Ajam Betawi

Preparation – 10 minutes

Peel the shallots and cloves of garlic, then chop them coarsely. Optionally remove the seeds from the spanish pepper. Puree the shallots, cloves of garlic and spanish pepper into a ‘boemboe’. You can achieve this using a mortar and pestle, a small blender or very finely chopped using a chefs knife.

Add in 1 teaspoon of white pepper and 1. 5 teaspoons ground cumin seeds.

Clean the chicken breasts or chicken thighs and cut them into chunks.

Finishing the ajam betawi – 20 minutes

Heat up a layer of sunflower oil (or any other neutral oil) in a deep skillet or wok.

Coat the chicken pieces with a thin layer of flour. Deep fry the chicken in the hot oil, until crunchy. It's best to deep-fry the chicken in batches, to prevent them from sticking together and becoming nice and crunchy.

Remove most of the oil from the pan and heat up again. Quickly sauté the boemboe for several minutes. Add in palm sugar, you can crumble, cut or grate it into smaller bits to allow it to dissolve quicker.

Squeeze in the juice from a lime and 100 ml ketjap manis. Let the sauce boil softly, then add in the chicken again. Season with some salt.

Serve the ajam betawi with cooked rice, enjoy your meal!