Ayam Tempra ~ Tarty Spicy Chicken

A delicious nonya chicken dish that is spiced with chillies, sweetened with palm sugar and made slightly tarty with lime juice.

I prefer to cook dishes like these a few hours before the meal to let the meat absorb in more of the flavour.

Ingredients
1.4 kg chicken pieces, cut to bite size

Marinate
1 tsp belacan (shrimp paste)
1½ Tbsp palm sugar
3 Tbsp kicap manis
1 Tbsp water


1 onion, sliced thick
2 red chillies, sliced
4 clove garlic, mashed
1-2 stalk lemongrass, sliced thick
3 tahitian/kaffir lime leaf (optional)
3 Tbsp lime juice
½ tsp salt to taste
1 Tbsp oil

Method
1. Mash belacan with palm sugar, water and kicap manis until smooth.

2. Mix with the chicken pieces and marinate for at least 1 hour.

3. Heat oil and fry onions, chillies, garlic and lemongrass for 2 minutes.

4. Add chicken (do not add the marinating liquid yet) and fry until brown. Then add in the marinating liquid and lime leaves .

5. Lower heat and cook until chicken is tender. If the chicken is too dry, add a bit of water (I did not need to add any).

6. Add lime juice and salt to taste. Serve hot.


Note :
1. I added an additional ½ Tbsp of lemon juice and 1 tsp tamarind juice to give it that extra 'tang'. I suspect my variety of lime were not tart enough.

2. Our chicken here ooze a lot of liquid during the cooking process hence I seldom have to add water. It will look dry at start but after 5-10 minutes of cooking on low heat with the lid on, the chicken will literally be swimming in stock.

Recipe : Shiok Exciting Tropical Asian Flavors by Terry and Christopher Tan (adapted)