Recipe: Asam Pedas Ayam

Hubs has been pestering me to make his favourite, Asam Pedas Ayam for a few weeks already but we have been busy going out every weekend for events or simply to spend all the money we earn at shopping malls, for the past month. And weeknights are almost impossible with Ramadhan traffic. So I haven't been going into the kitchen cooking at all since the first day of Ramadhan.

But I finished work slightly earlier today and traffic was a breeze. So we drove to Cold Storage Jaya One, bought everything I needed, picked the kids up and rushed home before the traffic madness begun.

So here is the recipe for Asam Pedas Ayam. This recipe is for us to eat in two separate meals (we freeze food so we can eat a relatively good homecooked dish on a busy day). Or for a family of six - if you are preparing for one meal.

Ingredients A
3 quarter of a medium size chicken (deskinned, cleaned)
1 torch ginger (bunga Kantan)
Daun Kesum 
1 lemongrass (serai)

Ingredients B
7 shallots (bawang merah)
5 cloves of garlics (bawang putih)
1" ginger (halia muda)
1" turmeric (kunyit hidup)
A small bowl of dried chilli (about 30 pieces - cut, boiled and tossed. And if you have small children, avoid touching the chilli with your hand)
Shrimp paste, about the size of your thumb (belacan)

Ingredients C
1 table spoon of black pepper (I use powdered black pepper)
Tamarind juice (air asam jawa)
Sugar, salt & water

Directions
1. Blend ingredients B
2. Heat up the pan, put about 3 table spoon of cooking oil
3. Stir fry the blended ingredients together with lemongrass (cut into 3 pieces and pounded lightly) until slightly dry
4. Add in the chicken, torch ginger, daun kesum and stir well. Cover the pan, leave it for about 5 minutes
5. Add in tamarind juice, black pepper, salt, sugar and cover the pan. Leave to boil
6. Add in water and cover. Stir occasionally. Cook until slightly dry. Asam Pedas Ayam is usually drier than Asam Pedas Ikan.
7. Serve and be prepared to receive a kiss from your hubby!