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.

 

 

Then using the pestle, "penyetkan" or pound the chicken.
 

 

The leftover juices can be used to cook rice ala chicken-rice shop. Just add some star anise.
Hope you like this recipe.
 

Satay

It's not often that I make satay. We used to buy our satay from the Restaurant Mulia on the corner of Jalan Gurney and Jalan Tun Razak - the satay was good and the kuah kacang was also tasty. This is the first time that I really took the time to prepare the satay the proper way - with full ingredients. 

Ingredients:

Diced into bite sized pieces:

• Beef (tenderise by pounding with a meat tenderising hammer). Cut small portions of the fat to insert between the third and last piece of meat on the skewer)
• Chicken (best to use thighs as breast meat is a bit dry)
• You can also use lamb or beef tripe (perut lembu) if you want

Satay marinade: 

3-4 tbsp coriander seeds (biji ketumbar)

1 tbsp aniseed (jintan manis)

1 tsp white pepper (lada sulah)

salt to taste

lots of sugar (6-8 tbsp) or to taste

1 tbsp turmeric powder (serbuk kunyit)

1 red onion (bawang merah)

3 cloves garlic (bawang putih)

2 tbsp palm sugar (gula melaka)

1 lemongrass (serai)

1 inch galanghal (lengkuas)

1 inch ginger (halia)

2 tbsp vegetable oil

Peanut Sauce (Kuah kacang):

This part was done by Doodlemon. See separate entry under kuah kacang / peanut sauce.

Nasi Impit / Ketupat:

I remember my mum used to make nasi impit (squeezed / pressed rice). You literally had to put the just cooked rice in a pot and cover it with a smaller lid with a heavy mortar on top to squeeze the rice. Nowadays life is made easy by the innovative and entrepreneurial folks. All you have to do is dump the rice packets into boiling water and let it cook.
Ketupat is a totally different story altogether.

Satay Method:

Grind / pound using a pestle and mortar the satay marinade ingredients. Which ones to pound first is your preference but the end result it to combine the all with the vege oil last.

Pour the marinade into the diced pieces of meat/chicken and mix well.Cover and leave in the fridge for about 24 hours to get it well marinated.

Next step: cucuk satay (poke the satay - [put it on the stick])

Some people would advise immersing the satay sticks for a few hours to prevent them from burning. (Take this advise with a pinch of salt - trust me, it will burn if left unattended and the stick exposed to fire).

The poking part - the meat is very cold especially if you just took it out of the fridge and can numb your fingers and hand. So having your other half to help is very useful.

Once all the satay has been poked or to use a proper term, skewered, prepare your bbq pit. Place the satay sticks so that the fire does not burn the sticks.

Dab the satay occasionally with vegetable oil. Use a stick of lemongrass (pound it a bit so that the fragrance infuses into the oil). Be careful as the oil tends to make the coals flare and overburn the satay.

Once cooked, serve with peanut sauce, nasi impit / ketupat, cucumbers and onions.



nasi ayam

pagi tadi buka fb, tengok my niece tagged me a photo of  marinated chicken for nasi ayam;  terus teringat dah lama tak masak nasi ayam for dinner. so i took out the chicken from the freezer, defrost and marinate. that was at around noon.

as usual, i dont like to spend too much time in the kitchen so my dishes are fairly easy and quick to make.

the chicken - i learned how to make "ayam jeruk" from my other half.  the chicken has to be marinated in advance; preferably overnite hence the term "ayam jeruk".  i marinate with lots of kicap manis (we use kicap kipas udang), lots of sugar, grated ginger and garlic.  deep fry the chicken pieces  but if you are health concious, then grill or bake. i'm not bothered..save the soy sauce for later

the soup - kalau rajin, rebus the bony parts of the chicken to make chicken stock which you can use to boil the rice as well.  hari ni hari malas. so i just fried some garlic, pour some water, add chopped carrots, brocolli, mushrooms, bit of black pepper and 1 chicken stock cube. boleh add spring onion or celery; i didnt have any so i skipped that. 

the chilli sauce - normally kamar would make the sauce but today i just made an easy one - mix a teaspoon of sambal belacan (we keep a bottle of sambal in the fridge) with sweet chilly sauce, add some sugar and vinegar. stir to dissolve the sugar..

the kicap sauce - heat a tablespoon of oil used to fry the chicken, fry chopped garlic and add in the sauce, let it simmer for a bit.

the salad - just use whatever you have in the fridge. i used green salad, cucumber, capsicum, tomatoes. for the dressing, dissolve sugar & salt in  vinegar, add a bit of ground black pepper.  

 the rice - heat 2 tbsp margarine/soft butter in rice cooker pot on the stove. fry  1/2 thinly sliced onion, rempah kasar - cardamom, star anise, cinnamon, add in the washed/cleaned rice, pour water and add in 1 cube chicken stock. then put the pot back into the rice cooker and leave to cook.

Roast Chicken

Over the years my roast chicken recipe has basically been more or less consistent. Small variations crop up depending on mood and taste.

Ingredients
For the seasoning:
a handful of mixed peppers (roughly two tbsp)
coarse sea salt about 1 heaped tsp
about 1-2 tsp mixed herbs / thyme
1 tsp rosemary
(if you have fresh herbs, it would taste better)
juice of 1 small - medium lemon
2 -3 tbsp olive oil


for the Baked Potatoes - peel, halve and boil the potatoes for about 10 minutes. Drain and shake the potatoes around in the pot to add fluff to it. Mix the potatoes in the seasoning juices of the chicken and just add to the baking tray. Crispy on outside, soft on the inside.
For the gravy:

mushrooms - cut / diced / halved / quartered (as you like it)

1/2 tin condensed mushroom soup

Method:

Pound the dry ingredients for the seasoning in a mortar (Note to EFS - lesung). Mix in the oil and lemon juice.

Preheat the oven to about 230 deg C. Place one medium to large sized chicken in a baking tray (backbone up) and smother with the seasoning. Add tomatoes if you like. Place in oven for about 20 min and then reduce to 170-180 dec C. Turn the chicken over and cook for a further 1 1/2 hours. You can (but don't really have to) baste the chicken to keep the skin moist.

For the last 10 minutes increase the heat to about 220 deg C to brown the skin. This cooking method will let the chicken cook and be tender and moist inside. The bone will separate without too much effort.

After cooking, place the chicken in a dish and let rest.

Now the gravy - place the baking tray over the hob on a slow fire, saute the mushrooms (not too long) and add the mushroom soup. Add a bit of water and mix.

Serve, eat while hot and enjoy.

Also see other accompaniments: Baked Honey Carrots http://weightwatchersnott.blogspot.com/2011/04/baked-honey-carrots.html.