Chicken Rendang Recipe

Rendang Ayam – (serves 4)

Ingredients

4 chicken drumsticks and 4 thighs
4 kaffir lime leaves
1 cup of kerisik (toasted grated coconut), pounded
1 cup thick coconut milk
60g gula melaka or jaggery, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup cooking oil
Salt to taste

Generic Rempah ingredients

5 red chilies, chopped coarsely
10 dried red chilies, soaked in hot water until soft
5 buah keras
15 shallots, peeled and sliced
5 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
thumb length knob of ginger, sliced
thumb length knob of tumeric root, sliced
thumb length knob of galangal, sliced
4 stalks of lemongrass, lower 1/3 whitish portion only, sliced

Method

• ·      Blend or pound all the Generic Rempah ingredients into a coarse paste.

• ·      Add cooking oil to a heated wok over medium low heat and saute the rempah ingredients until fragrant and “pecah minyak“, i.e. when the rempah darkens considerably, starts to glisten as the oil begins to separate from the paste.Scoop up half of the rempah and leave to cool to bag and freeze for future use.

• ·      Add chicken chunks and saute with the remaining half of the rempah until the skin begins to brown slightly and is well coated with rempah.

• ·      Add thick coconut milk, crushed kaffir lime leaves and gula melaka.

• ·      Bring the ingredients to a boil and lower heat to low and allow to simmer uncovered for 30 min. Gently stir the ingredients periodically to make sure that everything is cooked evenly and does not stick to the bottom of the wok.

• ·      Add kerisik and stir well to incorporate into rendang gravy. Taste and adjust with salt accordingly.

• ·      Continue to heat for another 10-20 min until low heat until the chicken is nicely tender and the gravy is thick and reduced.

• ·      Serve with steamed rice and other dishes.