Indonesian Chicken

Okay for Cheryl and Kellie and anyone else who loves Indonesian chicken, with or without peanut sauce. You need to have a good source for Indonesian spices, sambal oelek - ( a very hot pepper sauce), and soy sauce - called Ketjap. If you have never used Indonesian soy sauce, it is much thicker than the Chinese version, and can be very sweet or medium sweet. I find the ABC brand the best, but Conimex makes one, too.   In the Calgary area, I buy spices at the Dutch Cash and Carry store in the Ogden area, or at the big Chinese supermarket on 17th just east of Deerfoot Trail. Conimex brand sambal oelek is the very best. There are other brands, but they tend to be too salty, and have more vinegar in them. The spices you need are laos - also called galengal; corriander, called ketoembar -( the ground seeds, not the leaves); ginger, called djahe; lemon grass, called sereh poeder ; and  javanese curry, also called Kerrie Djwa; cumin, turmeric, called koenjit;  garlic; and onion. Once you have these basics you can make a wide variety of Indonesian dishes, and they are very flavourful. You can adjust the heat of the spices by adding more or less sambal oelek.



Indonesian Chicken:  * please note that all measurements are approximate, as I never measure anything when I am cooking, only when I am baking.

1 kg of chicken pieces    1 cup sweet ketjap            2 tbs minced onion     3 cloves garlic, minced
3tbs ketchup   1/4 cup regular soy sauce      2 tbs lemon juice,       1 tbs each  laos and corriander
sambal oelek to taste - between 2 tsp for a little kick to 6 or 7 Tbs for really hot. You can keep adding more heat to your own taste. We like it fairly hot.


In a large plastic container, mix all the marinade ingredients. Stir well. Add chicken pieces, and let marinate in the fridge for 4 - 7 hours, turning pieces every 2 hours.  Preheat oven to 350F, and  put chicken  into a baking pan. Pour the marinade all over the chicken. Bake for 1 hour.    S erve with anything you like. We often have this with Nasi, or Bahmi, which are indonesian stirfried veggie and either rice (Nasi) or noodles (Bahmi).
The oven timer is going off ------ peanut sauce in next post.