Ayam Masek Merah or Chicken Rendang??

Chicken Rendang & Mixed Curry Vegetables aka Sayur Lodeh

At 16, I fell in love with a dish call Ayam Bawang literally mean Onion Chicken when i ate it at Sanur Indonesian Restaurant where i was working part-time there. Shortly after, they discontinued this dish & i never get to taste it again. Since then i have tried many trial & error to replicate the dish according to the taste in my memory but still not very close to it...:(

Chicken Rendang and Ayam Masek Merah may be a very easy homecook dish for malays. the rempah seems to be a basic for them. i am a chinese and i know nothing abt the them until i read up every recipes i came across for these dishes.

What i have here is a dish that incorporates both Ayam Masek Merah & Chicken Rendang recipe.

Preparing the Chicken for Deep Fry

• 1 whole chicken + 2 thigh meat or 6 boneless chicken thigh meat
• Rub the chicken with 2 tsp heaps of salt leave it for 10 mins before washing the salt away.
• Add 2 tsp tsp of chicken stock powder and let it marinate for 30 mins to 1 hr.
• Add 2 tbsp to lightly coat the chicken pieces
• Deep fry in hot oil till it is 75% cooked or crispy on the outside. Set it aside.

Rempah Ingredients:
2 pack Chicken Rendang Mix from Malay stall in wet market which would usually consist of dried chilli, fresh chilli, chilli poweder, shallots, garlic, ginger,tumeric, galangal etc...
8 big onions (4 minced + 4 cut into quarters)
8 red tomato (5 coarsely chopped & 5 cut into quarters
1 whole clove of crushed garlic
3 stalk of lemon grass (cut into 3 portion & crush the part nearest to the root)

1. Fry mince onion in oil lightly , then add in in garlic and fry till it start turning brown and release fragrance.
2. Add in rendang mix & lemon grass, continue to fry until everything is well mixed.
3. Add in chopped tomato, stir fry the everything in the wok till it become fragrant and well blended.
4. Add in chicken parts & then followed by quarters of onion & tomatos
5. Pour in 3 rice bowl of water and let it boil & then simmer till the gravy become thick. If you prefer to have coconut milk you may minus 1 bowl of water & replace with 1 bowl of coconut milk.
6. Add 1 chicken stock cube or chicken flavoured powder to taste.
7. Garnish with coriander and serve.

If you like your chicken rendang really dry, u can use the excess gravy to make mix curry veg and add some extra water and coconut milk according to your preference.