Ayam Goreng Betawi

I had this gorgeous fried chicken with 'lots of tasty serbuk' at a restaurant & tried to figure the recipe out for many months. When I finally got it right, it bacame my children's craze!! I totally love the 'dust' sprinkled on plain white rice & the chicken is so moist but crunchy on the outside. Ayam Goreng from heaven....

Ingredients to blend coarsely:

• 12 small red onions
• 6 cloves garlic
• 2 thumb-sized ginger
• 15 dried chillies, deseeded & soaked in hot water
• 4 stalks lemongrass (serai), sliced
• 1/2 palm-sized galangal (lengkuas)
• 1 thumb-sized turmeric root (kunyit hidup)
• 12 chicken pieces
• 2 tsp salt

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients in a heavy pan.
2. Cook covered, on low fire for about 10 minutes or until the gravy has thickened.
3. Remove from heat. Allow the chicken & thickened gravy to cool and marinate together.
4. Heat oil for deep-frying. When the oil is hot, fry the chicken on high fire.
5. After the chicken have been removed, fry the thickened gravy in stages.
6. Sprinkle the yummy 'dust' all over the chicken. I put the extra 'dust' in a bottle & my kids like to sprinkle it over their rice.