Ayam Bakar (Grilled Chicken) | Indonesian Food Recipes

Ayam bakar is a generic term to refer various kinds of Indonesian dish of charcoal-grilled chicken. Ayam bakar literally means "roasted chicken" in Indonesian.
In Java, the chicken is usually marinated with the mixture of kecap manis (sweet soy sauce) and coconut oil, applied with a brush during grilling. The bumbu spices mixture may vary among regions, but usually it consists of combination of ground shallot, garlic, chili pepper, coriander, tamarind juice, candlenut, turmeric, galangal and salt. In Java ayam bakar usually tastes rather sweet because the generous amount of sweet soy sauce either as marination or dipping sauce. While the ayam bakar of Minangkabau (Padang), Bali and Lombok, and most of Sumatra, usually more spicier and reddish in color because the generous amount of chili pepper, turmeric and other spices, and the absent of sweet soy sauce.

Ingredient

• 3 lbs chicken thighs or drumsticks
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 3 teaspoons ground black pepper (feel free to just eyeball this)
• 3 teaspoons sambal ulek (available in Asian markets and even many grocery stores) or Sriracha sauce
• 2 tablespoons grated onion (just use the large hole on your cheese grater; again, eyeballing this is fine)
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 2 tablespoons dark or regular soy sauce (the dark adds a nice touch, and is available in Asian markets)
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons peanut or other oil

Method

Make slices in the skin and flesh of the chicken. This helps the chicken soak up more of the flavor. Combine all other ingredients in a bowl or a large zip-lock bag and rub all over the chicken. Cover or zip the bag and leave for at least an hour (it can sit overnight if you want to make it up the night before).
Heat your grill until it is glowing hot. Cook straight through – I do thighs for 15 minutes on each side. Be careful not to let the flames touch the skin and burn it – the skin is delicious and you’ll want all of it for the flavor.
Pretty easy, right? And delicious. I like to serve it with rice. A fairly plain vegetable will be fine to compliment because it has so much flavor. Enjoy!