Marinated in a fragrant curry paste earlier than tossing in cornflour to make the coating extremely craggy and crunchy because it fries, Ayam Goreng is Malaysia’s answer to Southern Fried chicken in the crowded playing discipline of fried chicken, it’s a warm contender for the sector’s great!
Ayam Goreng (Malaysian Fried Chicken)
Humans love fried chicken. It explains why such a lot of cultures have some version of this wickedly scrumptious meals, and every united states thinks their version is king.
But why play favourites? I assume there may be room on this world (and my stomach) for all notable fried chickens to fortunately coexist. For one, my mom might placed my head on a stick if I didn’t make point out of Karaage (jap fried chicken). And in case you haven’t yet attempted selfmade Southern-style KFC, your existence is set to drastically enhance as it truely kicks the Colonel’s soggy stuff to the lower!
Which brings us to the Malaysians and Indonesians. Their version of fried chicken is known as Ayam Goreng in Malay (actually, well, “fried chicken”!) Or ought to I say versions – these nations are so bonkers about fried chicken they have now not one however at the least a dozen extraordinary styles! a few battered, some floured, a few without a doubt marinated and fried and not using a coating at all. a few come slathered with fiery sambal, others with beguiling sauces, and others nevertheless are served simple to let their crunchy glory shine.
This model I’m sharing today is a Malaysian-fashion Ayam Goreng. We marinate the bird in a rich curry paste packed with classic South-East Asian substances. adding a touch flour to the mix just earlier than frying then gives you a crispy, salty, craggy crust that’s a complete flavour bomb!
Ingredients in Ayam Goreng
Here’s what you need to make the marinade for the Ayam Goreng:
In the recipe video below, I show how to prepare/peel/cut the galangal and lemongrass. So don’t be concerned if you’re new to them.
- Galangal is an factor used in South East Asian cooking that looks just like ginger. It also tastes like ginger but is extra citrusy and a little pine-y. It’s honestly pretty hard to cut so take care whilst cutting it! Peel it like ginger, either with a sharp facet teaspoon or (carefully!) with a small knife.
find it at Asian stores, and in a few big grocery stores in Australia (Harris Farm and some Woolworths promote it).
Sub: Use the identical amount of ginger + the zest of one lime (or lemon). - Lemongrass – To prepare, reduce and discard the pinnacle reedy element off – we only need the lowest 10 – 12cm / 4 – 5″. Peel the reedy inexperienced shell to show the softer white part on the bottom 1/2 of the lemongrass.
Sub: 1 tbsp lemongrass paste. - Eschalots – also referred to as French onions, and are called “shallots” inside the US. They appear like infant onions, however have pink-skinned flesh, and are finer and sweeter. now not to be careworn with what some humans in Australia name “shallots” ie the lengthy inexperienced onions.
they vary considerably in size! We want to apply 2 x small(ish) ones, around 2/three cup in total as soon as chopped. - Ginger and garlic – not unusual (however important!) aromatics in this Malaysian curry marinade.
- Salt – The recipe requires 1 1/2 teaspoons which might sound like loads, but we want it to penetrate all of the manner thru into the flesh!
Observe: i exploit cooking/kosher salt in cooking which is bigger grains that table salt. So in case you’ve handiest got desk salt, reduce it to one teaspoon (due to the fact the grains are plenty finer, so 1 teaspoon table salt = simply underneath 1 half teaspoons of cooking salt by way of weight). - Coconut milk – This affords the liquid for the marinade so it is able to be blitzed. some recipes simply use water. I promise you, coconut milk makes it all of the more scrumptious! The small quantity we use doesn’t make it coconut-y (which could now not be traditional) but it provides a touch of sweetness (traditional) and simply extra flavour than, nicely, water!
- Spices – The spices shown above are pretty preferred for Ayam Goreng. a few recipes use much less, some greater. this mix provides masses of proper flavour.
The cumin, coriander and fennel seeds are toasted then blitzed into a powder first earlier than including the relaxation of the curry paste substances. Toasting is essential as it brings out the flavour!
Chicken for Ayam Goreng
I buy bone-in thighs, drumsticks and wings for ease. For a true Malaysian fried chicken experience, cut up your own chicken so you get breast pieces as well, but ensure you keep the skin on and bone in. Cut the breast into 2 pieces through the bone.
Smaller is better – Thigh pieces that are 200g/7oz or less each are better, to ensure they cook through so that you don’t need to fuss with finishing them in the oven. I’ve cooked 220g/7.7oz bone-in thighs with no problems. If they are large 250g/8.8oz ones then you either need to fry them to a very, very deep golden in the oil OR finish in oven.
Chicken bites: Ayam Goreng works really well as bite-size chicken pieces too. Use boneless thigh fillets, cut into large 4 x 5cm / 1.6 x 2″ pieces. Follow the recipe, except cook for just 3 minutes.
How to make Ayam Goreng
This recipe entails blitzing up a curry paste, marinating the bird in it to infuse it with (super!) flavour, adding cornflour to make a craggy crunchy coating, then frying to golden perfection!
Toast spices: Toast spices in a small skillet over medium heat (no oil) for 2 mins or till the spices odor fragrant. The reason of this step is to convey out the flavour.
As soon as they are toasted, without delay switch seeds into Nutribullet, a small food processor OR into a tall jug that fits a stick blender. Don’t depart them sitting round in the skillet – the residual warmth will burn those tiny little seeds!
Curry paste: add remaining Curry Paste ingredients within the Nutribullet (or blitzing equipment of desire).
Blitz till smooth. It doesn’t need to be 100% smooth like whilst making curry pastes due to the fact any chunks get cooked while it fries. but nor do you want large chunks. intention for simply quite smooth – a chunk of graininess while rubbed among your fingers is adequate.
Marinate: Pour Curry Paste over chicken in a ziplock bag, toss to coat, then marinate for twenty-four hours inside the fridge, up to 48 hours. any further than this doesn’t add any extra flavour, and i’d start to be involved approximately compromising the freshness of the chicken.
Bowl vs ziplock bag – I try to reuse ziplock baggage whenever viable however it’s no longer viable in this case due to the fact the marinade is greasy and makes the bag odor. whilst a bowl will work, it doesn’t pretty have the same marinating effect because it doesn’t envelope the curry paste all over the chicken inside the identical way.
Cornflour / cornstarch – next, we toss the chicken in cornflour / cornstarch. It mixes into the marinade paste to make it thicker and persist with the chicken which fries up right into a scrumptious craggy crust.
Cornflour works better than wheat flour because it fries up crisper. a touch fried meals trivia in your day!
Fry in oil preheated to 180°C/350°F for eight minutes (wings for five minutes), or until deep golden brown and inner temperature at thickest part is 75°C / 167°F.
i use vegetable or canola oil for frying. but any impartial oil will paintings exceptional right here, even a mild olive oil.
For the frying vessel, i really like to use my heavy-based totally cast iron pot (Dutch oven) which retains and distributes heat flippantly. I additionally feel it’s safer because it’s deep and it’s heavy so it’s not like to move on the stove.
Air fryers: Sorry, this received’t paintings with an air fryer! The batter is quite moist so it’s not going to properly crisp. feel free to try although, and allow everyone recognise within the feedback the way you went!
if you’re a chunk of fried chicken gourmet, you’ll be aware that Ayam Goreng is pretty a piece darker in color than Southern Fried chicken. this is because of the curry marinade, that has turn out to be a part of the crust. those phrases have to honestly make your knees weak. And lordy, the odor of this chicken!!! She feels faint on the memory
What to serve with Ayam Goreng – Malaysian Fried Chicken
I confess my Malaysian recipe collection is relatively trying. but being a melting pot tradition with a massive chinese population, pretty a good deal any chinese dish can be right at domestic along Ayam Goreng.
Serve it with a side of Fried Rice (or even greater authentically, Jasmine Rice! also see the astonishingly famous Baked Pilaf from in advance this week) and a sparkling Lebanese Salad or Asian Slaw. For something with zing, green Tomato Salad might be sensational on the aspect of this!
Pad Thai Noodles which are served at room temperature would also go very well, as would this Lettuce with Sesame Dressing (honestly, I could eat a whole head of iceberg lettuce with this dressing.)
