March 19, 2024
FriedChillies
Asian

MERDEKA SPECIAL: Ayam Penyet

Our #MakanMuhibah series continues with a recipe from our awesome Indonesian neighbour. The love for Ayam Penyet has embedded itself into our food culture and now it is part of our local favourite food to eat. It is essentially a piece of smashed crispy fried chicken served with hot sambal, rice and some veggies. Kampung Baru is the place to find really good authentic Ayam Penyet but if you plan to make some at home, then this is the recipe for you.

Crispy chicken & uber spicy sambal

Ayam Penyet

Lisa K. MERDEKA SPECIAL: Ayam Penyet MERDEKA SPECIAL: Ayam Penyet Print This
Serves: 4 Prep Time: Cooking Time:
Nutrition facts: calories fat
Rating: 5.0/5
( 1 voted )

Ingredients

Blended Spices

    1. 5 cloves garlic
    1. 2 inch galangal (20g)
    1. ½ inch fresh turmeric
    1. 7 candlenut
    1. 1 chicken cube
    1. 1 tbsp. coriander seeds, toasted
    1. A little water to get the blade moving

Braising Liquid

    1. 4 thigh joints
    1. 2 lemongrass, crushed
    1. 2 inch galangal (20g), crushed
    1. 1 inch ginger (5g), crushed
    1. 3 bay leaves
    1. 2 kaffir lime leaves
    1. Juice of 1 lime
    1. Water
      ½ tsp. salt

Sambal

    1. 15 – 20 red chilli padi
    1. 5 red chillies
    1. 5 shallots
    1. 3 cloves garlic
    1. 1 tbsp. belacan
    1. 1 tomato
    1. Lime juice
    1. Salt and sugar to taste

Veggies

    1. Long beans, raw or blanched
    1. Cabbage, raw or blanched
    1. Tofu, bite sized
    1. Tempe, bite sized
    1. Cucumber slices

 

Instructions

1. Blend all the ingredients for spices.

2. Put all ingredients for braising liquid in a pot and fill with just enough water to cover the chicken. Pour in blended spices and simmer with a lid on until chicken is cooked through. This should take about 20-30 minutes.

Taste the broth to make sure it is tasty and well seasoned. The flavours will seep into the chicken

3. Fry tofu and tempe pieces until golden brown and drain on paper towels.

After frying, season with a little salt while it is hot to bring out the flavours

4. Remove some of the frying oil, leave only about 1/4 cup in the pan. Sauté all sambal ingredients (except lime juice and seasoning) until tender. This should take about 5 minutes. Add a little more oil if it is too dry. Pound in a mortar & pestle until fine or slightly chunky. Up to your liking.

Don’t discard the oil, add some of it to the sambal to give more uummph!

5. When the chicken is ready, remove from braising liquid and let it steam off for 10 minutes. If you wish, you can strain the braising liquid and serve it as soup.

Letting the chicken steam off before hand allows the moisture to evaporate so it will not spit everywhere while frying

6. Heat up oil and deep fry chicken pieces until crispy and golden brown.

Remember, chicken is already cooked so you only need to brown the outside

7. Penyet (smash) the chicken to break it up slightly.

This is where Ayam Penyet gets it’s name from. Smash!

8. Smother sambal on top of chicken and serve with hot rice, long beans, cabbage, fried tofu, tempe and cabbage.

Ayam Penyet is famous for it’s blow-your-head-off-spicy kind of sambal. If you like spicy food, 15 chilli padi is definitely not enough.

Notes

Best to use ayam kampung (free range chicken) as it yields better flavour. Before frying the pre-boiled chicken, pat dry with a paper towel before frying

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