Ayam Goreng Berempah (Malay Spiced Fried Chicken)
Commonly known as Ayam Goreng Berempah, this Malay style crispy spiced fried chicken is delectably crunchy, juicy and bursting with the strong flavours of herbs and spices in it!
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Servings: 6 people
Ingredients
- 6 chicken whole legs, approximately 2kg+, cut into medium size pieces
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour, to remove poultry smell
- 2 stalks curry leaves
- 1 tbsp chili paste, ground dried chilies
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- 3 tbsp salt, 2-3 tbsp, adjusted to taste
- 1 tsp sugar
- 3 tbsp cornflour
- 1 egg, slightly beaten
- 2 tbsp meat curry powder
Coarsely Ground Ingredients
- 2 inch ginger, skinned
- 6 cloves garlic, skinned
- 12 shallots, skinned
- 6 lemongrass, use upper tender parts
- 3 tbsp water
Finely Ground Ingredients
- 1 ½ tbsp ketumbar powder, coriander powder
- 1 ½ tbsp jintan manis powder, fennel powder
- 1 tbsp jintan putih powder, cumin powder
First clean the chicken. Wash, coat and rub all-purpose flour into chicken. Then rinse and drain well.
Cut the chicken into medium size pieces or as desired.
Have ready all the ingredients needed.
Blend coarsely lemongrass, shallots, garlic and ginger. Add a little water when grinding. Transfer into a bowl and set aside for later use.
Next, blend finely the ketumbar, jintan manis and jintan putih seeds. You can also choose to buy these spices in powdered form.
Mix well all coarsely and finely ground spices, chili paste and turmeric powder in a bowl.
Then mix in one egg.
Followed by curry leaves and cornflour.
Mix everything until well combined. Add salt and sugar to taste.
Then add the fresh herb paste into the chicken pieces.
Mix with your hands until chicken is thoroughly covered with the aromatic spices and seasoning.
A long and sufficient marinating time is quite important so cover with plastic wrap and leave to marinate in the refrigerator for several hours, preferably overnight.
Remove the marinated chicken from the refrigerator 1 hour before frying to bring the chicken to room temperature so the inside of chicken meat isn't cold. Otherwise, we will end up with meat that is burnt on the outside but raw on the inside.
Heat up enough oil to fry the chicken over high heat. Oil is ready for frying when oil bubbles appear around the stick. (Or you can drop a small curry leaf in and it sizzles and bubbles.)
When oil is ready, fry some stalks of curry leaves for about 2-3 minutes over medium to low heat. Curry leaves release a strong curry-like fragrance with a citrus overtone.
Then remove the fried curry leaves from the oil using a strainer. Set aside the fried curry leaves for garnishing.
Next, put in marinated chicken into the curry leaves infused hot oil, piece by piece. In batches, deep fry for 15 to 20 minutes until chicken is crispy, golden brown in colour and juices run clear.
Once done, remove the fried chicken from oil using strainer.
Drain the fried chicken on paper towel to remove excess oil.
Also remove the fried spiced crumbs from the oil and set aside to drain off excess oil. Do not throw away these spiced crumbs as that is one of the tastiest part. And we're done!
Serve them hot garnished with the fried curry leaves and crispy fried spiced crumbs for extra flavour.
This crispy chicken is just perfect with some homemade Malaysia's traditional nasi lemak. As always, ENJOY!
Instructions
Enjoy!
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Notes
- This recipe is for chicken approximately weight of 2kg++. If you're using lesser chicken, please adjust ingredients accordingly.
- If using chicken whole legs, score twice across the fattest part of the flesh all the way to the bone. This will help to cook the fried chicken through easier.
- Time to deep fry the chicken is dependant on the size of the chicken pieces. A bigger piece will take a longer cooking time.
- Large cuts of chicken is preferred as this helps to keep the meat moist inside with a crispy exterior when deep fry.
- A long and sufficient marinating time is important so do marinate the chicken for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight.
- There have been several questions on amount of salt in this recipe. Do note that this recipe is for 2kg+ amount of chicken. Generally speaking, the amount of salt is depending on taste and Ayam Goreng Berempah is a dish that is on the flavourful side. 2-3 tablespoons of salt for 2kg++ of chicken is the recommended amount. Amount of sugar cannot be too much, as this will cause excessive burning of the exterior skin when deep fried.
- You may also freeze the marinated chicken in the freezer, then deep fry when needed. Keep the marinated chicken pieces in air tight boxes or storage bags in the freezer. These will freeze well up to months.