Ayam bakar bumbu Ayam Goreng Kokita

Grilled chicken

You can get these packets of Indonesian chicken marinade in the supermarket or in the Asian grocer. You see, with 6 religions in the country, everyone is averse to consuming some sort of meat products. The Muslims don't eat pork products, the Hindus avoid beef products, and then you have minorities Buddhists who are vegans like my great aunts. Chicken, like the national anthem, unifies the country from Sabang to Merauke and I believe that it is for this reason that Indonesians develop such diverse ways of cooking chickens. I almost feel obligated to spell chicken with a capital C.

Bumbu Ayam Goreng is intended to be used as a marinade for fried chicken but considering the fuss of deep frying (and the calories), I opted for oven grilling and the result is just as good and healthier despite missing the crispy marinade that you'd get if you had deep fry the chicken.

Bumbu ayam goreng Kokita

I had made this a few times and if I may suggest to anyone out there who are thinking about doing this at home, it would be to cut the chicken into thicker chunks because you'd shrink the chicken while simmering and grilling (see pack for recipe detail).

Ayam bakar

I'd serve this with steamed rice, some Indonesian salad/lalapan of blanched cabbage (kol), cucumber (timun) and spicy sambal. Otherwise, you could pack it into a lunch as I'm doing with rice and just some side vegies. :)