Weight-watchers NOTT!: Ayam penyet

We were introduced to this Indonesian dish by Che Mat and Corlyn on our last visit home to JB last year. We were taken to a stall opposite some hotel. The name "ayam penyet" doesn't really do the dish justice as it implies that the chicken had been run over while crossing the road.

Anyway, I remembered the dish and wanted to try making it. Loked for the recipes on the internet and was bombarded with many different types of variations to the recipe. So I decided to look at the common ingredients and decided to try my own "made up" recipe.

Ingredients
1 chicken quartered (stab the fleshy parts so the marinade can seep in)

2 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp jintan manis
1 tsp jintan putih
4 cloves

1 tsp turmeric powder (serbuk kunyit)

2 to 3 tsp sugar
11/2 tsp sea salt

1 inch ginger
5 cloves of garlic
2 birds chillies
1 red chilly

Note: the above amounts are minimum. You can add a bit more according to personal taste.

Method
Dry roast the spices on a pan until fragrant. Then using the pestle and mortar, grind them until powderyadd the sugar and salt and continue grinding. Next, add the ginger, garlic and chillies and pound until you get a paste-like substance.

Coat the paste all over the chicken and leave to marinade for at least 2 hours - the longer it is left to marinade the better.

Then bring to the boil half to one cup of water. Put the chicken in and cover. Simmer on a low heat setting for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours turning the chicken over every so often to ensure that all the parts of the chicken gets the marinade. Be careful the chicken doesn't break apart as it gets tender after cooking for a while.

Take the chicken out and drain. Then deep fry the chicken until golden brown and some parts are crispy.

We found that the chicken breast was a bit dry so I would suggest dipping the chicken back into the cooked juices of the marinade to let it soak in some of the delicious juices.