A truly delicious smelling, of course also tasty, dish from Indian cuisine. Once again a dish that brought me back to the time when I traveled around Indonesia and especially back to Java.
Dish for 4 people.
Ingredients:
8 boneless chicken thighs
2 onions
4 cloves of garlic
2 red (Cayenne) peppers
1 tomato
1 piece of trassi of 1 cm
2 tsp coriander powder
2 cm fresh Laos
3 cm fresh ginger
1 stalk of lemongrass
3 salam leaves (you can replace with bay leaves)
1 tbs dark brown caster sugar
1 tsp five spice mix
3 tbs ketjap manis
2 tbs soy sauce asin
75ml water
Salt and pepper
sunflower oil
Optional lime, which can temper the heat of the dish, so definitely recommended
possibly 1 extra pepper and fresh coriander to garnish
Preparation:
Well in advance (preferably 24 hours)
Cut the chicken thighs into pieces. Do this not too small but in coarse strips.
Mix the ketjap asin, ketjap manis, five spices mix, coriander powder, brown caster sugar and a little salt and pepper.
Place the chicken in here and mix well. Let this marinate, stirring occasionally.
Now you really start cooking.
Cut the onions into quarters, clean the garlic and peppers (I use the seeds, but you can also leave them out if you don’t like spicy). Cut them into pieces. Also do this with the galangal and ginger. Put everything in the food processor and grind it finely into a bumbu.
Cut the tomato into small cubes and finely chop the trassi (I do this in a mortar).
Heat a pan over high heat until it is hot.
Put a dash of sunflower oil in the pan and throw in the bumbu from the food processor. Bake fits just as well.
Then add the tomato and trassi and fry briefly (make sure that the trassi dissolves well and does not remain in large pieces).
Add the chicken and marinade together with 75 ml of water. Stir well and let it come to the boil, this happens quite quickly.
Bruise the lemongrass stem and place it on top of the chicken together with the salam leaves. Stir briefly.
Let this dish cook thoroughly for about 30 minutes. Stir occasionally so that the chicken is cooked on all sides. The sauce now also reduces nicely. If you feel that it is going too fast and the chicken is not ready yet, you can add some extra (boiling) water.
Have a taste. If you find it too hot, you can make it less spicy with the juice of a whole or half a lime.
Chop the extra pepper and rings, remove the coriander leaves from the stems and sprinkle over the chicken for decoration.
Serve with rice and vegetables (beans, atjar tjampoer, or whatever you like).
Enjoy your meal.
