Chicken Thigh Rendang "Selaparang"

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 4 medium-sized garlic cloves
• 4 tbsp oyster sauce (saus tiram)
• 2 tbsp Sambal bajak Y&Y, see my recipes
• 2 tbsp rice wine (Arak Masak)
• 1 kg chicken thighs, upper and lower legs
• 12 tbsp coconut oil for roasting
• 500 ml peanut oil for frying
• 12 m.-large tomato(s), fully ripe
• 4 macadamia nuts (kacang kemiri)
• 10 small onions, red, (bawang merah)
• 6 medium-sized garlic cloves, fresh (bawang putih)
• 60 g Pepper, red, long
• 6 chili peppers, curly, red, long or 3 small red chili peppers without seeds
• 20 g lemongrass, fresh or frozen
• 20 g carrot(s)
• 200 g pineapple, fresh or from the can
• 10 g galangal, fresh or frozen
• 10 g ginger, fresh or frozen
• 400 ml coconut milk, creamy (santan)
• 1 tbsp palm sugar (coconut palm sugar, gula kepla)
• 4 lemons, fully ripe
• 4 tbsp oyster sauce (saus tiram)
• 2 tbsp soy sauce, light (kecap asin muda)
• 12 salami leaves, frozen or dried
• 6 kaffir lime leaves, frozen or dried
• 2 m.-sized cinnamon stick(s)
• 15 g instant chicken bouillon
• Palm sugar (coconut palm sugar) to taste
• Sambal bajak Y&Y, see my recipes, to taste
• 2 tbsp rice wine (Arak Masak)
• Flowers and leaves, for garnishing
• 40 g coconut meat

Instructions

Working time approx. 45 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 2 hours 30 minutes; Total time approx. 3 hours 15 minutes

spicy and refined, recipe from Lombok, Indonesia

Caution: It is recommended to use kitchen gloves when working with the chilies. Wash them thoroughly with soap and sprinkle a little powder inside; this will make things much easier next time. Chop the chicken thighs into approximately 5 cm pieces. Peel off the skin and trim off any fat. Squeeze the four garlic cloves into a 2-liter bowl. Add the oyster sauce, sambal bajak Y&Y, and arak to this bowl and mix well. Marinate the chicken in it. Peel and halve the tomatoes, remove the green stems, and deseed them. Cut the tomato halves lengthwise into strips, then cut these crosswise into 1 cm pieces. Quarter the macadamia nuts. Peel and quarter the onions and garlic. Cut off the stems from the hot peppers, split the pods lengthwise, and open them up. Remove the seeds and their membranes. Cut the empty pods lengthwise into strips and then separate these into approximately 1 cm long pieces. Remove the stems from the chili and cut them into 1 cm long pieces. Remove the brown leaves and the tough root core from the lemongrass. Cut the lemongrass into very fine slices, always removing any leaves that are too green. Use only the white and light green parts. Wash and peel the carrot, trim both ends, and grate 20 g of it with a coarse grater. If you are not fortunate enough to have coarsely grated coconut on hand, you will need to crack open a coconut, remove the flesh, grate or cut away the outer brown layer, and then coarsely grate the pure white coconut flesh. Unused grated coconut freezes well. Cut the pineapple into small pieces. Peel the galangal and ginger and cut into small cubes. Heat a medium-sized pan. Add 6 tablespoons of coconut oil, swirl the pan, and when the oil is hot enough (bubbles will form at the bottom of the pan), add the chopped tomatoes. Roast for about 5 minutes, then remove. Next, roast the macadamia nuts until they begin to brown, remove them, and immediately follow with the desiccated coconut in the same way, remove them, and store them separately. Last in the individual roasting chain is the pineapple. Add the remaining coconut oil to the pan and let it heat up. Add the pineapple to the pan and roast for at least five minutes, until its sugar content causes it to caramelize slightly. Now it’s time for the bulk ingredients: Roast all the remaining solid ingredients together until the onions begin to brown. Deglaze the roasted ingredients with the coconut milk. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly. Meanwhile, squeeze the lemons, reserving the juice, and dispose of the peels in the organic waste. Oyster sauce and light soy sauce can be mixed with the lime juice. Now it’s time to get going: Place all the roasted ingredients, except the coconut meat, in a blender. Set the blender to the lowest speed and blend for 30 seconds. Add the instant chicken stock, palm sugar, and the lime juice mixture, and blend for one minute on the highest speed. Heat the frying oil in a wok to 190 degrees Celsius. Fry the meat pieces in batches (3 pieces each) for about 90 seconds until browned. Make sure the temperature doesn’t drop too much. Place the browned chicken pieces in a 3-liter pot. Add the whole salam leaves, kaffir lime leaves, cinnamon sticks, toasted coconut flakes, and the rendang sauce from the blender. Mix lightly. Let the chicken thigh rendang simmer, stirring occasionally. Cover for the first 60 minutes, then uncover for another 60 minutes to allow the rendang sauce to thicken and become creamy. After about 100 minutes, season with instant chicken stock and Sambal Bajak Y&Y. If the chicken pieces are not completely tender, simmer for another 30 minutes. Finally: leave the leaves in the rendang, remove the cinnamon sticks, and add the rice wine. Divide among four plates, garnish with flowers and leaves, and serve while still warm. Enjoy! Serving suggestion: White rice, kohlrabi sautéed in butter as a vegetable side dish, and two bowls of sambal mix. Sambal Mix 1: Sweet soy sauce with a teaspoon of Sambal Bajak Y&Y (do not mix!) Sambal Mix 2: A simple Sambal matah Lestari (see my recipe index), which you must make from scratch. Garnish with flowers and leaves and serve while still warm. Note: Why do you leave the leaves in the rendang if no one eats them? Well, both types of leaves have certain medicinal properties, and this shows the guest that you’ve taken this into account.