Ayam Masak Sambal Kicap

There was a time when I was addicted to nasi campur and I would visit my favorite food stall every work day and get my fill of Malay food. 

In Damansara Uptown, the area between Maybank and AmBank used to be populated with many food vendors ranging from nasi campur, rojak, goreng pisang and chee cheong fun. That was back in the early 1990's.

Then one day, all the vendors were shooed away (to the Uptown food court) because that area was earmarked for development. It took almost 10 years for the said development to come to fruition and deprived many of us of our nearby  nasi campur fix.

I remember my favorite stall was manned by one very colorful kakak. She had bright makeup on and her food was fantastic. It was from her that I learnt to appreciate tempoyak, when she offered me some which she made at home. 

Then there was Restoran RN (since closed) which was situated opposite Standard Chartered Bank. That was also my favorite haunt until they sadly closed shop some years ago.

Well, I miss my nasi campur dishes and I dug out Kak Liza's Senangnya Memasak Ayam and chose this recipe. Now who doesn't like ayam masak kicap? Ooooo....give me ayam masak kicap and a big plate of rice please!

There are many versions of ayam masak kicap and this one is pretty good. But I hit a snag with my blender (as mentioned here) when I made the spice paste. Gah!!

But all's well that ends well because my rempah turned out alright. There are many more recipes to explore and I shall make it a point to fulfill my nasi campur fix at home.

Ayam Mask Sambal Kicap

Recipe source : Adapted from Kak Liza's Senangnya Memasak Ayam

Ingredients :

- 1kg chicken, chopped

- 2 stalks lemongrass, smashed

- 5 kaffir lime leaves

- 2 ripe tomatoes, cut into small cubes

- 5 tbsp sweet soya sauce (kicap manis)

- 1 tbsp dark soya sauce

- salt to taste (do this at the end, depending on how salty your soya sauce is)

Spice paste, blended :

- 20 dried chillies

- 8 shallots

- 3 big onions

- 5 cloves garlic

- 1" ginger

Method :

1. Heat oil in pan and saute the blended spice paste with lemongrass until fragrant and slight dry (garing).

2. Add chicken and mix with the fried spice paste.

3. Add kafir lime leaves, tomatoes, sweet and dark soya sauce.

4. Simmer until chicken is cooked.

5. Taste and if necessary, add salt.

Note :

- I did not add any water when cooking because the chicken and tomatoes released moisture while cooking.

- When the chicken was done, the gravy was still watery. I removed the chicken and continued to simmer the gravy until it was thick.