Indonesian fried chicken is one of the most flavorful version of fried chicken on earth. You start out with an amazing marinade that includes toasted coriander, fennel and cumin seeds, then after grinding them up, you add them along with garlic, shallots, glangang, lemon grass, curry powder, chili powder, peri peri powder, turmeric, sugar and coconut water. You allow the marinade to soak into the chicken for up to two days. There are a couple of ways to proceed at this point. One is to fry the chicken as it is, the other is to cook the chicken in a pot to thicken and cook the chicken through before frying it. Either way, before you fry it, you dust it with corn starch. Then you bake it careful not to overbake it letting the oil drip off in a warm oven. We chose to cook the chicken through before frying it. I like the idea of the paste being cooked through. So, that was a lot of work to get to the frying part. Even so, I am not sure we nailed the experience. It tasted pretty good.I think I would approach this differently in future. For example, cooking down the marinade before finally coating the chicken. I would also bake the chicken in the oven to get it mostly cooked rather than simmer it in the sauce which would make give it a better texture. Anyway, pretty delicious all told. I served it with a coconut rice, green onions and Kafir Lime Leaves.
Here is the sequence:
First, you marinate the chicken for up to 48 hours
Next you simmer the chicken in the marinade:
Finally, you cook down the marinade before coating the chicken in it, and then frying it.
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