Ayam Bakar

Name: Ayam Bakar
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Indonesian
Ingredients: 1.2 kg Chicken, jointed into 8 pieces; 8 Shallots; 5 Garlic cloves; 4 Candlenuts, or macadamia; 3 cm Fresh turmeric, peeled; 3 cm Ginger, peeled; 4 Red chillies, deseeded; 1 tbsp Coriander seed, ground; 2 stalks Lemongrass, bruised; 3 Salam leaves, or bay; 300 ml Coconut milk; 5 tbsp Kecap manis (sweet soy); 1 tbsp Tamarind paste; 1 tbsp Palm sugar; 2 tsp Salt; 2 tbsp Oil

Chicken simmered in its spice paste until cooked through, then finished over charcoal and basted with sweet soy — grilled second, not first, which is why it is never raw at the bone.

Fuente

Receta de Indonesian home kitchens · 🏺 Tradicional · Indonesian household cooking

Indonesia · charcoal-grilled chicken — An ownerless traditional dish, so no cook is credited. The cited article confirms ayam bakar as an Indonesian and Malay dish of charcoal-grilled chicken, the name meaning simply 'grilled chicken'. The simmer-then-grill order, quantities and the late-basting warning are this book's own.

Background on Wikipedia ↗

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Pasos

Blend the shallots, garlic, candlenuts, turmeric, ginger, chillies and coriander to a smooth paste with a splash of water.
Fry the paste in the oil over medium heat, stirring, for 8–10 minutes until it darkens and the oil separates out at the edges.
💡 This is the step people skip. Raw paste tastes green and sharp; fried paste tastes round. The oil separating is the signal, not the clock.
Add the lemongrass, salam leaves, coconut milk, tamarind, palm sugar and salt. Slide the chicken in and simmer, uncovered, 25 minutes, turning twice.
Lift the chicken out and let the sauce reduce until it clings to a spoon. Stir the kecap manis into it.
Grill the chicken over medium coals or under a hot grill for 10 minutes, basting with the reduced sauce every couple of minutes and turning.
💡 Baste often and late. Kecap manis is mostly sugar — brush it on at the start and you get carbon, not glaze.
Serve with rice, sambal and slices of cucumber and tomato.

💡 Consejos

The simmer is not a marinade — it is the cooking. The coals are only there for smoke and the sticky edge, so ten minutes is genuinely enough.
No coals? A dry cast-iron pan gets you the caramel, and a minute under a grill finishes it. You lose the smoke, and the dish survives.