Chef Joost
Ajam Besengek
Ajam Besengek is the golden chicken stew of the Indo-Dutch table: coconut milk, turmeric, and candlenut cooked down until the sauce clings to the meat like memory.
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Ajam Paniki
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Ajam Paniki is an Indische recipe card with a Manado heart: chicken standing in for paniki, fruit bat, then simmered in coconut milk, ginger, lemongrass, and chilli until the sauce turns gold.
Main Dishes
Dutch
Weeknight
Comfort Food
Dinner Party
25 min
Active Time
55 min cook•1 hr 20 min total
Yield4 to 6 servings
The first time I saw Ajam Paniki, it was not in Manado. It was on an old Dutch recipe card, typed slightly crooked, with oil marks at the corner and that little spelling fossil in the title: ajam, with a j. In modern Indonesian it is ayam, chicken, but the Netherlands kept the older spelling in cupboards and community cookbooks, folded between rijsttafel menus and recipes carried across the sea after empire had made its bill and left ordinary families to cook the consequences.
The second word is the secret. Paniki, in North Sulawesi, names fruit bat, a traditional Minahasan meat cooked with coconut, chilli, ginger, turmeric, and lemongrass. Dutch home kitchens did what home kitchens always do when the real ingredient is absent, inconvenient, or unlikely to survive a Tuesday supper table: they kept the method, changed the meat, and did not throw away the name. History and cookery, they cannot be separated, even when the chicken is doing diplomatic work.
But let me tell you a secret: the honest thing here is not to make the dish timid because it has reached a Dutch table. Manado cooking is bright, hot, and aromatic. You may soften the chillies if your table asks for mercy, but the ginger, lemongrass, turmeric, and coconut must still speak clearly. The work is simple. Fry the bumbu, the spice paste, until its raw sharpness is gone, then simmer the chicken gently in coconut milk until the sauce beads with oil at the edge and clings to the spoon. Hou het altijd simpel, always keep it simple, but do not skip the frying of the paste. That is where the dish becomes itself.
Ajam Paniki belongs to the Minahasan cooking of Manado in North Sulawesi, where paniki refers to fruit bat, a traditional meat in the region; chicken versions use the same coconut, chilli, ginger, turmeric, and lemongrass profile while replacing the animal. In the Netherlands the dish entered the Indische keuken, the Indo-Dutch home table shaped by the former Dutch East Indies and by the post-1949 migration of roughly 300,000 people from Indonesia to the Netherlands. The spelling ajam preserves older Indonesian orthography used in colonial-era Dutch cookbooks before the 1972 Indonesian spelling reform made ayam standard.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
bone-in chicken thighs and drumsticks
Quantity
1.2kg
skin removed
lime
Quantity
1
juiced
fine sea salt
Quantity
1 1/2 teaspoons
divided
shallots
Quantity
6
roughly chopped
garlic cloves
Quantity
4
roughly chopped
large red chillies
Quantity
3
roughly chopped, seeds removed if you want gentler heat
bird's eye chillies (optional)
Quantity
1 to 2
candlenuts (kemiri), or unsalted macadamias
Quantity
4 candlenuts or 2 tablespoons macadamias
toasted
fresh ginger
Quantity
3cm piece
peeled and sliced
fresh turmeric, or ground turmeric
Quantity
3cm piece or 1 teaspoon
peeled and sliced if fresh
neutral oil
Quantity
3 tablespoons
lemongrass stalks
Quantity
2
bruised
makrut lime leaves
Quantity
4
torn
full-fat coconut milk
Quantity
400ml
water
Quantity
150ml
palm sugar or light brown sugar
Quantity
1 teaspoon
lime juice
Quantity
1 tablespoon
extra if needed
lemon basil (kemangi) or Thai basil (optional)
Quantity
small handful
cooked white rice
Quantity
to serve
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| bone-in chicken thighs and drumsticksskin removed | 1.2kg |
| limejuiced | 1 |
| fine sea saltdivided | 1 1/2 teaspoons |
| shallotsroughly chopped | 6 |
| garlic clovesroughly chopped | 4 |
| large red chilliesroughly chopped, seeds removed if you want gentler heat | 3 |
| bird's eye chillies (optional) | 1 to 2 |
| candlenuts (kemiri), or unsalted macadamiastoasted | 4 candlenuts or 2 tablespoons macadamias |
| fresh gingerpeeled and sliced | 3cm piece |
| fresh turmeric, or ground turmericpeeled and sliced if fresh | 3cm piece or 1 teaspoon |
| neutral oil | 3 tablespoons |
| lemongrass stalksbruised | 2 |
| makrut lime leavestorn | 4 |
| full-fat coconut milk | 400ml |
| water | 150ml |
| palm sugar or light brown sugar | 1 teaspoon |
| lime juiceextra if needed | 1 tablespoon |
| lemon basil (kemangi) or Thai basil (optional) | small handful |
| cooked white rice | to serve |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy braadpan or Dutch oven, 28cm
- •Blender or mortar and pestle
- •Tongs
Instructions
- 1
Season the chicken
Put the chicken pieces in a bowl with the juice of one lime and 1 teaspoon of the salt. Turn them with your hands and leave them for 15 minutes while you make the paste. The lime is not there to perfume the chicken politely; it wakes the meat up before the coconut arrives.
- 2
Make the bumbu
Blend the shallots, garlic, red chillies, bird's eye chillies if using, candlenuts, ginger, and turmeric into a rough paste. Add a spoonful of water only if the blender refuses to move. A bumbu, the Indonesian spice paste, should have body, not swim around like soup.
Candlenuts must be cooked, so do not taste the raw paste. If you cannot find them, macadamias give the same roundness and help thicken the sauce honestly. - 3
Fry the paste
Heat the oil in a heavy braadpan, a lidded Dutch casserole, over medium heat. Add the bumbu and fry for 7 to 9 minutes, stirring often, until it darkens slightly, smells cooked rather than raw, and the oil begins to show at the edges. This is the step people hurry, for obvious reasons, and it is also the step that decides whether the sauce tastes deep or merely busy.
- 4
Braise gently
Add the chicken and turn every piece through the fried paste. Add the lemongrass, makrut lime leaves, coconut milk, water, palm sugar, and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. Bring it just to a simmer, then lower the heat, cover partly, and cook for 35 to 40 minutes, turning the pieces once or twice. The coconut milk should move lazily at the edge of the pan, not boil hard. The chicken is done when it pulls easily at the bone and reads 74C at the thickest part if you check with a thermometer.
- 5
Reduce and rest
Uncover the pan and simmer for another 10 to 15 minutes until the sauce thickens to a golden coating and clings to the spoon. Taste for salt and sharpen with the tablespoon of lime juice. Pull out the lemongrass, scatter over lemon basil if using, and let the pan rest for 10 minutes before serving with white rice. The rest matters. Coconut, chilli, and chicken need a little quiet together before they meet the table.
Chef Tips
- •Use thighs and drumsticks rather than breast. Breast meat goes dry just when the sauce becomes good; the darker meat forgives the simmer and gives the coconut something to hold onto.
- •Manado cooking is not shy with chilli. Remove the seeds from the large chillies for a gentler Dutch family table, but keep at least the red chilli flavour, or the dish loses its proper brightness.
- •Use full-fat coconut milk and keep the heat gentle. A little oil separating at the edge is welcome; a violent boil makes the sauce coarse before the chicken is tender.
- •Serve it with plain white rice and something sharp on the side, cucumber with a little vinegar and salt if you have nothing else. The sauce is rich, and a clean bite beside it is good manners.
Advance Preparation
- •The bumbu can be made up to 2 days ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator, or frozen for 1 month.
- •The finished dish improves after a night in the refrigerator. Reheat gently with a splash of water until the sauce loosens and turns glossy again.
- •Leftovers keep for 3 days refrigerated. They freeze for up to 2 months, though the coconut sauce may separate slightly; stir it back together over low heat.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 420g)
Calories
695 calories
Total Fat
36 g
Saturated Fat
18 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
16 g
Cholesterol
150 mg
Sodium
850 mg
Total Carbohydrates
55 g
Dietary Fiber
3 g
Sugars
5 g
Protein
38 g
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