Longings for Nasi Ayam Penyet

My son has been going to Johor Bharu quite often of late and his frequent visit to the state (at least I feel they are frequent!) has helped to widen his gastronomic endeavours.  I suppose that is a good thing whereby his list of favourite food has now grown bigger, and so has his waistline (but he works hard at getting that excess 'spare tyre' by frequent jogs!) 

Anyway, one of the food he has given rave review (and if he does that, you can be sure the food is good!) is the Nasi Ayam Penyet.  I have heard of the dish but have never made it myself.  So, after searching the net, I came across a izsyam.blogspot.com from where I adapted the recipe.  My thanks to the blogger!  My adaptation of the recipe is as follows, begining with the chicken :

1 chicken cut into 4
1 tbs cumin, dry-roasted and pounded
1 tbs coriander seeds, dry roasted and pounded
2 stalks lemon grass, sliced and pounded
1 thumb-size ginger, pounded
2 thumb-size galangal, pounded
5 cloves garlic, pounded
5 shallors, pounded

Mix the chicken pieces with all the ingredients and season with salt.  Marinade for at least three hours.  (I managed 1 hour because my son couldn't wait to taste my version of Ayam Penyet!)  Brush away as much of the marinade as you can, and boil the chicken until cooked (the stock can be used to make a simple chicken soup to go with the rice!)  Let cool, then season with the marinade once again, roll in rice flour and fry until the skin crispens.  Put the chicken between two chopping boards and press using your body weight to flatten the chicken (hence the name, Ayam Penyet!)

The dish is also accompanied with a selection of fresh vegetables (or ulam!) like sliced cucumber, salad leaves, long beans and tomatoes.  I also included fried 'tempe' which I fried after seasoning with some of the chicken marinade plus some turmeric (in fact, I rather prefer the 'temper' to the chicken!).  These then are eaten together with some 'sambal'; recipe as follows :

5 red chilies

10 birds eye chilies

5 shallots

2 ripe tomatoes

some dried anchovies

some shrimp paste and salt to taste

Fry the first three ingredients ( I used the oil I used to fry the chicken and 'tempe'!)  Then blend them with the rest of the ingredients.

Serve immediately, with the vegetables, 'tempe', chicken and hot plain white rice; not forgetting the soup!