Home > Ayam Penyet (Smashed Fried Chicken)

Ayam Penyet (Smashed Fried Chicken)

Posting Date: 08/30/16

Ayam Penyet (Smashed Fried Chicken) is a dish from East Java in Indonesia. Ayam means chicken. Penyet means smashed. It is called Ayam Penyet because the chicken is smashed with a pestle with the chili paste placed underneath the chicken to make it softer and flavorful because the chili paste sticks to the chicken when it is smashed. The remaining chili paste is served on the side. Dishes from East Java are normally hot and spicy and thus, this dish is also hot from the chili paste. However, you can tone it down by using less chili peppers. To make this dish, I use sambal oelek since it is sometimes difficult to find fresh red chili peppers in my Asian stores. I use Huy Fong brand for sambal oelek since they don't add shrimp paste or garlic to it and thus, I got the chili pepper I need without any other flavors I don't want. The ingredients of the chili paste consist of terasi (shrimp paste), tomato, garlic, shallots, sugar, and lime.

To make this dish, the chicken is first boiled in the water with the spice paste. The spice paste used might be different from 1 chef to another. Thus, the taste could vary because of it. Once it is cooked, it is then fried until golden brown. As mentioned before, the chili paste is placed under the chicken and the chicken is smashed with a pestle before being served. It is normally served with warm rice and chili paste. The chili paste can also taste slightly different from 1 chef to another because of the ingredients used. It is sometimes served with slices of cucumber and tomato on the side. You eat them with a little bit of chili paste. The cucumber and tomato add freshness to the dish.

Even though the dish is from East Java, it can be found in other parts in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. It has become very popular in those neighboring countries.

This dish serves for 4 people.

Ingredients:

For spice paste: 4 cloves of garlic, halved
For spice paste: 1/2 tablespoon turmeric powder
For spice paste: 1" ginger, sliced
For spice paste: 1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
For spice paste: 1 teaspoon salt
8 chicken drumsticks. You can also use any other chicken parts instead of drumsticks.
4 cups water
2 bay leaves
2 lemongrass, white part only, smashed the white part with a knife
For chili paste: 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
For chili paste: 3 small shallots or 1 large shallot, sliced. It will be processed in food processor after sauteing.
For chili paste: 1 cloves garlic, sliced. It will be processed in food processor after sauteing.
For chili paste: 1/2 tomato, diced
For chili paste: 2 tablespoons sambal oelek. If you can find red chili pepper, you can use them instead of sambal oelek. You can use 3 red chili peppers or more or less depending on your tolerance to heat. If you don't like heat, you can remove the seeds and ribs before putting them in the food processor. I use Huy Fong brand for sambal oelek since they don't add shrimp paste or garlic to it and thus, I got the chili pepper I need without any other flavors I don't want.
For chili paste: 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
For chili paste: 1 tablespoon brown sugar
For chili paste: 1 tablespoon cooked/toasted terasi or cooked shrimp paste. If terasi you have is still raw, you will need to toast it first. I bought the one that has been cooked, so I don't need to do it myself.
For chili paste: juice of 1/2 lime or to taste
For chili paste: 8 basil leaves or to taste
For frying chicken: vegetable oil
Cooked rice
Optional: 1 cucumber, sliced
Optional: 2 tomatoes, sliced

Methods:

Place garlic, turmeric powder, ginger, coriander powder, and salt in a food processor. Process them until they become smooth paste.
Place chicken in a pot. Add spice paste, water, bay leaves, and lemongrass into the pot. Make sure the water covers the chicken. If not, add just enough water. We don't want to put too much water because it will dilute the spice paste and make the chicken less flavorful. Turn on the stove and let the chicken cooked. Once the chicken is cooked, turn off the stove. Drain the liquid and set the chicken on the side to slightly cool down.
While waiting for the chicken to cool down, we can make the chili paste. Turn on the stove to medium high. Heat up 1/2 tablespoon of vegetable oil on a pan. Add shallots, garlic, tomato, and sambal oelek into the pan. Saute them until shallots and garlic become fragrant and cooked. Turn off the heat. Let it cool down for 5 min. Place it in a food processor and add salt, toasted or cooked terasi, and brown sugar. Process the chili paste until it becomes smooth paste. Place it on a small bowl and add lime juice and basil leaves. Mix it with a spoon. Add more sugar, salt, or lime juice if needed.
Turn on the stove to medium heat. Heat up vegetable oil on a frying pan. Add chicken into the pan. You will have to fry it in batches. Since there is some residual liquid on the chicken, you may want to use splatter screen when frying the chicken. This will prevent the oil from splattering all over the place. Fry the chicken until golden brown. Once it is golden brown, take the chicken out and place it on a plate lined with paper towel. Repeat this step until all of the chicken has been fried.
Split the chili paste into 2. Half will be used to serve it on the side with the chicken. The other half will be used to smash chicken.
Since I don't have pestle, I use meat tenderizer to pound the chicken. Spread the chili paste thinly and evenly on a cutting board and put the fried chicken on top ot the chili paste. Pound it lightly couple times. Flip the chicken and repeat pounding on that side. Put the chicken on the serving plaste. Repeat this step until all chicken pieces have been pounded. If the chili paste runs out on the cutting board, add more to the cutting board before you put the next chicken piece.
Serve the chicken with warm rice and the other half of chili paste on the side. If preferred, you can serve it with slices of cucumber and tomatoes.

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