Kay Pachok (Skewered Chicken)

My mother told me that when she was a little girl, Kay Pachok was one of her favorite dishes. There was never enough of Kay Pachok to go around and she used to fantasize about growing up and earning money to be able to afford a whole badang (tray) of Kay Pachok all to herself. Ah, the things we dream of!

"Kay" is chicken in Hokkien and "Pachok" is our Terengganu dialect for the Malay word "pacak" which means spike. It refers to the long skewers/spikes (lidi) made from the midrib of the  coconut palm frond or bamboo.

Kay Pachok is made from chicken pieces skewered onto coconut (or are they bamboo?) skewers which are about 12 inches longs. A sort of giant version of the satay. The chicken pieces are steamed and then coated with a thick fragrant spice mix and cooked further on a charcoal grill. It is then wrapped in banana leaves for that extra fragrance.

I attempted this dish for the second time and it was quite successful. The first time was a disaster because I mistook fennel powder for corriander powder. My spice rack needs to be more organised to avoid such mistakes from occurring again. I could not find 12 inch skewers and opted for satay sticks instead.

Kay Pachok can be made with chicken pieces with bone on or without. I personally prefer with bone on as I feel it tastes better. A word of caution. When skewering the chicken, take care not to poke your fingers. Or conversely, if you have difficulty poking the chicken like I did, stop and examine your satay stick. I realized that I was trying to poke it with the blunt end of the satay stick. ***Blur***

The recipe below is adapted from my Aunt's recipe scrap book.

Kay Pachok (Skewered Chicken)

- 4  chicken legs, each cut into 5 pieces.

For spice mix :
- 4 dried chillies, soaked to soften (deseed if you don't want too hot)
- 5 fresh chillies (deseed if you don't want too hot)
- 400g shallots
- 15g lengkuas
- 30g gula Melaka (palm sugar)
- 35g belacan (prawn paste)
- 50g kerisik (recipe here or can use ready made kerisik)
- 1 tablespoon corriander powder
- 1 teaspoon fennel powder
- 1 packet coconut milk (200 ml)

7 satay sticks


Method :
For spice mix :
- blend chillies, shallots, lengkuas, gula Melaka, belacan and kerisik.
- Put blended ingredients into a saucepot and add corriander and fennel powder. Mix.
- Add santan and stir to mix.
- Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer for about 10 minutes.
- Set aside.

For the chicken :
- Skewer 3 pieces of chicken per satay stick.
- Steam the chicken pieces over rapidly boiling water for about 5 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 180C and line a baking tray with foil (to make cleaning easier).
- Place skewered chicken onto tray and coat with a layer of spice mix.
- Grill for about 40 minutes, basting with the spice mix every 10 minutes until chicken pieces are well coated and the spice mix is browned.

 

I am submitting this post to Malaysian Food Fest, Terengganu Month hosted by Lena of frozen wings.