Pempek Ayam Lenjer - Fried Chicken Sticks
Pempek is Indonesian fish cakes, very similar to Japanese fish cakes. Our pempek is made from a mixture of ground fish and tapioca flour and comes in various …
- Prep time
- 2 hr
- Cook time
- 1 hr
- Yield
- 6 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 500 gram skinless boneless chicken breasts
- 50 gram shallot
- 5 cloves garlic
- 150 ml (10 tablespoon) ice cold water
- 250 ml (1 cup) water
- 1 1/2 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 teaspoon anchovy/dashi stock granules
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 125 gram all purpose flour
- 450 gram - 600 gram tapioca flour
- 3-5 gram dried red chilies, seeded, soaked in hot water until softened
- 5 cloves garlic
- 200 gram palm sugar (or dark brown sugar)
- 100 gram sugar
- 40 gram tamarind
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 3 tablespoon ground dried shrimps (or 1 tablespoon anchovy/dashi stock granules, or 1/2 tablespoon toasted shrimp paste)
- 600 ml water
- thinly sliced cucumbers
- boiled egg noodles
Instructions
- 1
Pempek ayam lenjer (chicken sticks)
- 2
Place chicken breast, shallot, garlic, and ice cold water in a food processor. Ground into a smooth paste, then transfer to a large mixing bowl and set aside.
- 3
In a small sauce pot, boil together water, salt, sugar, anchovy/dashi stock granules, and fish sauce. Add all purpose flour and keep stirring until a thick paste is formed. Turn off heat and set aside to cool to room temperature.
- 4
Add the thick cooked flour paste to the ground chicken mixture, mix well. Add enough tapioca flour to the mixture, and keep on stirring, and finally kneading with hand into a thick dough. Stop adding tapioca flour once you can scoop a bit of the dough and shape into a small log and it can hold its shape.
- 5
Divide into equal 24 portions. Shape each into a 1" diameter log.
- 6
Boil a large pot of water in a soup pot. In batches, gently drop the logs into boiling water and cook until the logs float to the surface. Once they float, continue boiling for another 4 minutes. Remove the cooked logs to a strainer/colander. Repeat for the remaining logs. I usually cook 6 pieces at a time, for a total of 4 batches.
- 7
Heat 1/2" of oil in a frying pan, fry the boiled chicken logs until golden brown. Set aside over wire rack to remove excess oil.
- 8
Saus cuko (spicy tamarind sauce)
- 9
Puree soaked dried red chilies and garlic in a food processor, then transfer to a sauce pot along with the rest of the sauce ingredients.
- 10
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes.
- 11
Turn off heat, strain to get a clear sauce.
- 12
To serve
- 13
Cut the fried chicken sticks into bite size pieces and place in a bowl. Top with a bit of the spicy tamarind sauce. Serve with accompaniments if preferred.