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The Fried Chicken 100 · make it at home

Ayam goreng Kalasan with kremesan crumbs and sambal

1 hr simmer, 30 min to fry · 4, with rice

Java's fried chicken is cooked twice: simmered first in a turmeric, galangal and candlenut spice broth until it's seasoned to the bone, then fried briefly for a dark, crisp skin. The leftover broth becomes kremesan, a lacy crisp crumble to scatter on top.

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The real one

You need

• 1.2 kg (2 1/2 lb) chicken pieces, bone in (a free-range bird if you can)
• Spice paste: 6 shallots, 5 garlic cloves, 4 candlenuts (or macadamias), 3 cm (1 1/4 in) fresh turmeric (or 1 tsp ground), 1 tsp coriander seeds, toasted
• 2 lemongrass stalks, bruised; 3 cm (1 1/4 in) galangal, sliced; 4 salam or makrut lime leaves
• 400 ml (1 2/3 cups) coconut water (or water), 1 1/2 tsp fine salt, 1 tbsp palm sugar
• Kremesan: 4 tbsp rice flour, 1 tbsp tapioca starch, 1 egg yolk
• Oil for frying, about 1.5 liters (1 1/2 quarts)
• Sambal: 6 red chillies, 2 bird's-eye chillies, 2 shallots, 1 garlic clove, 1 tomato, pinch of salt and sugar, squeeze of lime

How to make it

1. Paste (5 min): Blend the shallots, garlic, candlenuts, turmeric and coriander to a smooth paste with a splash of the coconut water.
2. Simmer (45 to 60 min): Put the chicken, paste, lemongrass, galangal, leaves, coconut water, salt and palm sugar in a wide pot. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook 20 minutes, then uncover and simmer, turning the pieces, until the liquid has nearly gone and the chicken is tender, 25 to 35 minutes more. Cool the chicken on a rack and save 250 ml (1 cup) of the spice broth (top up with water if needed).
3. Kremesan batter (2 min): Whisk the reserved broth with the rice flour, tapioca and egg yolk until very thin, like milk.
4. Fry (5 min a batch): Heat oil to 180°C (355°F). Fry the chicken 4 to 5 minutes until the skin is deep brown and crisp; it's already cooked. Drain. Then drizzle the kremesan batter into the oil from a height with your fingers in a thin stream; it will bubble into a lacy net. Fry until golden, 2 to 3 minutes, lift out with a spider and drain.
5. Sambal and serve (5 min): Fry the sambal ingredients in a spoon of oil for 3 minutes, then pound or blitz to a rough paste with salt, sugar and lime. Serve the chicken on rice, buried in crumbled kremesan, with sambal and raw cucumber, cabbage and basil (lalapan).

Tips

• You can simmer the chicken a day ahead and fry it just before eating.
• For Malaysian ayam goreng berempah, add 1 tsp each cumin and fennel and a sprig of curry leaves to the paste, and skip the simmer: marinate 2 hours, then fry 12 minutes.

Chef Amazing's own home version, in our words; not any restaurant's recipe.