Rendang Ayam Tua / Old Chicken Rendang Recipe

Rendang Ayam Tua / Old Chicken Rendang Recipe

   March 19, 2020       Lyn Alina

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As promised, this is another delicious Malay recipe that I prepared along with lontong (compressed rice eaten with vegetables soup cooked in coconut milk)  a few days ago.
Chicken rendang is a must-have dish among Malaysian and Indonesian especially during Hari Raya.
Chicken rendang is best eaten with ketupat (compressed rice cooked in woven coconut leaves) and lemang (glutinuous rice cooked with coconut milk in a bamboo stick), along with other side dishes such as lodeh and peanut sambal.

When talking about chicken rendang, I remembered about a critique on chicken rendang dish prepared by a Malaysian contestant, named Ms Zaleha Kadir during her participation on the MasterChef UK Season 14 in 2018.
The news caused a widespread sensation especially in Malaysia and a lot of people had reacted to the issue, expressing their opinions on the critique.
Her rendang was critisized for not being crispy according to the judges, so, she was eliminated.
Yes, of course the chicken in rendang isn't crispy since we cook the chicken in the rendang gravy to let the marinates diffuse into the chicken.
This is the uniqueness of this dish, with soft yet tender chicken flesh rich in the flavors of herbs, chilies and coconut milk, and the addition of kaffir lime leaves  and lemon grass in rendang adding an aromatic, tangy, fresh, astrigent flavors into it.

The spiciness in rendang usually comes from the chilies added into it, blended together with onions, garlic, ginger, turmeric, galangal and lemongrass until smooth.
As for the chilies, you can choose either to use dried red chilies; boiled and have the some of the seeds removed or green cili padi (bird's eye chilies).
The usage of the chilies will determine the color of your rendang with red colored if you're using dried red chilies and green colored if you're using the latter.
Rendang which using green cili padi  is usually called rendang Negeri Sembilan.
My mum used to cook rendang Negeri Sembilan, where the spices does not need to be fried until pecah minyak (oil separates) like preparing dried chilies rendang.
It's easier with less amount of oil used.

While beef rendang is our first option to be prepared during Hari Raya (since the chicken I reserve for making Ayam Masak Kicap), occasionally, I'll cook old chicken rendang.
I like to use old chicken or Ayam Kampung in my rendang as their meat is firmer, particularly the old chicken and usually the flesh is not easily detaches from its bone despite of long cooking hour, unlike the regular chicken.
On top of that, the meat is leaner with less amount of fat.
if you're using old chicken to make your rendang, you may need to extend the cooking time and add a lot of water to simmer until the chicken is tender and the flesh is easily detach from its bone.
It took me about 1 hour and 30 minutes to cook the chicken over low heat.

I bought 2 packets of original palm sugar ( gula Melaka) about two months ago, so I was so excited to add some of it into my old chicken rendang.
I've never tried adding palm sugar in my rendang before, so this was my first trial.
Original palm sugar has distinct texture and taste which is different from most of the palm sugar available in the groceries stores.
It is soft and crumbly, that you can break it without the aid of a knife, unlike the palm sugar that is heavily added with white sugar.
It is also rich in smoky flavor and is more expensive.
It is quite difficult to be found in groceries stores, so I bought it online.

RENDANG AYAM TUA

(OLD CHICKEN RENDANG RECIPE)

Cuisine : Malaysian, Indonesian, Nyonya

Serve : 8

Ingredients:

1 old chicken - cut into 12 pieces

6 kaffir lime leaves - stalk removed

2 turmeric leaves - stalk removed and tore into small parts

2 tamarind slices (asam gelugor)

2 litres of water

250 ml of thick coconut milk/coconut cream -I used KARA

2 tablespoons of kerisik (coconut paste)

1/2 palm sugar

sugar to taste

salt to taste

1 small ladle of vegetable oil

Ingredients to be ground:

15 dried red chilies - boil until soft, rinse and seeds removed

2 inch of turmeric

2 inch of ginger

2 inch of galangal

2 stalk of lemon grass - thinly sliced

7 shallots (or more if the size is smaller)

5 cloves of garlic

1/2 onion

Instructions:

1. Clean the chicken thoroughly and remove the skins with a lot of fat attached to them.
2. Finely ground the ingredients needed to be ground using a blender, food processor or mortal and pestle.
3. Heat oil in a wok and add in the blended spices.  Saute for about 20 minutes, until the oil begin to separates from the paste and the paste is darken.
4. Add in the chicken pieces, water and salt.  Cover and let it simmer over low heat for one to one and half hour, until the chicken is tender.  Add more water if necessary.
5. Next, add kaffir lime leaves, turmeric leaves, palm sugar, kerisik, tamarind slices and coconut milk or cream.  Add more salt and sugar to adjust the taste.  Cook for another few minutes, to let the flavors well rounded and the gravy is thickened.

#TIPS#

Cooking rendang with using old chicken is time consuming since the meat is harder than regular chicken.  You may reduce the cooking time by using a pressure cooker to cook your rendang.  Cover your pan while simmering the gravy over low heat will help the to tenderize the chicken faster.

If you prefer to thinly slice the kaffir lime and turmeric leaves,  reserve 1 or 2 sheets of each leaf to be thinly sliced and sprinkle over the rendang just before you turn off the heat.