Recipe: Fried chicken with deep-fried boemboe from the Java cookbook

Maureen Tan grew up with her parents’ Javanese cuisine. This cuisine can be divided into West, Central and East, each with its own characteristic dishes. In her cookbook Java, Maureen delves even deeper into the cuisine she loves so dearly, resulting in the most delicious recipes, including this fried chicken with deep-fried boemboe.

Maureen: “Indonesians love crispy fried chicken. The chicken is often first cooked in an aromatic sauce and then deep-fried. In this recipe, the coarse boemboe is reduced and then deep-fried and sprinkled over the chicken. Finger-licking good.”

How to make fried chicken with deep-fried boemboe (ayam goreng lengkuas kremes)

• Season the chicken legs and wings with 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of black pepper. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
• Toast the candlenuts and coriander seeds for 2 minutes in a dry frying pan over medium heat. Grind the spices with the remaining salt, the remaining pepper, the shallots, garlic and galangal in a mortar until you have a fine boemboe. If the mortar becomes too full, do this in batches.
• Heat some oil in a pan over medium heat and fry the boemboe in it for about 5 minutes. Add the chicken, salam leaves, shrimp paste, lemongrass and coconut water and bring to a boil. Then lower the heat and simmer with the lid slightly ajar on the pan for 1 hour.
• Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside. Reduce the sauce uncovered until only the boemboe remains. Then remove the lemongrass and salam leaves.
• Heat 1⁄2 litre of oil in a wok over medium heat. Divide the boemboe over the pieces of chicken and deep-fry them in small batches for about 7 minutes until golden brown and crispy. Drain on kitchen paper. As soon as the boemboe is dark brown and crispy, also remove it from the hot oil with a slotted spoon. Drain on kitchen paper.
• Sprinkle the fried boemboe over the chicken and serve with sambal, if desired.

Title: Java
Author: Maureen Tan
Price: €35,-
Publisher: Carrera Culinair

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