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!

Un-inspired

What can I say? The title says it all. It is not because insufficient materials. I have loads, but I am just uninspired or rather more accurate unmotivated to write. It is not a good thing, as it shows my total lack of discipline and at this moment, it's something I can't afford to dwell on.

I hate sounding so pathetic but that is how I am feeling now. I have no wish to wallow in it but it is difficult to pull yourself out of muck.

It's school holidays and whatever rigid schedule there was during the school year has been blown apart!

Whatever it is, it is not easy to write in here. I want to be truthful and honest about myself but is this the right medium? No one can understand even not myself... if you get my meaning. Will you think of me differently...

Not that it matters...

The Lake House.

I love chick flicks. Really love them. Recently we managed to buy a coffee table cum TV table and hooked up the TV borrowed from my friend (Thanks Chique!) to a DVD player. The TV has actually been sitting on the floor for the past five months! We bought a new remote control and also a whatchamacalit cable that makes the visual much-much clearer.

After that my husband went on a DVD/VCD shopping spree. Of course no chick flicks...

So the first chance I get to go to the DVD shop I managed to buy 2 DVDs. 1 is 'The Good Year' (hubby paid for this one) and the other was 'The Lake House' (I paid for this one, it was on sale).

Two nights ago, I gave husband a choice to choose which movie he wanted to watch first and his answer was 'The Good Year' starring Russel Crowe. The reason why he chose that one was because he doesn't want to replace the image of NEO from Matrix with some soppy tear eyed chick flick hero. Hey! I love Russel Crowe, but he just doesn't cut it as a romance hero, especially when the story is told only with his perspective. We'll get into the details in another post.

Yesterday, while he was in JB (husband that is...not Russell!) I watched 'The Lake House'. I was blown away, can't help myself and watched it again this morning! In the Lake house, Keanu Reeves is no longer 'the pretty faced boy'. You can see the wrinkles et al and to me that gives more character to his 'deadpan' delivery. I actually like his 'deadpanness'. It creates a mysterious air about him, inscrutable. Yet in this movie he, as Alex Wyler, shows how much he actually understand his father more than his brother and helps make his brother understand their father better.

I also like Sandra Bullock as Dr Kate Forster. I prefer her better in this movie than all the comedy acting she has done before. I think she acts better when she takes it slow and easy. I think both Keanu and Sandra have good chemistry and it shows.

The plot has its twists, not unexpected but delivery was so well done that it came as a delight. First time watching you do get a little confused with the story and time line but when I watched it again it was not as confusing.

To me, one of the better chick flicks... no full nudity or sex scene required for a good movie and The Lake House proved this!

UPDATE: The Lake House will be screened by HBO (Channel 411) on the 7th October 9 pm. Other screening dates are on the 8,9,11,12,13 and 14th October, time varies,

Can't believe it...

I have been published! Actually this is not the first time I have been published. I wrote to the Sun once and I also did a book review for Flavours...but this is the first time a full length article.

September/October Issue

The Scoop on Rendang


Me sans makeup: au naturale

I would like to thank Julie Wong, Flavours Editor, for making me sound so good and to Yap Chee Hong for making me look good (better than realitylah!). I would also like to thank all my sisters and makciks who helped me with the information (K. Sal,you are a gem!)

There is a writeup on rendang and 10 recipes including 3 serundings. Feel free to try out and send me comments!