Ayam Kalasan // Kalasan Style Chicken

We spent our Christmas vacation in Indonesia with our family. On the way to Singapore, where we also stayed over two nights at my best girl friend's place, we had nine hours in Frankfurt before catching the next flight. We went to the city and it was so damn cold (-15C). We ended up wandering around in Frankfurt's latest shopping mall and meeting friends. I used to work together with her hubby and it's been 11 years that we didn't see each other. They moved to Frankfurt last October and when I knew it, I asked her to meet up.


Our flight to Singapore was delayed due to the weather and also overbooking. There even many passengers flying with children who had been waiting from the day before to get in to the flight. We could get our seats but then hubby offered ours for the parents and able to take the compensation and fly the next morning. Our names were called in the end. I thought they gave us the compensation money but they told us that we were upgraded to the business class. WOW.. what a nice surprise! Thanks to hubby actually. Arrived in Singapore and we didn't feel any jet-lag since we could sleep well. We did enjoy Jurong Bird Park so much and we're impressed by Singapore public transport system. The MRT, the subway, is modern, clean, comfortable and affordable.


Our stay in Jakarta was filled with family Christmas gathering and also with a one-week-Java-by-land, our family vacation. One week wasn't enough actually to discover 4 cities. I just put some pictures from our vacation to the net and I miss my family, friends and the good food by looking all of those pictures. One of our favorite menu was Ayam Kalasan, Kalasan style (fried/grilled) chicken which we had for lunch in Via-Via. I asked my aunty-mom for the recipe. I've never thought that it's so simple. Kalasan is located in the east of Jogjakarta.


Source: Lucia Bintoro

Ingredients:
8 pieces of chicken
150 gr palm sugar
3 cm ginger -- crushed
Tamarind pulp -- get the juice
Salt to season
Water

To grind:
6 cloves garlic
6 shallots (I substituted with onions)


Directions:
Wash the chicken pieces with salt and lime juice. Drain and wash again
Sauté the grind garlic/onion until fragrant. Add the chicken pieces, palm sugar, crushed ginger, tamarind, salt and water. Cook until the chicken is set over a small heat. You can fry or bake or grill. Serve warm immediately with steamed rice and vegetables