 strips thinly peeled lemon rind
6 curry leaves
oil for deep frying
Cut chicken into joints - separate drumsticks from thighs, wings from breast, and cut breast in half lengthways. Cut back into three pieces. Chicken pieces can be used for this dish if preferred, wings and breasts being most suitable. If large, cut breasts into quarters and wings into halves.
Put onion, garlic, ginger, chillies and nuts into blender container with half the coconut nut and the desiccated coconut. Cover and blend on high speed for approx. 30 seconds or until smooth. 
Put blended mixture into a saucepan with the chicken pieces. Wash out blender container with remaining coconut milk and add to pan. Add all remaining ingredients, bring slowly to the boil, stirring. Cook, uncovered, until chicken is tender and gravy thick and almost dry.
Lift out chicken pieces and deep fry in hot oil until brown, turning occasionally (a wok or deep frying pan is ideal). 
Serve with white rice or nasi goreng and a sayur or a curry with plenty of gravy.
 
 
Ayam Panggang Pedis 
(Grilled Chicken with Hot Spices)
Ingredients (Serves 6)
1 x 1.5kg (3lb) roasting chicken
2 teaspoons salt
3 teaspoons ground black pepper
3 teaspoons sambal ulek or ground fresh red chilli
2 tablespoons finely grated onion
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
2 teaspoons palm sugar, or substitute
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons peanut oil
Cut the chicken into serving pieces and score the skin and flesh to allow flavours to penetrate. Combine all the other ingredients and rub the chicken well with this marinade, cover and leave for 1 hour, or refrigerate and leave for longer. 
Preheat a grille or prepare a barbecue and have the coals glowing hot.  Cook the chicken at a good distance from the source of the heat so that it is cooked right through before the skin gets too brown. Brush with marinade or extra oil and keep turning chicken pieces. Test by piercing thigh joint with a sharp knife ; the juice that runs out should be clear, not pink.
 
 
Saté Ayam 
(Chicken Grilled on Skewers)
Ingredients (Serves 6)
750g (1½ lb) chicken breast
2 red chillies or ½ teaspoon sambal ulek
2 medium onions, roughly chopped
3 teaspoons finely chopped fresh ginger
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1½ teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons palm sugar, or substitute
½ cup thick coconut milk
Bone chicken and remove skin. Cut into small squares. In container of electric blender, put seeded and roughly chopped chillies, onions, ginger, lemon juice, salt and soy sauce. Blend until smooth, pour into a bowl and stir in oil and sugar. Add chicken and stir until each piece is well coated with the marinade. Cover and marinate for 1 hour, or marinate overnight in a refrigerator. There will be a generous amount of marinade because this is used as a base for the sauce to serve with the satay.
Thread pieces of chicken onto bamboo skewers (which have been soaked for 1-2 hours in cold water) leaving at least half the skewer free at the blunt end. Grill over glowing coals or under a preheated grill, about 5cm (2 inches) from heat source, for 5-8 minutes or until chicken is crisp and brown. Brush with extra oil during grilling, once on each side. 
Pour remaining marinade into a small saucepan, add thick coconut milk and simmer over low heat until smooth and thickened, stirring constantly. Pour into a small bowl and serve with the satay.
 
 
Soto Ayam 
(Spicy Chicken Soup)
Ingredients (Serves 6)
1 x 1.5kg (3lb) chicken
8 cups cold water
3 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon whole black peppercorns
a few celery tops
2 onions
2 tablespoons peanut oil
2 fresh red chillies, seeded and chopped
6 curry leaves
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
1 teaspoon dried shrimp paste (trasi)
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1½ tablespoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cumin
½ teaspoon ground fennel
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
lemon juice to taste
2 small bundles egg noodles
Garnish :
3 hard boiled eggs, chopped
6 cloves garlic, sliced and fried -->
8 spring onions, sliced
fried onion flakes -->
fried dried chillies -->
crumbled potato crisps
sambal ulek
Cut chicken into joints and into large saucepan with cold water (water should be sufficient to cover chicken). Add salt, peppercorns, celery tops and one onion. Bring quickly to the boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 35-40 minutes or until chicken is tender. Cool to lukewarm, then strain stock into a bowl. 
Remove all bones and skin and cut chicken into small pieces. Set aside. Slice remaining onion finely. Heat peanut oil in large saucepan and fry the onion, chillies and curry leaves until onion is soft and turns golden. Add garlic, ginger, trasi and fry, crushing trasi with a spoon. Add the ground spices and fry, stirring, for a few more seconds. Add the strained stock and bring to the boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes. Add lemon juice.
Soak egg noodles in hot water and bring about 5 cups water to the boil in another saucepan. Drain the noodles and drop into the boiling water. Boil for 3 minutes, drain and add to soup, together with chicken. Ladle into soup tureen. Garnish with the chopped eggs, fried garlic, spring onions and fried onion flakes. Serve the dried chillies, potato crisps and sambal in separate bowls to be added to individual servings according to taste. Sambals should be added in very small amounts, no more than a quarter of a teaspoon at first, and only by those who know what to expect and like their soto fiery hot !
Note : To fry garlic, peel cloves and cut into slices of equal thickness. Frry in deep oil over low heat just until garlic turns pale golden. Remove from oil immediately and drain on absorbant paper. Do not let colour darken in oil or the garlic will have a bitter taste. If using dried onion flakes, they should be immersed in the oil for only a few seconds on a wire strainer, the lifted out and drained. Dry chillies too only take a few seconds to fry.
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