Balinese Spicy Fried Chicken

It uses the same cooking principal as the famous Indonesian Ayam Kalasan (Kalasan Fried Chicken) which is to boil the chicken pieces in coconut milk & spices and then deep-fry them. However, this recipe calls for slightly different ingredients and cooking steps.

Balinese Spicy Fried Chicken

Bill Granger summarised all the goodness of this dish in one simple paragraph which I think it's brilliant: "This recipe is a tribute to tales I've heard of Balinese chicken dishes. Frying can easily result in dry chicken meat but, in this case, the coconut milk keeps it moist and juicy. Delicious cold, it makes great picnic food."

Balinese Spicy Fried Chicken (Serves 4)

(Adapted from Bill Granger's Bills Sydney Food)

Ingredients

• 1 cup (8 fl oz) coconut milk
• 3 kaffir lime leaves, or zest of 1 lime
• 2 Asian red shallots, roughly chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 x 2 cm (3/4 in) piece galangal (or ginger) root, sliced
• 3 green chillies, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 x 1.5 kg (3 lb) chicken, cut into 16 pieces
• Vegetable oil for frying

To Serve:

• Sweet chilli sauce
• Cucumber slices
• Coriander (cilantro) sprigs

Method

1. Place coconut milk, lime leaves (or zest), shallots, garlic, galangal root (or ginger), chillies, turmeric, salt and 2 1/2 cups (20 fl oz) of water in large saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Add chicken and cook for 20 minutes or until chicken is tender and just cooked. Remove chicken from saucepan and leave to cool on a wire rack.
2. Heat oil to 3 cm (1 1/4 in) in a wok or deep frying pan on high heat. Cook the chicken in batches, being careful not to overcrowd, until golden. Drain on paper towels. Serve with sweet chilli sauce, cucumber slices and coriander sprigs.

Indonesian Butter Prawn

Indonesian Butter Prawn

If you are wondering what are the couscous-like golden roes surrounding the prawns, they are made of egg yolks and butter by using a very simple but unique technique.

It's traditional to serve the prawns with head and shell on but you can leave them out if you prefer not to have them on the serving plate.

Indonesian Butter Prawn Recipe (Serves 4)

Ingredients

• 500 g large king prawns, devein
• 2 tbsp corn flour
• 250 g butter or margarine
• 2 eggs + 5 egg yolks, beaten
• 2 stalks curry leaves
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 4 bird's eye chillies
• 1 tbsp evaporated milk

Method

1. Heat butter or margarine in wok.
2. Stir in beaten egg mixture slowly with a hand whisk and keep stirring until they separated into tiny roes and golden brown.
3. Add in curry leaves, curry powder, bird's eye chillies and evaporated milk and stir fry until fragrant.
4. Remove and drain.
5. Coat prawns with cornflour and deep fry in hot oil until cooked. Drain.
6. Pour the prawns and egg mixture back into the wok. Stir fry until they are well mixed and serve immediately.