Indonesian Grilled Chicken (Ayam Bakar)

Whenever I am in Indonesia, I always ask my sis to bring me to Ayam Bakar Ganthari in Blok M, Jakarta. We'd indulge in a few pieces (!) of chicken each (I was embarrassed enough listening to the service team's whispering and giggling not to order more. Don't get it wrong, they are all lovely people, super friendly and all smiles, but our way of ordering as if we were just back from a place where chickens do not exist inevitably calls for some whispers hehe), lots of side dishes: chicken liver, chicken gizzard, tofu, tempe aka soy bean cake, all grilled to perfection, with chilli sauce and lots of kecap manis. It's not a surprise that we weren't crazy about the salad hehe (it's not the salad, it's us)

Ayam Bakar Ganthari is the second best ayam bakar I've tried so far. The best one, ironically, is ayam bakar from Ayam Goreng 99, Kingsford, Sydney. They are similar in taste, but the chickens in Sydney are bigger HAHA. Size does matter for me.

I did not hope that I could duplicate how they do the chicken, as I don't even have a charcoal grill for a start ^_^ So, finally I did my own version of ayam bakar...it's not ganthari, but...it did a good job relieving me from my serious ayam bakar craving. (In case you were wondering, sadly, I found NO Indonesian restaurant in Hong Kong that serves decent ayam bakar)

Ingredients
(serves 2)
- 4 boneless chicken thigh fillet, leave skin on, trim excess fat off (you can also get whole chicken legs - upper & lower thigh)
- 200 ml coconut milk
- garlic, shallot, ginger, palm sugar, corriander seeds, salt, red chilli, pepper, lime juice, olive oil, ground to form a paste

Rub chicken pieces with the paste, don't forget to rub some between chicken meat and skin, let it rest in the fridge for minimum 1 hr, or overnight for better result. Pre-heat oven to 200 C, boil the marinated chicken pieces in coconut milk until the meat is cooked through, keep the coconut milk. Grill chicken pieces until the skin turned brown, pour some coconut milk sauce from time to time to prevent them from drying out. Pour some of the sauce when serving. This is perfect with steamed rice. Get your hands dirty, don't use utensils ;)

PS. Sous chef loves this flavorful chicken dish :)