Thursday 31 January 2008

Ayam Panggang (Grilled Chicken)

Happy New Year everyone. Today I was so inspired that I decided to document one of my favourite dishes, Ayam Panggang (Grilled Chicken) sometimes also known as Ayam Percik. Percik means Splatter . It is called such because when we grill the chicken we have to splatter the gravy to baste the chicken.

To my new friend (you know who you are ;-)) I have added photos of the ingredients so that you can identify it by sight. To Peanut, whom I promised this recipe, I hope this helps. Enjoy this and comments are most welcomed!



This is fresh Lengkuas or known in English as Galanghal.










These are the ingredients: Clockwise from top is the lemon grass, galanghal, dried shrimp paste (belacan), fresh red chillies, garlic, tomatoes, Onion and ginger.






Clock wise from top: Chicken cleaned and quartered, Mortar and pestle (lesung batu in Malay), (plate on the right) crushed galanghal, tomatoes in eighths and crushed lemon grass,(plate on the left) ginger, chillies, garlic, onion and dried shrimp paste (belacan).





Chillies, onion, garlic, ginger and dried shrimp paste have been blended in my small Phillips hand held foodprocessor. Add the rest of the ingredients plus 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder, 2 teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoon brown sugar and 400 ml coconut milk (I like it extra creamy. You can add 200ml and top up with water). Let simmer for 10 minutes. Add a couple dashes of freshly ground pepper. Some people would add 1/2 a cup of crushed roasted peanuts, but because my son has peanut allergy this is not possible.



Add the chicken. I like to add the giblets too. You can cut the chicken in half, or butterfly the chicken. I didn't because I don't have a big enough saucepan.





When the chicken is partly cooked, remove and continue simmering the gravy until thick as shown. Taste it and adjust seasoning as required.







Preheat the grill or BBQ and baste the gravy and grill.









Turn it once brown, baste with gravy and continue grilling till nice and brown and fully cooked.








Bon Appetit! Nice eaten with rice or still good with bread and salad on the side! My son said it was delicious!