Ayam Rica-rica
This speciality comes from Manado, North Sulawesi. Rica means chilli in local language. This region is well-known as their delicious spicy food. So it’s not unusual for them to cook the meal with lot of chillies. Like this one. My aunt in Surabaya used to make it while they were having a celebration, even though she is not from that area. But since most of her friends are from there, she likes to treat them with their meal. And of course sometimes I also got some part. Missing all the delicious food I left behind in Indonesia, I start learning to cook them. This was my first attempt to make Ayam Rica-rica and it turned out really yummy.
Category: Poultry (Chicken)
Difficulty: Medium
Preparing time: 45 minutes
INGREDIENTS
– 1 whole chicken or 1 kg chicken, cut into 4 or 6 small pieces
– 1-2 tablespoons lime juice
– 2 small fresh tomatoes, cut into small pieces
– 2 fresh kaffir lime leaves – thinly sliced
– 1 stalk of lemongrass (sereh/serai), take the white part only
– 2 stalks of Basil Leaves (Lemon, Thai or European basil) – optional
– Salt and sugar to taste
Spice Paste
– 10 red chillies
– 5 bird’s eyes chillies
– 5 shallots or 1 small red onion
– 3 teaspoons grated ginger
DIRECTIONS
1. Marinate the chicken with salt and lime juice and leave them for 30 minutes.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons vegetables oil in a wok over medium heat and sauté the spice paste until fragrant then add the tomatoes, kaffir lime leaves, lemon grass, salt , sugar and around 200 water. Add the chicken and cook half-done. Take the chicken from the sauce. Then add basil to the sauce and cook until the sauce is absorbed. Set aside.
3. Grill the chicken on a barbeque grill or in an oven over moderate heat until done. When it’s done serve with the rest of sauce.
4. Serving suggestion: can be eaten with plain rice (nasi putih), cooked vegetables with grated coconut (urap-urap sayur), crispy rice flour cracker (rempeyek)