Indonesian · Main
Ayam Goreng Lengkuas
- Intermediate
- 1 h 30 m
- roughly 1 of 4 for cost
Leads with aromatics blooming from the first bite, a warm current of chile, trailing gentle sweetness.
Ingredients
- 8 chicken pieces, bone-in
- Spice bath: 4 tbsp grated galangal (lengkuas, the hero), 4 garlic, 4 shallots, 2 tsp ground coriander, thumb turmeric, 2 candlenuts
- 400ml coconut water or water; 2 bay-like salam leaves, 1 lemongrass stalk
- Oil for deep frying
- Sambal terasi and cucumber alongside: see two cards over
Equipment
Thermometer · Deep-fry pot · Grater / zester
The skills inside
Allergen screen
None found among the 14 screened.
Screened for: gluten, dairy, egg, nuts, peanuts, fish, shellfish, molluscs, soy, sesame, celery, mustard, lupin, alcohol. Not screened: sulphites.
Screened by keyword from the ingredient list, not reviewed by a person; check every label for what the list cannot show.
Method
- Pound the spices; simmer the chicken IN the spice bath, uncovered, 30–40 min until the liquid is nearly gone and the chicken is cooked and stained gold. 40 min
- Reserve the spice sediment left in the pot: that is the kremes treasure.
- Dry the chicken 15 min; deep-fry at 180°C until deep bronze and crackled, 4–5 min. 15 min
- Fry spoonfuls of the reserved spice sediment in the oil until they bloom into crisp golden flakes; shower over the chicken.
How to tell it is going right
This dish has no standard of its own yet. It is judged on the technique it exercises: checked at the pan, while there is still something to be done about it.
Deep frying 96 recipes
- The oil was at temperature before anything went in, measured rather than guessed, and the vessel is no more than two-thirds full.
- Everything went in dry. Surfaces are patted down and any coating is not dripping, because water hitting hot oil erupts and is the one accident this technique actually has.
- The oil recovers between batches. It is back at temperature before the next load goes in rather than falling further with each one.
- A steady vigorous bubbling that slows as it finishes: the bubbles are the food’s own water leaving, so a piece that has gone quiet has stopped drying out and is done.
- Seasoned or finished in the first seconds out of the oil, while the surface is still hot and will hold what lands on it. Anything applied to a cooled crust sits on top and falls off.
Where it goes wrong Too much went in at once and the oil temperature collapsed. The crust forms slowly while the food sits in warm fat absorbing it rather than shedding steam, and it comes out heavy and greasy instead of crisp, which no amount of draining afterwards will fix.
At the Table
- The Pour
- Off-dry Riesling (Mosel Kabinett)
- Also Right
- Gewürztraminer or off-dry Chenin
- From the Taps
- Crisp lager or pilsner
- Zero-Proof
- Agua fresca or iced jasmine tea
Sugar, cold, and low alcohol are the fire code: sweetness tames capsaicin while acid resets the palate; tannin would fan the flames.
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