Ayam Golek Pekan ~ Pekan's Roasted Chicken

I got attracted by this dish when read Wendy's comment about it. Although I bookmarked immediately but I didn't think of cooking it as looking at the ingredients, they are like aliens to me hahaha...

Until after I cooked Ayam Masak Merak and I have changed my mentality, I thinks that although such dishes may look complicated with the long and unfamiliar ingredients list which I need to jot it down and pass it to the store keepers from the market, they will settle everything for you heeheehee... For the seem long and daunting steps, I  just need some patience to read and follow through, it is not difficult at all. 

So if you are like me, thinking that such dishes are very tough, do give it a try, you might be fell in love of cooking it like me :D.

Like what Wendy has mentioned, this dish just need 4 major steps, it is not difficult to manage even for me.

The 4 major steps are.

1. Blend the ingredients.
2. Boil the chicken in gravy.
3. Roast the chicken
4. Reduce the gravy.

Recipe adapted from Table For Two or More...

Ingredients :
1 whole chicken (1.5-1.8kg) (I used 8 chicken maryland)
10 shallots, peeled
5 cloves garlic, peeled
10 dried red chillies, seeds removed
20gm ginger (clean weight)
20gm galangal (lengkuas, clean weight)
10gm turmeric root (kunyit hidup, clean weight)
1 tsp fenugreek (halba)
1 candlenut (buah keras)
2 lemongrass, smashed
300ml coconut milk
50gm tamarind pulp (with seeds) + 1 cup water
*1 cup water or more
1 tsp salt
3-4 tsp sugar
Banana leaf for lining the tray

Method for whole chicken :
1. Soak tamarind pulp with water for 10 minutes. Rub the tamarind pulp to wash the seeds clean. Strain the tamarind water and discard the remnants. Save the tamarind water.
2. Place tamarind water, shallots, garlic, chilli, galangal, ginger, turmeric and candlenut into a blender and blend until fine. Pour this into a wok.
3. Put lemongrass, fenugreek, coconut milk, 1 cup water (omit if using chicken parts), salt and sugar into the wok. Bring to a boil.
4. Place chicken into the boiling gravy (breast side down, for chicken parts, I face the skin part upwards) and bring to a boil. (gravy should be half way up the chicken, if not add more water) Lower to medium low heat, cover with lid and cook for 15 minutes. Flip the chicken to back side down and cook for another 15 minutes, this time, watching closely so that it doesn’t burn. Bathe the top with gravy and try to scoop some of the boiling gravy into the cavity.
5. Line baking tray with banana leaf (about A4size or broken pieces but overlap each other. Pls grease the banana leaves too as I didn't, the chicken tucked with the banana leaves). Remove chicken from the wok, let the gravy drip off and place onto the lined tray.
6. Bake at 180(fan)/200C for 30 minutes or until the chicken is beautifully golden.
7. Meanwhile, reduce the gravy until it looks thick like satay sauce. Taste it, if it’s too sour, add more sugar. (Wendy used about 1 cup, I used 3/4 cup and my family thinks that is too sweet)
8. Remove chicken from oven and generously brush on the reduced gravy (I brushed 2/3 of the gravy).
9. Return chicken to oven and bake at the same temperature for another 10 minutes.

Method for Chicken Parts: 

1. Soak tamarind pulp with water for 10 minutes. Rub the tamarind pulp to wash the seeds clean. Strain the tamarind water and discard the remnants. Save the tamarind water.
2. Place tamarind water, shallots, garlic, chilli, galangal, ginger, turmeric and candlenut into a blender and blend until fine. Pour this into a wok.
3. Put lemongrass, fenugreek, coconut milk, salt and sugar into the wok. Bring to a boil.
4. Place chicken into the boiling gravy (skin part facing upwards) and bring to a boil. (gravy should be half way up the chicken, if not add some water) Lower to medium low heat, cover with lid and cook for 5 minutes. Flip the chicken to skin side down and cook for another 5 minutes.
5. Line baking tray with banana leaf (about A4size or broken pieces but overlap each other. Pls grease the banana leaves too as I didn't, the chicken tucked with the banana leaves). Remove chicken from the wok, let the gravy drip off and place onto the lined tray.
6. Bake at 180(fan)/200C for 20 minutes or until the chicken is beautifully golden. Start the chicken with skin facing downwards, bake for 10 mins. Then flip the chicken and bake for another 10 mins.
7. Meanwhile, reduce the gravy until it looks thick like satay sauce. Taste it, if it’s too sour, add more sugar. (Wendy used about 1 cup, I used 3/4 cup and my family thinks that is too sweet)
8. Remove chicken from oven and generously brush on the reduced gravy at both side.
9. Return chicken to oven with chicken skin facing downwards and bake at the same temperature for 5 minutes.

10. Remove chicken from oven and generously brush on the reduced gravy at both side.

11. Return chicken to oven with chicken skin facing upwards and bake at the same temperature for another 5 minutes.

Wendy tried marinating the parts for 2 hours and the chicken flesh turned slightly mushy due to being in contact with the raw ginger and galangal for too long.

Verdict:
This is tasted almost like Ayam Percik but not as strong lemongrass taste as my Ayam Percik. This is a sweet version type, dear son love it a lot, he kept asking for more. The chicken meat is very tender probably due to the boiling. A keeper as well.