Ajam Betawi (Chicken from Batavia)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy braadpan or Dutch oven, 28cm wide
• •Mortar and pestle or blender
• •Wooden spoon

Instructions

1. 1

   Salt the chicken

   Rub the chicken pieces with the teaspoon of salt and set them aside while you make the bumbu, the spice paste. This short rest seasons the meat before the sauce begins, and bone-in chicken will reward you with better flavour than neat little cubes ever could.

2. 2

   Make the bumbu

   Pound or blend the shallots, garlic, chillies, candlenuts, coriander, turmeric, cumin, white pepper, ginger, and galangal into a thick paste. If using a blender, add a spoonful of the coconut milk only if the blades refuse to move. The paste should be heavy and fragrant, not watery.

   Candlenuts must be cooked before eating. They thicken the sauce beautifully, but they belong in the hot pan and the simmering pot, never raw on the spoon.
3. 3

   Fry the paste

   Warm the oil in a wide heavy pan over medium heat. Add the bumbu, lemongrass, salam leaves, and lime leaves, and fry for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring often, until the paste darkens slightly, the oil begins to separate at the edges, and the raw onion smell has gone. Do not hurry this. A sauce built on half-cooked paste tastes loud in all the wrong places.

4. 4

   Coat the chicken

   Add the chicken pieces to the pan and turn them through the fried paste until every surface is stained yellow and red. Let them sit against the heat for a few minutes, turning once, so the spice clings to the meat before the liquid goes in.

5. 5

   Braise gently

   Stir in the palm sugar, tamarind water, coconut milk, and stock. Bring the pan just to a gentle bubble, then lower the heat and cook uncovered for 45 to 55 minutes, turning the chicken now and then. The sauce should reduce from thin and pale to glossy and spoon-coating, with little beads of oil on the surface. If it thickens before the chicken is tender, add a splash of water.

6. 6

   Balance the sauce

   Stir in the kecap manis and lime juice. Taste carefully: you want salt, sweetness, sourness, and heat in conversation, not in competition. Add a pinch of salt, a little more lime, or a thread of palm sugar as needed. Remove the lemongrass and whole leaves if they bother you at the table, though in many homes they simply stay where they are.

7. 7

   Serve with rice

   Spoon the chicken and its thick sauce over steamed white rice and scatter fried shallots on top. Serve cucumber, sambal, and acar alongside. I prefer to keep it a bit more relaxed, in the Dutch way: the pan on the table, the rice in a bowl, and everyone building the plate they came for.

Chef Tips

• •Use bone-in dark meat. Chicken breast dries out before the sauce has reduced properly, while thighs and drumsticks stay tender and give the coconut sauce something to hold onto.
• •If you cannot find salam leaves, use bay leaves without apology, but know the difference: salam is softer and faintly earthy, while bay is sharper. Substitute the ingredient, never the standard.
• •A toko, the Dutch-Indonesian grocer, is the right place for candlenuts, kecap manis, galangal, sambal, and acar. The aisle itself is a small history lesson.
• •Make it the day before a dinner party. The coconut sauce settles overnight and the spices become rounder, which is why rijsttafel dishes so often taste better after a little patience.
• •Serve with a dry Riesling, a cold pilsner, or strong black tea. Sweet sauces and chilli need freshness beside them, not a heavy red wine trying to win an argument.

Advance Preparation

• •The bumbu can be made up to two days ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator, or frozen for one month.
• •The finished dish keeps three days refrigerated and reheats gently over low heat; loosen the sauce with a splash of water or coconut milk.
• •For a dinner party, cook the chicken fully the day before, then reheat slowly and add the final lime juice just before serving.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 620g)