In the crowded playing field of fried chicken, its a hot contender for the worlds best!
Ayam Goreng (Malaysian Fried Chicken)
Human beings love fried chicken.
But why play favourites?
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Which brings us to the Malaysians and Indonesians.
Their version of fried chicken is called Ayam Goreng in Malay (literally, well, fried chicken!)
Some battered, some floured, some simply marinated and fried with no coating at all.
This version Im sharing today is a Malaysian-style Ayam Goreng.
We marinate the chicken in a rich curry paste packed with classic South-East Asian ingredients.
So dont be concerned if youre new to them.
Galangalis an ingredient used in South East Asian cooking that looks similar to ginger.
It also tastes like ginger but is more citrusy and a little pine-y.
Its actually pretty hard to cut so take care when slicing it!
Peel it like ginger, either with a sharp edge teaspoon or (carefully!)
with a small knife.
Sub:Use the same amount of ginger + the zest of 1 lime (or lemon).
Peel the reedy green shell to reveal the softer white part on the bottom half of the lemongrass.
Sub:1 tbsp lemongrass paste.
Eschalots Also known as French onions, and are called shallots in the US.
They look like baby onions, but have purple-skinned flesh, and are finer and sweeter.
Not to be confused with what some people in Australia call shallots ie the long green onions.
They vary drastically in size!
We want to use 2 x small(ish) ones, around 2/3 cup in total once chopped.
Ginger and garlic Common (but essential!)
aromatics in this Malaysian curry marinade.
Note: I use cooking/kosher salt in cooking which is larger grains that table salt.
Coconut milk This provides the liquid for the marinade so it can be blitzed.
Some recipes just use water.
I promise you, coconut milk makes it all the more delicious!
Spices The spices shown above are fairly standard for Ayam Goreng.
Some recipes use less, some more.
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This mix provides plenty of authentic flavour.
Toasting is essential because it brings out the flavour!
Chicken for Ayam Goreng
I buy bone-in thighs, drumsticks and wings for ease.
Cut the breast into 2 pieces through the bone.
Ive cooked 220g/7.7oz bone-in thighs with no problems.
flavour, adding cornflour to make a craggy crunchy coating, then frying to golden perfection!
The purpose of this step is to bring out the flavour.
Curry paste:Add remaining Curry Paste ingredients in the Nutribullet (or blitzing appliance of choice).
But nor do you want big chunks.
Cornflour / cornstarch Next, we toss the chicken in cornflour / cornstarch.
Cornflour works better than wheat flour because it fries up crisper.
A little fried food trivia for your day!
I use vegetable or canola oil for frying.
But any neutral oil will work fine here, even a light olive oil.
I also feel its safer because its deep and its heavy so its unlike to move on the stove.
This is because of the curry marinade, that has become part of the crust.
Those words should really make your knees weak.
And lordy, the smell of this chicken!!!
Its not traditional in fact, its something I borrowed from Chinese salt and pepper squid!
So its 100% optional.
What to serve with Malaysian Fried Chicken
I confess my Malaysian recipe collection is somewhat wanting.
Serve it with a side ofFried Rice(or even more authentically,Coconut Rice!
Also see the astonishingly popularBaked Fried Ricefrom earlier this week) and a freshAsian Leafy SaladorAsian Slaw.
For something with zing,Green Papaya Saladwould besensationalon the side of this!
In case youre wondering, you absolutely do NOT need a dipping sauce for this fried chicken!
Its flavoured right through to the bone, and the crust is extremely well seasoned.
(Oh wait, thats a total lie!
It just so happens that I have a local friend who is a diver who keeps catching crays!
These were all caught at local beaches (Mona Vale, Newport and Bungan Beach).
