Before 'Ayam Goreng Berempah' came to town, we Malaysians had only three of fried chicken to reckon with. One the yellow fried chicken mainly seasoned with salt and turmeric, secondly when KFC seasoning hit the supermarket shelves, you had a lot of that going around and lastly the suspiciously reddish version the mamaks dish out, a poor copycat of the yogurt marinated chicken tandoori.
Now, traditionally Indian aunties loved to cook their chooks well. This process usually involves long hours of marination with the mandatory trinity of grounded onion-garlic-ginger to be followed by turmeric, chilly powder, curry powder and salt. This is because the natural raw smell of chicken is considered offputting and also the blood and raw meat rather 'dark' in nature. So these marination is supposed to purify it. And the chicken need to be fried thoroughly to almost charred, no half cooked business here. Otherwise, Indian uncles refused to eat their chickens.
Then one fine day, one Indian aunty out of the generosity of her heart in her ample buxom, packed a few pieces of her fried chook to a Malay neighbour. You see all these 'Ayam rendang' and 'Ayam masak merah' hv been the stars of the show at Malay homes but now like ageing actresses in cinemas, having done their time, the human tastebuds as usual wants new stuff. So as the Malay neighbour savoured her Indian neighbour's chooks, she thought, why not i add a piece of serai to the equation and hence, 'Ayam Goreng Berempah' was born and made halal. It became a smash hit in Nasi Lemak stalls first the it took over everything else. Now Ayam goreng berempah is the rage.
So with that image of ayam goreng berempah lurking somewhere in the back of my mind, when i saw these jumbo sized drumstick at Carrefour counter looking amazingly fresh, something clicked. I packed up 10 pieces.
Back home, before i changed my mind and dumped by chook legs into the freezer, i unleased the whole works for the marinade.
Ground onion/garlic/ginger, powdered cumin/coriander/fennel, chilly powder, turmeric powder, salt and a sprinkling of curry leaves. Rest for 12 hours in fridge. I decided to bake instead of frying. For basting i improvised with some tomato sauce diluted and a dash of bbq sauce and honey. Verdict- not bad at all but can't beat the fried version. The crispier the better.
Just then i thought about my 18mth old. Although the little rice and sambar eater is quite content with what he is served, there are some days when it is better to have something else on standby.
So i thought the time is opportune for me to finally try out making Yorkshire Pudding, i had looked at the recipe for the last 20 years and hesitated. But finally when that saliva splurting Oliver chef poured his batter into sizzling muffin trays, i was sold on the idea. It looked easy enough to make and i was curious to see the batter rise as high as ive seen it done. So i whisked an egg, 300ml milk, a cup flour and salt and let rest for 10mins only. Who has time for 30 mins, huff!
Now, as usual my Malaysian taste buds wanted something extra in it. A kick. A punch. I cant add chilly. It will be rejected immediately by my hero. So i scraped a potato, half a carrot and chopped up an onion. While i fired up the a teaspoon of oil each in the muffin mould, i thought why not throw the onion/potato/carrots in there to cook first. After about 10mins, i poured in the batter, shut the oven and waited with bated breath.
Ahah! Should have gone higher but hey as long as it is good enough to eat. Verdict-scrumptious. A cross between Portugese tart and cucur bawang. You'll see more of that coming from my oven soon.
I got some gravy going on there with the chicken drippings. Just reduced it over heat and added a dash of honey and lime juice. No need for flour or butter. Light and nice. Ah, too tired to think about the greens, will make up for it tomorrow.
