Ayam Percik

I’m so excited, this is my second malay recipe posted here on Cinta Dapur. This dish is one of my all time favourites.

Ayam percik is a dish infused with various Malay spices. When prepared properly, you get a piece of chicken that is full of flavour, but also crisp on the outside. This is not a difficult dish to prepare, but it does require a fair bit of attention during the preparation process. Percik in Malay means spalsh/drizzle/sprinkle, which basically means the chicken is percik’ed every so often to ensure that layers of spices are coated in the cooking process. What you get at the end of the day is a thick fragrant texture and a moist piece of meat.

I was first introduced to this dish in my teens (yes, how very sad indeed) when my dad’s company supply manufactured glass bottles to this large corporation that makes sauces. Every so often, they will give my dad coupons that redeems these ayam percik at their various outlets across Malaysia. Needless to say, it was a hit with my family. Well, those days are long gone now, and one has to resort to making it themselves; but I think mine taste better ….

Recipe

Ingredients (Chicken and its marinade)

• 6 pieces of chicken thigh (you can use other parts of meat if you like, but I have preference for dark meat than white) – As the age old proverbial saying goes; the nearer the bone, the sweeter the meat (quite literally in this instance)
• 3 tsp of tumeric powder
• Thumb size galangal (you can substitute it with ginger if you’re unable to find galangal)
• 3 stalks of lemongrass (chopped fine from the roots – white parts only)
• pinch of salt
• 1 tbs of sugar
• 1 tbs of chilli powder (less if you can’t take the heat)
• 6 shallots – chopped fine
• 1 cup of water
• Coconut milk (50 ml can)
• 3 tbs tamarind juice (you should be able to buy them in form of a paste, just add water). Alternatively you can use lemon juice

Method

• Blend all ingredients together (you might want to chopped all the ingredients beforehand so they are easier to blend) to make a creamy paste
• Make several cuts on the top site of the chicken and marinade it with the paste and leave overnight
• Heat wok or pan to high heat with a bit of oil and sizzle the meat to give the meat some heat (skin side down)
• Coat the meat with bits of remaining paste and pop it into a preheated oven at 180 C for 45 minutes (skin side up)
• Coat the meat again every 10 minutes with the remaining paste
• Coat the meat one last time and set the oven to grill to crisp the skin
• Serve with cucumbers or fresh veg and rice.