Ayam Bali

This is a really easy recipe that is really tasty. I usually use chicken in the bone, but I find them really hard to find at the moment. Even at the markets where they have a chicken shop, the only thing you can usually buy on the bone is drumsticks. I used to buy chicken thigh cutlets all the time, but can never find them now :(

So this time I just used thigh fillets cut up, which is still good, but doesn't beat meat on the bone. I know I should probably use a whole chicken and cut it up, but I am always scared that I will make a big mess of everything.

All you need to do is blend some of the ingredients to make a paste, fry that off and then add your meat of choice and other ingredients and leave it to simmer. I will serve this with some stir fried Asian greens as well, which goes really well with it.

I made a bit of a mistake while making it. I put 2 tablespoons of sambal in it rather than 2 teaspoons, so i thought it was going to be really spicy, but it wasn't bad at all. So if you like your food a bit spicier I would increase the amount of sambal you use.

Ingredients for paste

Blend them all together - I have a mini bowl in my food processor which works very well for this.


All blended!

Stir fry to cook out all the spices

Add chicken and other ingredients

Ready to eat!

Ayam Bali
Balinese Fried Chicken

Ingredients:
4 Chicken portions (or 500gm thigh fillets)
1 Onion
2 Garlic cloves
4 Kemiri nuts (candlenuts)
2½ cm fresh Ginger
250 ml Coconut milk (ayam brand is the best)
1 tbs Kecap Manis
2 tsp Sambal Ulek (add more if you like spice)
1 tsp soft brown sugar

Preparation:
1. Puree the Onions, Garlic, Ginger, Kemiri and Sambal Ulek in a blender or pestle.

2. Heat some oil in a large, deep frying pan and brown the chicken on all sides for about 10 mins. Remove chicken and set aside.

3. Stir-fry the puree for 5 min. in the same frying pan. Add remaining ingredients and bring to boil.

4. Add the chicken and simmer for 30 min. until tender. Season to taste. Serve hot.