Ayam Sambal Goreng Sereh - Chicken in Spicy Lemongrass Sauce
This chicken in spicy lemongrass sauce tastes so good it will knock your socks off. If you are not ready to commit to a rendang dish, this will be a gentler introduction.
- Prep time
- 20 min
- Cook time
- 40 min
- Yield
- 8 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 8-10 pieces of bone-in chicken (I use thighs and drumsticks)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 3 tablespoon oil
- 2 lemongrass (Indonesian: sereh), green part only
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder (Indonesian: bubuk kunyit)
- 1 can (400 ml) coconut milk
- tamarind liquid (from 1/2 tablespoon tamarind + 4 tablespoon water), mix well and strained
- 2 tablespoon coconut palm sugar, or to taste
- 2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 10-20 red cayenne chilies (Indonesian: cabe merah keriting)
- 100 gram shallot (Indonesian: bawang merah)
- 3 cloves garlic (Indonesian: bawang putih)
- 2 lemongrass (Indonesian: sereh), white part only
- 2 inch galangal (Indonesian: lengkuas)
Instructions
- 1
Marinate chicken: Start with rubbing the chicken pieces with salt and turmeric. Set aside for 15 minutes.
- 2
Prepare spice paste: Grind garlic, shallot, galangal, red chilies, and the white part of lemongrass in a food processor or with a mortar and a pestle into a smooth paste.
- 3
Fry chicken: Heat about three tablespoons of oil in a wok over medium-high and fry the chicken until the skin is crispy and golden brown. It is okay for the chicken to be not 100% cooked. Set aside.
- 4
Sauté spice paste and lemongrass: In the same wok, fry the spice paste, turmeric, and the green part of lemongrass until fragrant. About 5 minutes.
- 5
Add chicken and the rest of the ingredients: Return fried chicken into the wok, along with coconut milk, tamarind liquid, salt, and coconut palm sugar. Mix well and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the sauce is very thick and the chicken is tender and cooked.
- 6
Serve: Turn off heat, and serve either with steamed white rice, or nasi uduk (fragrant coconut rice).