Home > Ayam Pelalah (Balinese Chicken)

Ayam Pelalah (Balinese Chicken)

Posting Date: 07/17/17

Ayam Pelalah (Balinese Chicken) is a dish originated in Bali. It is spicy but I have adjusted the recipe to mild. You can definitely tailor it to your preference by adding more chili peppers if you have high tolerance to heat. For the recipe, I use sambal oelek since I cannot find red chili peppers in my Asian stores. The chicken is traditionally grilled but if you cannot grill it, you can also bake it in the oven. After the chicken is cooked, it is shredded and mixed with the spice paste. The recipe calls for toasted shrimp paste. If you cannot find shrimp paste in your Asian store, you can skip it or substitute it with fish sauce. The dish is normally served with warm rice. The rice soaks up the flavor of the spices and also tempers the heat from the chili peppers, making it a good complement to this dish. It is also good to serve it with slices of cucumber and tomato which add freshness.

The recipe serves 3 people.

Ingredients:

To season chicken: 2 teaspoons olive oil or coconut oil
2 pieces of boneless skinless chicken breast
To season chicken: 1/2 teaspoon salt
For spice paste: 5 small shallots, halved
For spice paste: 3 cloves of garlic, halved
For spice paste: 1 teaspoon sambal oelek or 2 red chili pepper, deseeded. If you have high tolerance to heat, you can add more sambal oelek or red chili pepper.
For spice paste: 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
For spice paste: 1/4 teaspoon toasted shrimp paste. If you cannot find shrimp paste, you can skip it or use 1/4 teaspoon fish sauce.
For spice paste: 1 lemongrass, white part only sliced or 1 tablespoon lemongrass paste
1..5 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
pinch of pepper or to taste
1 to 2 limes
Optional: cooked rice

Methods:

Drizzle olive oil or coconut oil on both sides of chicken breast so that it is coated with oil. Sprinkle salt on both side of chicken pieces.
You could either grill the chicken on your BBQ grill or bake it in the oven. If you use the oven, preheat the oven to 350 deg F. If you use the grill, preheat the BBQ.
If you use the oven, line baking sheet with Al foil for easy clean up. Place chicken on baking sheet and place it inside the oven once the oven has reached temperature. Bake it until chicken is cooked to an internal temperature of 165 deg F (about 40 min). Once cooked, take the baking sheet out of the oven. Turn off the oven. If you use the BBQ grill, grill the chicken until the chicken is fully cooked to an internal temperature of 165 deg F.
Let chicken to cool down. Shred the chicken.
While waiting for chicken to cool down, process shallots, garlic, sambal oelek, turmeric powder, shrimp paste, and lemongrass in a food processor until it becomes smooth paste.
Turn on the stove to medium high. Heat up 1.5 tablespoons of vegetable oil on a pan. Add spice paste and bay leaves to the pan. Saute it until it becomes aromatic. Add chicken to the pan. Season it with salt, pepper, and juice from 1 lime. Stir fry it until chicken is fully coated with spice paste. Taste it, add more salt, pepper, or lime juice if needed, and stir fry it to mix the additional seasoning. Turn off the stove.
Transfer the chicken to the serving plate and serve it with cooked rice.

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