After having a really good ayam bakar for dinner last week I was determined to create my own version of it. I was looking through the pantry and was totally stoked when I found some sambal belacan! Nothing beats having fried chicken with sambal belacan rempah (spices). It is the ultimate power pack flavoured meal. Having sambal belacan with a plate of hot steaming rice is the utmost comfort food. Imagine having it with a fried egg and oozing egg yolk! That has to be the best combination ever. I am salivating just thinking about it!!!!
So, I started exploring my version of sambal belacan chicken and this is the final outcome of my experiment. It smelled so good and it tasted divine.
Here is my recipe for this indulgent dish.
Ingredients
7 pieces of chicken thighs. If you can opt to keep the skin if you like.
1 tbs fresh chili
1 tsp tamarind puree
1 lime juice
5 pieces kafir lime
1 large lime zest
6 tsp kicap manis
1 inch galangal
1 -2 lemon grass white portion
1.5 tsp salt
Black pepper
2 cups of water
4 cloves of garlic
3/4 inch garlic
2 tsp sambal belacan
To make sambal paste (all ingredients blended)
100gm shallots
2 fresh chilli
6 cloves garlic
3/4 inch ginger
2 tsp sambal belacan
1 tsp sugar
1/2 lime juice
Salt to taste
Method
1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl and marinate chicken overnight.
2. Fry chicken in skillet on medium heat till chicken temperature hits 75C. Remove chicken from skillet.
3. On a low fire, add in the blended spices and some olive oil. Add in 1/2 cup of remaining marinade and let it simmer for the 10 minutes.
4. Once paste is cooked and moist, add chicken to the paste.
You can serve this mouth watering and flavourful chicken with steamed rice, pasta or even have it on a wrap with some fresh salad. I hope you’ll enjoy this as much as we did!